My father (74) just had his neurologist appointment prior to diagnostic testing for HD. She mentioned that there is something on his file about Sydenham's Disease because he had rheumatic fever as a boy (over 60 yrs ago!). I don't know for sure that he had Sydenham's then, but i think another neurologist may have suggested this as a cause for his movements in recent yrs??
I'm inclined to believe that she is exploring all possibilities before his blood is actually drawn. Given the family background (his mother had a positive diagnosis of HD (79yrs old), his sister has a positive diagnosis of HD last year (69yrs old), his niece has a positive diagnosis of HD last summer (40yrs old)--which means his other sister would be positive as well(late 60's) ). I kind of doubt that it is Sydenham's that is causing his movements and of course a whole variety of other things, as most of you may already realize! I wont get into them in this post; I could go on forever about the myriad of symptoms he has!
Everything I read online suggests that Sydenham's is more of a childhood disorder as a result of rheumatic fever and the only info I find about adult Sydenham's says it is very rare, especially combined with other symptoms like moods and cognitive and speech etc.

I guess my question is, is Sydenham's in adults really that rare? What are the odds that the rest of the family has HD and he has Sydenham's?? Has anyone else had a doctor say its Sydenham's and then have it turn out to be HD?

He's having the blood test for HD on monday and it will be a few months before we know 100% for sure.

Thx for any input!

Very rare indeed. Im not sure if the Dr is trying to give you something else to think about or if they have seen other cases of it, or don't know Huntington's, ir just recently studied this ither issue. Doesn't seem too likely that all the other members in the family would have the other issue, especially if not all had Rhuematic fever. Not sure at all why they would even mention something other than the most obvious-as other family members have tested positive. Interesting, but certainly not likly.

Sorry for all the typos in the last post-was posting from my phone!

Vicky

No worries on the typos!
Maybe you are right about the having something different to consider? I asked the neurologist, what are the odds? If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, could it really be a goose??
Sydenham's seemed like a bit of an odd option to hear considering he's 74yrs old and he had rheumatic fever when he was 10!

We'll know for sure in 2 months tho; he had the blood draw this morning.

Almost sounds to me like maybe she just studied that and it was fresh on her brain! LOL Good luck with whatever he is facing in a couple of months...

Vicky