Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease is a rare hereditary pathology. It is found in about one person out of ten thousand. Huntington's disease provokes a progressive disorder in the nervous system. The greatest damage is detected in two, in the depth of the brain substance, clusters of cells. This is the shell and caudate nucleus. These areas are involved in the regulation of arbitrary actions at the subconscious level. The causes of Huntington's syndrome have not been precisely determined, but scientists continue to work on this issue.

Symptoms of the pathology are manifested, as a rule, at the age of thirty-five to fifty years. The main manifestations that accompany Huntington's disease include:

- Movement disorders;

- Progressive decline in mental activity right up to dementia.

In addition, other symptoms associated with disorders of the nervous system may also appear.

In most patients (about 90%), Huntington's disease is characterized by the presence of involuntary convulsive movements (trochees). This is often the very first symptom.

Other specialists describe stiffness or change in muscle tone, difficulty with voluntary movements and posture, problems with pronounced pronunciation of words (dysarthria), difficulty swallowing (dysphagia), and inappropriate eye movements of disorderly nature.

Progressive gradual reduction of mental activity, accompanying Huntington's disease, can be observed in combination with the development of mental disorders. Patients, in particular, are unable to concentrate attention, lose long-term and short-term memory, the ability to comprehend and search for rational solutions to problems. Some patients are characterized by irritability, a change in sexual behavior, aggression, apathy, psychosis, depression.

When identifying signs of pathology for accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to confirm the presence of the syndrome among relatives family history. The use of expert research of the nervous system in carriers of the pathological gene allows to determine minor changes in speed, control of movements and reactions long before the moment when the disorders become pronounced.

A laboratory blood test using DNA samples is used to identify abnormalities in certain groups. They include:

- patients - carriers of the gene;

- patients with signs of disease;

- babies in the mother's womb.

However, it should be noted that genetic studies are able to provoke quite a lot of stress and jeopardize the further course of pregnancy.

In the process of diagnosis, a prerequisite is the exclusion of other causes of pathology. Among them, in particular, include taking a certain category of medications, a stroke, abuse over a long period of alcohol.

Today, this disease can not be cured. However, therapeutic measures are used to alleviate symptoms, reduce their intensity, and also provide patients with psychological assistance.

Among drugs that can reduce the severity of symptoms, apply phenothiazines. They control the chorea. Treatment is selected carefully enough, in accordance with the characteristics of the patient's body to avoid the appearance of side effects. To provide control over rigidity of muscles other drugs - dopamine agonists are capable. However, as practice shows, with this pathology they are less effective than with Parkinson's disease.

To ease anxiety, depression, irritability and other psychoemotional disorders, patients are prescribed physiotherapy procedures.