What Are the Risks of Huntington's Disease?

Huntington's is an inherited (genetic) disease caused by a mutation on the fourth chromosome. A person who has one parent with Huntington's disease has a fifty-percent chance of also developing the condition; everyone with the faulty gene develops Huntington's, according to Medline Plus. Huntington's disease affects many different parts of a person's life, from behavior and mental state to movement.

Early Symptoms

• The symptoms of Huntington's disease get worse over time. The first symptoms of Huntington's typically occur when a person is in her 30s or 40s, according to Medline Plus.

  Early symptoms of the disease include changes in personality, like being irritable, angry or depressed; losing interest; having trouble making decisions, learning new things and remembering important things; trouble with answering questions; trouble with balance; being clumsy and making involuntary facial movements such as grimacing. The Mayo Clinic reports that others may notice these signs before a person with Huntington's notices them herself.

Other Symptoms

• Behavioral changes and problems are one major feature of Huntington's disease. People with Huntington's may develop antisocial behaviors, have hallucinations and may be irritable, moody, anxious, stressed, tense as well as restless and fidgety. They may also show signs of paranoia and psychosis, according to Medline Plus.

  Huntington's disease causes both mental and physical disability. Dementia, a progressive loss of brain function, occurs in Huntington's. According to Medline Plus, symptoms include memory loss and loss of judgment, changes in speech and disorientation or confusion.

  The physical effects of the disease include unusual motions like turning the head in order to look at something, grimacing, having slow, uncontrolled movements or quick and jerking motions and having trouble walking. People with Huntington's also develop trouble swallowing, according to Medline Plus.

Early Onset Symptoms

• Some people develop the symptoms of Huntington's disease in childhood or adolescence. When this occurs, the symptoms more closely resemble Parkinson's disease than adult-onset Huntington's and include, according to Medline Plus, rigidity (being stiff), slow movements and tremors (shaking). As Huntington's is passed down through a family, Medline Plus reports that it tends to occur at earlier ages because the gene mutation gets worse.

Complications

• Huntington's disease causes an increasing degree of disability over time. People with Huntington's may eventually be unable to take care of themselves; they may also become unable to interact with others and may harm themselves or others, according to Medline Plus.

  Huntington's disease is fatal; according to the Mayo Clinic, people with Huntington's can live for 10 to 30 years after their first symptoms. Suicide is a common cause of death for people with Huntington's disease because people with Huntington's disease are often depressed. Medline Plus reports that infection is also a common cause of death in people with Huntington's disease.