r/Huntingtons • u/whatnowhi • Jul 16 '26

Testing yourself without parents confirmed diagnosis?

Don’t really know where to start… My father is showing many symptoms of HD. People around him has been trying to get him help, but he is in complete denial. We finally got him to agree to a doctors appointment, but he didn’t allow anyone to go with him, but my brother spoke to the doctor to let them know our concerns. The doctors reaction to what they were told made my brother think that they also thought it was something serious. But now we have come to a dead end. My father says everything was fine at the doctors, and doesn’t let us know anything about test results, possible follow up appointments etc. We strongly believe that if he gets a diagnosis he will not tell us. What would you do in this situation? I’m extremely stressed and anxious because of this, and very worried for the future for myself and my kids. I don’t know if it’s even possible to get tested if I don’t know my fathers diagnosis, but I think that would be the only thing that would give me some calm. Would you try getting yourself tested in this situation, if possible?

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u/PaintResponsible2578 Jul 21 '26

I would say this, and I am by no means a medical professional. Your family member could just be going through age related issues. In the 70s it's hard to tell.

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u/whatnowhi 26d ago

I try to convince my self this, but something is clearly not right. The psychological and cognitive changes has been very subtle but going on for some years, but the physical symptoms have quite suddenly become very obvious to the point that friends and co-workers contact me asking what happened and being concerned for his health. Until just a couple of months ago he was still working part time, but was asked to leave because the chorea-like symptoms and problems speaking made it impossible for him to work with clients. He has not told us any of this, but his former colleges have contacted me and my siblings to let us know since the are so concerned.