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What does it mean if ataxia is present?

What does it mean if ataxia is present?

Ataxia describes a lack of muscle control or coordination of voluntary movements, such as walking or picking up objects. A sign of an underlying condition, ataxia can affect various movements and create difficulties with speech, eye movement and swallowing.

Where is ataxia most common?

Ataxia is most often associated with degeneration of the region of the brain known as the cerebellum where movement, posture, and balance are coordinated. Thus, many of the symptoms and signs are those expected from cerebellar dysfunction. Ataxia may also be associated with damage (lesions) to the spinal cord.

Does ataxia go away?

There’s no treatment specifically for ataxia. In some cases, treating the underlying cause resolves the ataxia, such as stopping medications that cause it. In other cases, such as ataxia that results from chickenpox or other viral infections, it’s likely to resolve on its own.

Can you drive if you have ataxia?

Most people with a cerebellar ataxia are able to safely drive. It is the duty of someone who develops a cerebellar disorder to notify the road licensing authority in their state, to ensure that their driver’s license is valid and that they are covered by their insurance.

How is ataxia related to the nervous system?

What is Ataxia. Ataxia is a degenerative disease of the nervous system. Many symptoms of Ataxia can mimic those of being drunk – slurred speech, stumbling, falling, and incoordination. All are related to degeneration of the part of the brain, called the cerebellum, that is responsible for coordinating movement.

Can a person with ataxia have no family history?

Because a single recessive Ataxia gene does not cause symptoms, it can be passed on in a family for generations without being recognized. Therefore, there can appear to be no “family history” of Ataxia if the disease was inherited as a recessive gene.

How old do you have to be to have Friedreich ataxia?

The disorder is named after Nikolaus Friedreich, a German doctor who described the condition in the 1860s. What are the signs and symptoms? Symptoms typically begin between the ages of 5 and 15 years, although they sometimes appear in adulthood. Approximately 15 percent of people with Friedreich ataxia have onset after age 25.

Can a carrier have a child with ataxia telangiectasia?

That child would be a carrier. Carriers do not have ataxia-telangiectasia but could pass on the mutated ATM gene to their own children. There is a 25% (1 in 4) chance of having another child with two normal copies of the ATM gene. That child would not have ataxia-telangiectasia and would not be a carrier.