Huntington's disease usually causes movement, cognitive, and psychiatric disorders with a wide spectrum of symptoms. Which symptoms appear first varies greatly among affected people. The movement disorders associated with Huntington's disease can include both involuntary movements and impairments in voluntary movements. The most common psychiatric disorder associated with Huntington's disease is depression. This isn't simply a reaction to receiving a diagnosis of Huntington's disease. Instead, depression appears to occur because of injury to the brain and subsequent changes in brain function. Below are examples of disorders of each type of the symptoms.
Movement Disorders:
- Involuntary jerking or writhing movements (chorea)
- Muscle problems, such as rigidity or muscle contracture (dystonia)
- Slow or abnormal eye movements
- Impaired gait, posture and balance
- Difficulty with the physical production of speech or swallowing
Cognitive Disorders:
- Difficulty organizing, prioritizing or focusing on tasks
- Lack of flexibility or the tendency to get stuck on a thought, behavior or action (perseveration)
- Lack of impulse control that can result in outbursts, acting without thinking and sexual promiscuity
- Lack of awareness of one's own behaviors and abilities
- Slowness in processing thoughts or ''finding'' words
- Difficulty in learning new information
Psychiatric Disorders:
- Feelings of irritability, sadness or apathy
- Social withdrawalInsomnia
- Fatigue and loss of energy
- Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder, a condition marked by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors
- Mania, which can cause elevated mood, overactivity, impulsive behavior and inflated self-esteem
- Bipolar disorder, or alternating episodes of depression and mania
Movement Disorders:
- Involuntary jerking or writhing movements (chorea)
- Muscle problems, such as rigidity or muscle contracture (dystonia)
- Slow or abnormal eye movements
- Impaired gait, posture and balance
- Difficulty with the physical production of speech or swallowing
Cognitive Disorders:
- Difficulty organizing, prioritizing or focusing on tasks
- Lack of flexibility or the tendency to get stuck on a thought, behavior or action (perseveration)
- Lack of impulse control that can result in outbursts, acting without thinking and sexual promiscuity
- Lack of awareness of one's own behaviors and abilities
- Slowness in processing thoughts or ''finding'' words
- Difficulty in learning new information
Psychiatric Disorders:
- Feelings of irritability, sadness or apathy
- Social withdrawalInsomnia
- Fatigue and loss of energy
- Frequent thoughts of death, dying or suicide
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder, a condition marked by recurrent, intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors
- Mania, which can cause elevated mood, overactivity, impulsive behavior and inflated self-esteem
- Bipolar disorder, or alternating episodes of depression and mania