Huntington's Disease

Symptoms

The characterizing symptoms of Huntington's disease (HD) are chorea (involuntary jerky movements), dementia and personality changes, but symptoms and progression of the disease vary among individuals. Age of onset can determine some variations.

Most patients eventually develop chorea, but some instead become rigid and move very little. This is common in patients who show symptoms before age 20 (juvenile-onset HD) and is sometimes referred to as akinetic-rigid HD or Westphal HD. Fixed postures, caused by sustained muscle contractions, are not uncommon in HD.

Patients who don't show symptoms until after age 50 (late-onset HD) may have a more difficult time being diagnosed because their symptoms can be confused with other disorders that often appear later in life.

Most commonly, Huntington's disease develops between ages 35 and 45.

Symptoms of HD can include:

• A wide, prancing gait
• Frequent jerky movements in arms, fingers, feet, neck, trunk and face (chorea)
• Clumsiness (such as "milk-maids grips")
• Problems with balance
• Problems with walking, frequent falls
• Hesitant, halting or slurred speech
• Problems with eye movement
• Personality changes (such as aggressiveness, impulsiveness, moodiness, apathy or irritability)
• Depression
• Paranoia
• Obsessive-compulsive rituals
• Intellectual deterioration (such as memory loss, inattention, impaired judgment and problem-solving difficulties)
• Problems with swallowing
• Weight loss (not necessarily due to problems with swallowing)

Rarer symptoms can include:

• Tremor
• Brief muscle jerks
• Seizures (more common in patients with juvenile-onset)

Some symptoms can be side effects of medications used to treat other symptoms.