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Huntington's Disease Research Paper

Decent Essays

Huntington’s Disease
Imagine not remembering the names of your family members, having difficulty swallowing, not being able to control your movements. Imagine being trapped in a body that is turning against you, slowly deteriorating around you and you are helpless to stop it. This is the very real and terrifying reality for those with Huntington’s disease. “Many describe the symptoms of HD as having ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s – simultaneously.” This disease isn’t picky, it devastates the families of people from all races or ethnic groups around the world, and a person’s sex isn’t an issue. “Huntington’s disease is a fatal genetic disorder that causes the progressive breakdown of nerve cells in the brain.” This disease is passed from …show more content…

I think the main reason is this disease currently has no cure, and few treatments that aren’t fully successful. These treatments are not comprehensive wither. There are drugs for the physical symptoms and others for the psychological symptoms. However, many of these drugs compound other symptoms. For example, Tetrabenazine suppresses involuntary movements, but the side effects can worsen or trigger depression or other psychiatric disorders. Conversely, Zyprexa, an antipsychotic, which may help suppress agitation, mood swings, and violent outbursts, can also cause movement disorders. So not only are the available treatments only treating part of the problems for short periods of time, the treatments are also combating other treatments and causing their own sets of problems. Even therapies like speech, physical, psychological, and occupations, are only effective at certain stages and for certain periods of time. Nevertheless, I think it is hard to discuss such a scary disease, that many people can’t even phantom having to deal with. Also, the fact that it is a genetic disorder that can be tested for can make the number of people who are affected feel small and removed from the populace as a whole. This silence and almost ostracism that this disease faces in communities, in organizations, in the media, this has an impact on the support available for those who suffer from this disease. This lack of visibility leads to a lack of information. This means that members of a community may not be equipped to offer social, economic, or emotional support for individuals and families dealing with this disease. This creates an isolation for these people who are at the greatest need for

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