Huntington’s Disease and Other “Choreas”
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How to Overcome Huntington’s Disease and Other “Choreas”
Though Huntington's disease is viewed as a "genetic" problem, this does not mean that the disease is not curable. Our genetic code is constantly being altered with certain genes getting "switched on" or "switched off" by environmental conditions. Those with Huntington's disease specifically should keep this in mind as we talk about the "choreas".
NOTE: Wilson’s disease, a treatable movement disorder, can be an overlooked cause behind Huntington’s disease symptoms as well as other types of chorea. Wilson disease and Huntington’s disease can be misdiagnosed due to overlapping movement disorder symptoms and behavioral symptoms. Both conditions cause involuntary movements and mood swings, but Wilson’s disease is caused by toxic copper buildup in the liver and brain and it can be treated easily.
Click here to schedule a health coaching session with us.
My first personal encounter with “chorea” had to do with my granddaughter when she was 2 years old. She had developed hand, foot, and mouth disease (Coxsackievirus) and she was very sick for several days and refused to eat. Lydi and I worked to find ways to make her feel better and also to get rid of the Coxsackievirus infection which can, in later years (if left untreated), cause insulin resistance or diabetes.
Prior to developing this illness, my granddaughter was the type of child who never sat still and who struggled to fall asleep and stay asleep. As I was learning about potential treatments for her, I encountered the written material produced in the 1600s by Dr. Thomas Sydenham and became captivated. Sydenham lived around the time when St. Vitus dance was a health issue that could kill people. St. Vitus dance is essentially a movement disorder, a chorea. Today, Sydenham’s chorea, which is likely the same thing as St. Vitus dance is still a legitimate diagnosis, though it is rarely applied by doctors.
At the same time that I was studying Dr. Sydenham’s material including this information about a disease known as Sydenham’s chorea, I began reading material about diphtheria and the use of alcohol to cure it in its early stages. Alcohol, in low doses, improves insulin sensitivity and most alcoholics actually begin their addiction by using alcohol to overcome insulin insensitivity. Hand, foot, and mouth disease is caused by Coxsackievirus, one of the primary pathogens that can produce diabetes (and probably also alcoholism) later in life. At the time, though, Lydi and I had just finished writing about the powerful relationship between diabetes and alcoholism. On all sides of our family, we have alcoholism as a major issue, but going back far enough in time, we also have ancestors who died of diabetes. So the idea of endogenous retroviruses applies here. If the story of our lives start to become similar in a particular way to the lives our ancestors led, our cells might release a virus that is, in some ways, like an unresolved, unfinished story. If we begin to manifest symptoms of a disease that comes from our ancestry, from our genetic code, then the goal is find a cure and a resolution to the story, but also, finding and searching for the stories from the past that pertain to the disease, in this case, all of the following: Coxsackievirus, hand, foot, and mouth disease, alcoholism, and diabetes.
I was able to find that Coxsackievirus and another pathogen, Streptococcus pyogenes, can partner up to exploit the body’s natural weaknesses. The pathogen that causes Sydenham’s chorea (and possibly my granddaughter’s inability to sit still), can work together to weaken the body in a particular way, making it easier for both Coxsackievirus and Streptococcus pyogenes to infect the body at the same time.
After my granddaughter started feeling better again, I was captivated by the choreas. I was able to locate an old video from the 1950s or so of a young girl about 8 to 10 years old who had a severe case of Sydenham’s chorea. She was prescribed best rest for 6 weeks and the video showed her progress and how the disease completely went away after nothing more than 6 weeks in bed (no other treatments were administered).
Huntington’s chorea is “genetic”, but to be honest, I felt as though my granddaughter developed hand, foot, and mouth disease through an endogenous retrovirus infection rather than through exposure to another child with this disease. We live on a farm and she had not left the farm or had contact with people outside of our family in several weeks at the time when she got sick. So technically, if she developed her symptoms as a result of an endogenous retrovirus that essentially came out of her own genetic code, then her self-limiting disease, which involved chorea-like symptoms, was also “genetic”.
Click here to do a free trial of EMDR to Release Trauma.
Choreas are syndromes that involve brief, abrupt, involuntary movements that have a flowing, almost intentional quality to them. Movements may seem playful or like restlessness. More severe forms of chorea might involve a sometimes violent, “flinging” nature called “ballism”.
