Huntington's Disease

[livingwith]

My mother was diagnosed when she was 30 ( 24 years ago) everything was fine up until 9 years ago when she lost my father and her illness started to slowly show also. She has been through so much, all my aunts and uncles on her side had the illness and have passed away in recent years
A few weeks ago, she just started to say thimgs of impossibility- the only way i can explain my thoughts at the time were- she had finally gone insane. She is now in hospital under a mental health act and thinks eve...Read the full article

[crsweeney2008]

Hi my name is Casey and my dad currently has Huningtons. I was wondering if i could share your story to compare with mine for a class project?

Please Email me at [moderator note: e-mail address has been removed]

[JoEsther]

My mother has is too. She was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's about 4 years ago. Her behaviors have continually gotten worse in the last year, and I finallly had her committed involuntarily, very hard to do, both emotionally and legally where I live. Now I have just gotten guardianship over her and am working on trying to find a place that will take her so that I can get her out of the mental institution that she is currently in. She is only 53, that is the same age as the judge that has helped in this matter and he stated that the whole thing had him very upset, because she is so bad with this disease. My problem now is finding a skilled nursing facility close by that will accept her, that has been a major challenge, I think mostly because they look at her age first, then the disease, and say sorry we cannot handle her, it is very frustrating. I do have faith though that I will find the place for her to be, hopefully somewhere close to me and her whole family, that if any of them want to come visit her, that they can without having to drive very far. She is the only one out of 7 children that have had any of the symptoms, even though she has lost 2 others already to other diseases. I have tried diligently to keep my family informed of what is going on with her and what to expect, I have an Aunt and an Uncle who thinks that she should be at home, and she cannot, so I have had to take them off of the visitors list, which wasn't very pleasant either. So, I know how you feel....

[t0028db]

Why did you have to admit her under the mental health act? Can she not be placed in a nursing or assistant living facility?

[anneeverat]

Update on my mothers health..... she was discharged from hospital after being treated for 2 months. The doctors took her in under the mental health act because she was having a pshycotic episode and needed depression treatment which would be unavailable in nursing homes. The doctor gave no reason for her condition and said it s impossible for someone to suddenly become disilusional. I swear to god, her personality changed overnight and after some research and asking questions, i have learnt it does in fact happen to people suffering from huntingtons.

She is now home and has carers around the clock to care for her, give medications and pass on any concerns they have. Also .... i tried getting help for my mother before all this and the doctor turned a blind eye- they needed my mothers permission for everything. As long as she was saying she was fine, they did not want to persue anything. I feel more could have been done before she was finally dragged into hospital in a severe state of depression.

She had a check up today and some tests of memory were carried out- she passed 100%

[anneeverat]

Sure you can use this if it helps you in any way.... sorry to hear about your father..... must be difficult having to do a case study on huntingtons

My thoughts are with you

[dolong]

I think that my husband has Huningtons, his grandmother had Parkinsons but I don't have any other family history. What happened first to make you think the disease was Huningtons?

Thanks,
Debbie

[anneeverat]

The first signs with my mum was the fact she became very irritated by simple things and forgot important things very easily.

Her hair started to fall out and she gained bladder problems

But the worst part effecting her was her denial, she was told when she wa 30 she had the illness and denies it to this day