My wife has HD, we have been fighting this since 1998. About 5 weeks ago she started to have constipation problems. I was wondering if any one has had this problem where it was caused by hd verses a possible colon problem. She still eats very well and I have not changed her diet that much.

Hi Gene. Yes, and i know how horrible that can get. I'm in the early stages of hd, i dont have constipation problems now, but when i first got hd it was very severe. There had been no change in my diet to bring this on, and it would come and go in bouts, several weeks at a time, then gone, then back again. The only thing we could attribute it to was hd, either my brain forgetting how to tell my stomache how to work, or weak muscles from hd. When i went on a mood stabilizer, seroquel, by coincidence, i never had the constipation problems again, ever. So my doc says seroquel also improves muscle function in hd, and i guess that's what happened. And several people here on the forum told me this is common in hd.

ooops i double posted



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2011 12:27AM by Barb.

Hi Gene, My husband was simular to Barb and his psychotropic med changes seem to do the trick. My daughter on the other hand, had the issue for many many years both on her reuglar diet and later when diet changed. (just fyi, when diet changed to more liquids it actually got worse). When it became an ongoing problem daily mirilax helped, but what I need to add--- we used a 1/2 dose than what was recommended because lack of a better way to phrase it, the recommended dose made her "explode" and took away any control she had.

I am pretty sure that this is a muscle problem caused by HD. It can also result in bowel movements being very wide to the point where it's difficult to flush them.

Maybe Miralax could help?

I thank everyone for the help. I have been very worried about this and Mary is not very comfortable. I will talk to her Doctor about seroquel and the Miralax next week when we go to see him. She also has had the very wide problem for several months. My stress level just dropped a few points. Thanks Again

I have had this problem over the years way before I knew I had HD.

Recently I have controlled it by my creatine intake (which seems to act as a laxative for most people)

So kill 2 birds with one stone.... I time my ingestion of the creatine to regulate my bowel movements...

Yuk what a subject and I haven't even had my breakfast yet!

I also seem to recall reading recently that there are neurons in the stomach to control the complexities of food absorbtion and that it may be this
mechanism no longer functioning correctly (due to the neurons being hardest hit by the mutant HT).... as well as spasms etc??

Definitely an issue with HD . . . Raymond had extreme constipation, he took Miralax and we'd have to give him enemas, because it was so bad.