Huntington’s disease, or HD, is an incurable inherited condition that results in the death of certain nerve cells in your brain.
People are generally born with this defective gene, but rare symptoms usually do not appear until late in life. Early symptoms of Huntington’s disease include clumsiness, poor coordination, and difficulty in fine motor control.
Unfortunately, most people do not even know they have this disease until it reaches a critical stage and is treated. The treatment process varies widely from one patient to the next, based on the condition and other factors. Treatment is typically carried out through medication, surgical methods, or both.
The most common treatment for Huntington’s Disease is surgery. This method uses certain drugs to shrink the neurons responsible for movement and mental control. Surgery, however, does carry some risks, as it can be a very risky procedure. This is why it is sometimes used only on younger patients with relatively mild symptoms.
Some patients choose to undergo medical treatment without surgery. For example, a patient who has mild symptoms can opt for medications to help control the disease in his or her brain. While the medications may not completely remove the disease, they can slow its progress.
Other medical treatments involve surgery, medication, or radiation therapy. These techniques have all shown some success in treating the condition, but each one has its own side effects and should be used only as a last resort.
The most common way to treat Huntington’s is through surgery. The surgeon removes the portion of the brain that produces dopamine in order to reduce symptoms. It is known that the condition occurs when dopamine levels are lower than normal in the cortex, which means that by removing the part of the brain that produces it, the patient’s symptoms will begin to subside.
Surgery is often used to remove the frontal lobes of the brain.
This is the part of the brain that controls the muscle control and is affected most often during the early stages of the disease. This approach has had some success in treating some of the earliest symptoms, although the patient must remain on a restricted diet and take medication to prevent any more serious side effects.
As time goes on, the Huntington’s Disease patient may also decide to go through a combination of medicine and surgery. If the symptoms persist, then further surgeries may be recommended. In extreme cases, surgery may be used to replace the neurons damaged by the medication. Medications may also be combined with surgery to allow patients to regain some of their motor control.
Patients with the disease usually have to take several medications. This is why a combination of medication and surgery is sometimes recommended. It is hoped that the combination will provide a better balance of medications, since some patients are not able to take certain medications for their disease.
Other patients, known as the “open label” group, will have a neurologist to evaluate their case before deciding whether surgery will be the best treatment for them. This means that the neurologist will have to evaluate the condition and discuss the risks of surgery with the patient.
When deciding on medical treatment, the neurologist will make sure that the patient is fit enough to undergo surgery and will take into consideration any side effects that may occur with medication. before deciding on a particular treatment.
It should be mentioned that it is usually not a good idea to wait until the disease is advanced to get a surgical procedure. Some people with this condition, and especially those who have more serious symptoms, are not responsive to medication. They may need to wait for a while longer before undergoing surgery. In such cases, it may be necessary to try other treatment options first before undergoing surgery.
Even with surgery, however, there are risks involved with surgery. So in most cases it is always a good idea to seek advice from a doctor before deciding on a course of action.
