Huntington's Disease

[Amy A]

My 79 year old father has had left hand tremors for approximately 6 months. He has not been seen by a physician. In researching what could be the cause, I came across Huntington's Disease Other possibilities are Essential Tremors or Parkinson's Disease.

What led me to this forum is the fact that ever since I can remember, he has been moody, angry, eccentric, obsessive/compulsive, as well as an alcoholic. As of late, his memory/mental state is so bad that he will go to the store every day and purchase the same thing... every day. Like boxes and boxes of crackers, or bottles and bottles of salad dressing. My mom had to make a donation to the food shelf she had so much excess. He also sweeps and shovels, sometimes all day long. He sweeps/shovels public streets and businesses. He has also banged his car up and received three tickets, two of them were in a two day period. He has a hard time sitting still. Yesterday, he came into the kitchen six times within ten minutes to see if the pie was done. He would sit down for a minute and then come back to the kitchen.

In addition to his emotional instability and mental decline, he also makes facial grimaces. Like he squeezes his face together, closes his eyes and scrunches his cheeks. Very hard to explain. His mouth is open much of the time.

My question is about his involuntary movements or tremors. Could these hand tremors be a symptom of HD? He doesn't seem to "jerk" all over the place or have extremely obvious movements. And I see the onset of HD is between 30-50 years. If he is 79, wouldn't we notice some significant physical symptoms if it truly was HD? Or can the emotional/mental part of HD last for years and years before there is any physical manifestation???

Thanks so much for letting me vent. I have always wanted to know what is "wrong" with my father and am searching for an answer.

Amy

[gjtds95]

The symptoms you describe don't really sound like HD. It really sounds like he needs to be seen by an MD as soon as possible. He could have a chemical imbalance in his brain that's causing many of the symptoms you describe as well as other neurological conditions.

[scaredeecat]

My mother seemed to have quickly gotten Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in just a matter of months. Otherwise, we saw only normal memory problems, nothing major.

We researched and had our mom tested for Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. This is what she had. She had brain surgery where they inserted a shunt to regulate the flow of the spinal fluid. You wouldn't believe the remarkable change! She had about a year of rehab therapy, but she is fine, now. May be something you could look into.