Being at risk for HD I decided to be proactive in keeping well. I looked towards naturopathic medicine and natural therapies in order to keep well. This has been a rewarding journey and I would like to share a little of my knowledge and understanding with you.

I have been lucky that I have been able to use the Internet to get to the vast quantity of useful, helpful information fromThe Huntington’s Disease Lighthouse in the USA. This is serving the HD community under the astute direction and discretion of Lighthouse Keeper, Jerry Lampson. While caring for his wife with HD he established the website and set out to find almost every article printed about HD. He is able to assess it for its quality and passes it to a specialist in that area for their comment.

Jerry’s ‘HDL Triad’, spirituality, exercise and diet, is positive enthusiasm for doing what can be done to fight back against HD. He hopes that the site will assist you in the proactive treatment of HD. This was where my son Nick found the results of a trial using EPA, (cold water fish oil), to reverse HD symptoms in a small trial by Laxdale in England. I have been taking EPA since November 2000.

‘Horizon’ the newsletter published by the Huntington Society of Canada was where I found 2 articles by Antoinette Berridge telling how she used alternative medicines and therapies to enhance her life with HD. This gave me some basic information and the confidence to use them. Her friends and family had suggested 3 drops of chamomile on her pillow to sleep, a cup of St John’s Wort tea to relieve a panic attack, a massage to remove the knots so she can function. Humour is a very serious business and you must laugh once a day. Do not forget the dog. It has been scientifically proven that dogs are good for our health. Simply stroking a dog will reduce your blood pressure, not to mention the happiness when you look into those loving eyes. She takes Gingko Biloba tablets, a Chinese herb thought to oxygenate the brain. After 3 months she felt brighter and more alert and easier to find words. Her Chinese medicine balls are 2 beautifully lacquered weighted balls that just fit into one hand. Holding both in one hand, the idea is to move one around the other. It is difficult but so soothing and after a few minutes her hands feel less clumsy, stronger and fingers even nimble. A friend suggested she go to Qi Gong classes. Qi Gong is a Chinese philosophy, movement and breathing system out of which Tai Chi and other schools of martial arts grew. She found these classes very relaxing.