Huntington's Disease Signs & Symptoms

Conditions & Diseases: Brain & Nervous System

Huntington's Disease

Signs & Symptoms

Symptoms of the Huntington's Disease vary in range, severity, age at onset and rate of clinical progression from patient to patient. However, the disorder is classically associated with progressive emotional, cognitive and motor disturbances. Initial signs may include:

Slight personality changes
Forgetfulness
Clumsiness
Gradual development of random, brief, "fidgeting" movements of the fingers or toes (8).

Neurobehavioral Changes:
Emotional or behavioral changes develop gradually and may appear significantly before or concurrently with motor manifestations. Initial symptoms of personality changes include:

Increased irritability
Tendency to find fault with others
Constant complaining
Suspiciousness
Impulsiveness
Lack of self-control
Lack of interest in acts that previously provided pleasure (anhedonia)

Psychological Changes
Behavioral, emotional, or psychiatric changes become apparent and include the following:

Anxiety
Depression
Mania
Depression with mania
Obsessive-compulsive behaviors
Agitation
Hostile outbursts
Sleep disturbances
Increasing social withdrawal (9).

Cognitive Decline:
Progressive dementia or gradual impairment of mental processes involving comprehension, reasoning, judgment and memory are some of the typical signs of HD. Early signs include forgetfulness and difficulty in maintaining focus and attention. Additional symptoms include:

Increased difficulty in concentrating
Inability to absorb and understand new information
Impaired ability to engage in problem solving
Diminished memory retrieval
Progressively impaired judgment and impulse control
Diminished language skills with disorganized speech
Increasingly impaired ability to plan, initiate, or perform certain purposeful movements (apraxia)
Communication difficulties such as thought expression and comprehending others words
Difficulty in initiating conversations (10).

Motor Disturbances:
Early signs of motor disturbances typically include gradual onset of clumsiness, balance difficulties and brief, random, "fidgeting" movements. Initially, chorea or frequent irregular, jerky motions are incorporated into intentional actions with potentially masking symptoms and delaying recognition of the condition. Chorea may start from fingers and toes and extend to the arms, legs, face and the trunk. Many patients develop a distinctive manner of walking with unsteady, disjointed, or lurching movement. Some of the other motor disturbances include:

Clumsy fine motor movements
Postural instability
Inability to sustain some voluntary movements
Poor control of the tongue and diaphragm
Difficulty in swallowing (dysphagia)
Poorly articulated, slurred speech (dysarthria)
A strained, hoarse, or inappropriately loud voice
Oculomotor abnormalities such as impaired control of voluntary eye movements related to focusing on objects in the visual field during movement i.e., abnormal saccades may also be associated symptom of HD (11).

Article by Kona Vishnu, MS
Medical Writer,
OmniMedicalSearch.com