Huntington's Disease. Unless you're affected by it, you generally don't even know it exists. This hereditary genetic disorder runs in my family, and I have watched my grandmother and 3 aunts (and now a few cousins) suffer from this disease. There is a genetic test to determine whether or not someone has the disease, but there is no cure.

For someone to have a chance at inheriting the gene, one of your parents has to have the gene. If your parent doesn't have the gene, there is little to no chance you will inherit the disease. There are rare cases, that I've read, where a spontaneous gene shows up, but that is very rare. Huntington's causes a breakdown in the nerve cells in the brain, causing deterioration in speech, jerky, uncontrollable movements and loss of motor function. As I mentioned there is no cure, and those affected eventually pass away from complications. It can often look like ALS or Parkinson's Disease.

Generally, the first signs of Huntington's includes loss of coordination, loss of impulse control and being slow to process thoughts or find words to describe things. For myself, when I was pregnant with my son, I asked my doctor about the test. But in the end, I decided it would be better not to know. If there is no cure, why would I want to spend my life waiting on my symptoms to show up if I do have the gene? If you'd like to know more about this disease, check out the links below.


May is Huntington's Disease Awareness Month, so I decided to show off some blue polish for this - blue is the "ribbon color" for Huntington's Awareness.










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