Choreas can be misdiagnosed by doctors. Many doctors struggle to differentiate between tardive dyskinesia and Huntington’s disease, for example. Tardive dyskinesia is a drug-induced movement disorder that includes chorea-symptoms as well as athetosis, tics, buccolingual sterotypy, and dystonic movement.The disorder persists even after the offending drug has been removed though scientists don’t understand exactly why this occurs.
That being said, in patients with Huntington’s disease, before the Huntington’s diagnosis is made, patients or parents may describe the patient as “impulsive” or “irritable” with anger management issues. This impulsivity might be mistaken for a mental illness and medication that provokes tardive dyskinesia. At this juncture, readers might also be interested in knowing about trauma and trauma-informed therapies that can be helpful in reducing symptoms of impulsivity, irritability, and anger. Indeed, it’s possible that, at least in some cases, that trauma is what triggers chorea symptoms in Huntington’s disease. Thus, releasing trauma through trauma-informed therapies like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing / EMDR, hypnotherapy and guided meditation or brain entrainment, and of course, sacred medicine work, can function as a preventative strategy to avoid symptoms altogether or at least lessen their severity for those with this disease.
Click here to learn more about the DreamLight.app, an online guided meditation and brain-entrainment tool.
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder (PANDAS), for example, is a disorder that develops after a child has a Streptococcus pyogenes infection like strep throat. The disease is treatable, but the best treatments are natural treatments rather than the medicines prescribed by doctors (which can make the situation worse). Some doctors might diagnose a child with autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) instead of PANDAS or Sydenham’s chorea. Nonetheless, if you understand that this type of movement disorder is treatable using medicinal agents like Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua, you might consider administering these medicines to patients with other forms of chorea, like Huntington’s chorea (though doctors say it cannot be cured), as these herbs have an extremely broad spectrum of action. Perhaps Cinchona officinalis won’t be able to cure Huntington’s chorea, but the quinine in this herb may still help with symptom management in some cases. Indeed, the substance known as “quinic acid” is found in Cinchonca officinalis along with quinine and quinic acid can prevent the development of Huntington’s disease, perhaps through its ability to keep inflammation under control in the digestive system.
Quinine, as a synthetic, prescription drug, can produce side effects, most of which can be overcome by strategically supplementing with L-tryptophan prior to taking a course of quinine. Side effects are mostly caused by tryptophan deficiency. But though Cinchona officinalis contains quinine, it does not have the same risk profile as synthetic quinine simply because the other substances found in the whole herb help to buffer the effects of the quinine content. Quinic acid is a substance that can reduce inflammation in the gut and modify how the body uses the quinine content in Cinchona officinalis and also prevent the development of Huntington’s chorea
Some choreas are regarded as “genetic” a term that we discussed earlier in great detail while other choreas include:
-
Vascular choreas
-
Autoimmune choreas
-
Metabolic or toxic choreas
-
Drug-induced choreas
-
Chorea caused by Levodopa (the drug, not the natural substance known as Levodopa)
-
-
Infection
-
Stroke
Click here to subscribe to the Living Database now.
Resources
Cardoso, F. (2009). Huntington Disease and Other Choreas. Retrieved July 23, 2026 from https://www.neurologic.theclinics.com/article/S0733-8619(09)00020-6/fulltext
Hossam, R. and Thabit, S. (2024). Quinic acid protects against the development of Huntington’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans model. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12906-024-04670-4
Kaiser, J. (2025). In a first, gene therapy seems to slow Huntington’s disease. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://www.science.org/content/article/first-gene-therapy-seems-slow-huntington-disease
Feleus, S. et al. (2024). Medication Use and Treatment Indications in Huntington’s Disease; Analyses from a Large Cohort. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mdc3.14230
Ekwudo, M. N. et al. (2024). The microbiota-gut-brain axis in Huntington’s disease: pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic targets. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.17102
Kotta, A. et al. (2025). Diagnostic Challenges in Distinguishing Huntington Disease from Tardive Dyskinesia. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/distinguishing-huntingtons-disease-tardive-dyskinesia/
Hale, H. K. et al. (2025). Methylene Blue Attenuates 3-Nitropropionic Acid-Induced Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Striatal Cells: Therapeutic Implications in Huntington’s Disease Neuropathology. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12610986/
Be sure to take a look at a few of our e-Books titles below that might pertain to your health search:
How to Overcome Huntington’s Disease and Other “Choreas”
Though Huntington's disease is viewed as a "genetic" problem, this does not mean that the disease is not curable. Our genetic code is constantly being altered with certain genes getting "switched on" or "switched off" by environmental conditions. Those with Huntington's disease specifically should keep this in mind as we talk about the "choreas".
