It is extremely important that you know about any hereditary neurological conditions which might be present in your family line. You may either be attempting to find out if you yourself have the disease or you may be concerned about passing a disorder to your children. Here are 5 neurological conditions which can be passed down the family line.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease is a neurological condition where your memories and thinking skills deteriorate over a number of years. It can take over a decade for damage to reveal symptoms which means, that by the time it has been spotted, you will have definitely some sort of damage.

While there has been plenty of research to determine what causes Alzheimer’s, there is currently no cure. If you have a parent or a sibling who has suffered from Alzheimer’s, you are more likely to develop symptoms too.

Essential Tremor

What is essential tremor and is it the same as Parkinson’s? While both share symptoms like the trembling of limbs, they are two separate medical conditions. However, essential tremor is the more common of the two and is more frequently hereditary. The majority of patients with essential tremor report a family member with a tremor while less than 10% of Parkinson’s patients said that a family member had the disease.

 

Huntington’s Disease

This neurological disease causes impaired motor skills and changes in personality, along with involuntary movements and cognitive impairment. Symptoms can occur from younger than 30 and the disease is usually fatal after 15 to 20 years. This is a disease which is passed on from parents. If one of your parents is a carrier for Huntingdon’s, you will have to undergo genetic testing to ensure that you do not have the disease too.

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CADASIL

Cerebral Autosomal Dominant Arteriopathy with Subcortical Infarcts and Leukoencephalopathy (or CADASIL) is a disease which alters the NOTCH3 gene and makes the patient more susceptible to strokes. It is first often noticed as a series of episodes featuring stroke-like migraines. If anyone in your family has these episodes before the age of 60, they might have CADASIL.

MND

Motor Neurons Disease shortens the life expectancy of those living with it and causes a weakness in the body which gets worse the longer the patient lives with MND. Less than 10% of people with MND report that someone else in their family has the disease but it is one of the most prominent neurological conditions, hence its inclusion in this list. If you have a relative with MND and you are afraid you are developing symptoms, you may be referred for genetic testing like with Huntington’s.

These are some of the most common hereditary neurological conditions out there. If you have had a relative become ill with one of the above diseases and you are afraid of developing symptoms too, make sure you speak to your doctor about your concerns. Ensuring that you are educated will be one of the biggest weapons you have here.