How Do You Test For Huntingtons Disease?
Huntington’s disease is a genetic disorder that usually manifests around middle age. It causes jerky, uncontrollable movements, slurred speech and difficulty in chewing and swallowing. It also causes cognitive and psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, reduced affect and inability to recognize negative expressions such as anger, fear and sadness. Get a physical examination. This usually occurs when there are symptoms that lead to concern, such as a patient with uncontrollable movements, unsteady gait or slurred speech. Based on the neurological findings tests like a cranial CT Scan or an MRI can be performed. Get a psychological evaluation. This is important for those showing some symptoms that could be related to Huntington’s disease to eliminate any other causes of the symptoms. Testing. There are genetic blood tests that can be performed even on people that do not show any symptoms of this disease. This would count the number of repetitions in the Huntington’s disease ge