Finding light in the darkness of Huntington’s disease

7 tips to create good sleep hygiene with Huntington’s disease

Living with Huntington’s disease (HD) presents rare challenges, including managing symptoms that can affect physical, mental, and emotional well-being. One of the often overlooked aspects of maintaining health with HD is cultivating good sleep hygiene. When sleep is interrupted or inadequate, the ripple effects on our bodies and minds…

What we are grateful for this year

After my wife, Jill, was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease (HD) in 2018, we gained a new level of appreciation for people affected by terrible storms and other natural disasters. The rare disease she inherited made us realize, in deeper ways, that what she’s experiencing as her neurodegenerative illness progresses…

How my wife fights Huntington’s with the spirit of a warrior

My wife, Jill, has always been a fighter, no question about it. Before her Huntington’s disease diagnosis, she’d march into any battle against anyone or anything without hesitation, no matter the stakes. After she learned that she’d experience the same decline from Huntington’s as her father did, though, she seemed to…

5 mental health coping strategies that help me in life with HD

Living with Huntington’s disease (HD) presents many physical hurdles, but the toll it takes on mental health is often overlooked. Many people, including myself, experience intense bouts of anxiety and depression as part of this journey. Coping with the physical symptoms of HD can be exhausting, and the…

Ingrezza treatment eases chorea regardless of sex, age: Trial data

Ingrezza (valbenazine), an approved treatment for chorea, or uncontrolled movements, related to Huntington’s disease, shows similar effectiveness among patients irrespective of factors like sex, age, or disease severity, according to a new analysis of data from a Phase 3 clinical trial. Moreover, a separate data analysis from…

How a personal emergency alert device can benefit those with HD

If there’s one thing I know about my wife, Jill, who’s gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), it’s that she seems to have a funny relationship with electronics. Over the years, her cellphones have developed quirks: missed calls, delayed texts, ghost vibrations when there’s nothing there. It’s not that she’s…

Polymer-based treatment slows Huntington’s disease onset in mice

Researchers have developed a protein-like polymer — a large, string-like molecule composed of small repeating building blocks — that was able to slow the onset of Huntington’s disease in a mouse model. In the mice, the protein-like polymer prevented the clumping of misfolded huntingtin protein that drives nerve cell…