Can anyone tell me what medications have worked (or not worked) for you (or the person you are caring for with HD) in regards to depression, anxiety and OCD. My husband has HD and experiences all of these symptoms from time to time. We are considering getting him on something, but are unsure of which ones are best for HD.

Clonazepam (klonepin), valproic acid (depakote), fluoxetine (prozac), and mirtazepine seems to be a combination that has worked well for quite a while for my daughter. She has had JHD for about 16 years and is still doing pretty well. Her mental state is better than it was 10 years ago!

Effexor and Zoloft have worked pretty well for my wife. She has taken both simultaneously. Risperidone has also been a mainstay as part of her med mix. I know what you mean about the OCD. I almost feel like the OCD stuff is muted some by the risperidone more than any other medication. Not sure if OCD is purely a cognitive thing, or if it is related to chorea as well? Risperidone is good for both as far as I can tell.

Both Howard and Tyler have a mood stabilizer on their lists, which seem to work really well for hd. I take Seroquel at bedtime (which is similar to the resperidone that was mentioned). Seroquel is a mood stabilizer, and anti depressant. It helps with both depression and mood swings, and anxiety. I take mine at bedtime because it really really helps with some of the disturbed sleep that happens with hd. My hd doctor also told me that it also affects dopamine in a way that actually helps to improve the disease, not just help symptoms. It is shorter acting than some medications, so it gives me a very good sleep at night when it is working the most, but I'm not dopey during the day, because some wears off during the day. After years of trying many anti depressants, this was a god send for me. I take Ativan sometimes during the day for stress, when needed, and it also is very short acting. This combination works very well for me, and some winters if I get winter depression, then I take Effexor in the mornings during the winter. I can't take ssri's because they give me compulsive behavior, but Effexor has the get up and go of an ssri, but also has an anti anxiety effect too. Hope this helps

Thank you all so much! I've noticed seroquel mentioned on blogs before. I wasn't sure what it was for though. I think that if we decide to get him on something, we will ask for that first. I'm glad to hear your daughter is doing pretty well Howard. We may need to try that risperidone some day Tyler. Have any of you noticed specific side effects from the meds you mentioned?