My 20 yr old son is a college student. When he came home for Christmas and was opening his presents Christmas morning, I could no longer deny that he has a pronounced tremor in both of his hands. It has become musch workse in the past few months.

I have seen other things that concern me and i wanted your input.
1. He is easily irritated
2.He is withdrawn and speaks rarely although when he speaks, he is very funny in a dry humor way.
3. He sleeps many hours at a time. He continues in college and is doing well and also works but when he also sleeps over 12 hours at a time frequently.
4 He had some trouble with depression and insomnia after breaking up with a girlfriend a couple of years ago so not sure if that was just

His dad's CAG is 46. 20 seems so young to show symptoms and i was hoping we wouldn't have to face this for another 10 years.
My next step is to get him and our other 2 kids insurance. Any advice on which company won't ask about family history? How can a 20 year old college kid get disability insurance when he only has a minimum wage hourly job right now but will graduate in 2016 with a computer science degree. What do they base the income on at this stage?

I know many questions but any input would be appreciated.

The symptoms you list are inconclusive and could be due to stress, depression, or anxiety of being in an at risk situation. You didn't say what his CAG was so I'm assuming he hasn't tested.

As far as insurance goes you might try checking with a MetLife agent. They always have a booth at HDSA and always talk about having something for HD families. However, I don't have any personal experience with them.

Jaylyn,

First of all let me say how my heart goes out to you. I too am a caregiver of an HD husband. We have one son who is 22. He shows no sign of being HD positive except for extreme anger issues. He chose to be tested last year and tells us he tested negative but knowing my son as I do, he could just be telling us this to keep us from worrying. He forbid the Dr. to discuss his medical info. with us. so I'm kind-of on the fence. I watch him constantly to see if I can see any signs and except for the anger issues (which he has always had) I don't see any signs of HD.
I pray for you and your family that all your children test negative.
I have a blog on here called "my story" if you want to read it. My situation has been a roller coaster ride for the past 2 years but the people who have responded to me have given me some excellent advice.
Liz

You can try Principal. We have a policy with them. They will ask questions, but you may get lucky and they may not ask specifically about HD or neurological disorders. Unfortunately, he can not get long term disability insurance right now anyway though. I wanted it for me and was told that I had to work full time at one job (I previously had 3 part time positions and then no job for awhile). Your maximum disability benefit is based off income. So, your son has to wait until he gets a full time job and would be best to wait until he has a decent paying full time job. So, I would wait on the testing if possible. A neurologist once told me that if someone has HD, they have had it since conception and will have it in ten years. So, there is no rush to get the test. She said all side symptoms can be treated the same without knowing if they are from HD or something else. That takes a little pressure off the desire to find out ASAP.
Blessings,
Amber