What Are The Symptoms Of Sydenham’s Chorea?
Sydenham's chorea, a disorder that affects an individual's movements, occurs following an infection by a specific type of bacteria called group A streptococcus. Strep throat and rheumatic fever are illnesses precipitated by group A streptococcus bacteria. After an individual has one of these infections, a section of their brain referred to as the basal ganglia can adversely react with the group A streptococcus bacteria. An individual's movement, speech, and posture are all influenced and controlled by the basal ganglia deep in the brain. Diagnosis of Sydenham's chorea is made with the use of a physical examination, throat swab, anti-DNAse B blood test, ant streptolysin O blood test, ESR, CBC, MRI scans, and Ct scans. Treatment for Sydenham's chorea may involve antibiotics to kill the infection-causing bacteria and medication for the management of symptoms like movement problems and emotional issues.
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Involuntary Movements
An individual who experiences involuntary movements may be affected by Sydenham's chorea. The involuntary movements in this condition are the result of nerve damage caused by an abnormal immune system reaction on the tissues of the basal ganglia due to the group A streptococcus bacterial infection. These abnormal movements are involuntary or not able to be effectively controlled by the patient. The irregular movements tend to be rapid and aimless in Sydenham's chorea. Any muscles around the body can be affected by these involuntary movements, but they are most common in a patient's facial muscles, legs, arms, and trunk. This is a hallmark symptom that occurs in Sydenham's chorea and is often severe enough to disrupt a patient's ability to perform everyday activities and tasks. This symptom may be present for up to six months following the group A streptococcus bacteria infection.
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Muscle Weakness
An individual with Sydenham's chorea may develop muscle weakness, which is the inability to produce a muscle movement or muscle contraction even when exerting the greatest mental and physical efforts to do so. An affected individual's immune system launches an attack on the group A streptococcus bacteria that has become active in the brain, producing inflammation in the basal ganglia tissues. These tissues help the nerve impulse get from the brain to the spinal cord so they can reach the muscles to trigger a muscle contraction. However, this process is disrupted in Sydenham's chorea patients, stopping the full nerve impulses from reaching the muscles. Partial nerve signals that make their way to the affected muscle can cause numbness, tingling, and an inability to move the muscles when attempting to.
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Clumsiness
Clumsiness can be an indicator an individual may be affected by Sydenham's chorea. Clumsiness is a term used to describe when an individual experiences poor movement, action, and coordination. Occasional clumsiness occurs in everyone, and this is not the same as the type of clumsiness seen in Sydenham's chorea. These patients have ongoing problems with their coordination that may have started suddenly. Individuals who experience this symptom may stumble frequently and have other difficulties with walking. Clumsiness precipitated from Sydenham's chorea can cause a patient to have difficulty with handwriting and may drop objects they are attempting to hold. A patient with Sydenham chorea may experience clumsiness when they have twitch-like or tremor-like movements in their hands and other digits. The abnormal movements that occur in these parts of the body cause the individual's coordination to become impaired.
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Uncontrolled Speech
An individual who experiences uncontrolled speech may be affected by Sydenham's chorea . In healthy individuals, the formation of speech is complex and involves multiple components in the brain and the oral structures. The mechanisms and movements of the different components must be perfectly orchestrated to produce intelligible speech. In order to speak, an individual needs to maintain the vibration of their vocal folds. This vibration is conformed by the lips, hard palate, soft palate, tongue, and mandible into the purposeful sounds that have to be put together to form words in a language. This ability can be disrupted when there is a complication with the components that have to work seamlessly together to produce it. Disorderly movements of the oral components and vocal cords can produce involuntary sounds. Motor persistence and weakness in the muscles that move the mouth can cause an individual to make sounds different from the sounds they mean to produce. Uncontrolled and nonsensical speech tends to be an episodic manifestation of Sydenham's chorea.
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Emotional Issues
The most common emotional issues seen in Sydenham's chorea patients include anxiety, being overly emotional, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression, personality changes, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Some individuals experiencing this symptom can experience random episodes of inappropriate crying or inappropriate laughing. The mechanisms of how Sydenham's chorea causes such emotional problems in patients is unclear. The emotional problems also tend to occur in just a portion of individuals affected by Sydenham's chorea, and the reason for this is also unclear. Studies have shown the emotional symptoms tend to begin just before physical symptoms start to manifest. For children, these emotional issues can interfere with their behavior at school and make it difficult for them to learn effectively. Adults who experience these symptoms may have trouble performing regular tasks and tending to their responsibilities at work and home.