NOTE: Wilson’s disease, a treatable movement disorder, can be an overlooked cause behind Huntington’s disease symptoms as well as other types of chorea. Wilson disease and Huntington’s disease can be misdiagnosed due to overlapping movement disorder symptoms and behavioral symptoms. Both conditions cause involuntary movements and mood swings, but Wilson’s disease is caused by toxic copper buildup in the liver and brain and it can be treated easily.
Click here to schedule a health coaching session with us.
My first personal encounter with “chorea” had to do with my granddaughter when she was 2 years old. She had developed hand, foot, and mouth disease (Coxsackievirus) and she was very sick for several days and refused to eat. Lydi and I worked to find ways to make her feel better and also to get rid of the Coxsackievirus infection which can, in later years (if left untreated), cause insulin resistance or diabetes.
Prior to developing this illness, my granddaughter was the type of child who never sat still and who struggled to fall asleep and stay asleep. As I was learning about potential treatments for her, I encountered the written material produced in the 1600s by Dr. Thomas Sydenham and became captivated. Sydenham lived around the time when St. Vitus dance was a health issue that could kill people. St. Vitus dance is essentially a movement disorder, a chorea. Today, Sydenham’s chorea, which is likely the same thing as St. Vitus dance is still a legitimate diagnosis, though it is rarely applied by doctors.
At the same time that I was studying Dr. Sydenham’s material including this information about a disease known as Sydenham’s chorea, I began reading material about diphtheria and the use of alcohol to cure it in its early stages. Alcohol, in low doses, improves insulin sensitivity and most alcoholics actually begin their addiction by using alcohol to overcome insulin insensitivity. Hand, foot, and mouth disease is caused by Coxsackievirus, one of the primary pathogens that can produce diabetes (and probably also alcoholism) later in life. At the time, though, Lydi and I had just finished writing about the powerful relationship between diabetes and alcoholism. On all sides of our family, we have alcoholism as a major issue, but going back far enough in time, we also have ancestors who died of diabetes. So the idea of endogenous retroviruses applies here. If the story of our lives start to become similar in a particular way to the lives our ancestors led, our cells might release a virus that is, in some ways, like an unresolved, unfinished story. If we begin to manifest symptoms of a disease that comes from our ancestry, from our genetic code, then the goal is find a cure and a resolution to the story, but also, finding and searching for the stories from the past that pertain to the disease, in this case, all of the following: Coxsackievirus, hand, foot, and mouth disease, alcoholism, and diabetes.
I was able to find that Coxsackievirus and another pathogen, Streptococcus pyogenes, can partner up to exploit the body’s natural weaknesses. The pathogen that causes Sydenham’s chorea (and possibly my granddaughter’s inability to sit still), can work together to weaken the body in a particular way, making it easier for both Coxsackievirus and Streptococcus pyogenes to infect the body at the same time.
After my granddaughter started feeling better again, I was captivated by the choreas. I was able to locate an old video from the 1950s or so of a young girl about 8 to 10 years old who had a severe case of Sydenham’s chorea. She was prescribed best rest for 6 weeks and the video showed her progress and how the disease completely went away after nothing more than 6 weeks in bed (no other treatments were administered).
Huntington’s chorea is “genetic”, but to be honest, I felt as though my granddaughter developed hand, foot, and mouth disease through an endogenous retrovirus infection rather than through exposure to another child with this disease. We live on a farm and she had not left the farm or had contact with people outside of our family in several weeks at the time when she got sick. So technically, if she developed her symptoms as a result of an endogenous retrovirus that essentially came out of her own genetic code, then her self-limiting disease, which involved chorea-like symptoms, was also “genetic”.
Click here to do a free trial of EMDR to Release Trauma.
Choreas are syndromes that involve brief, abrupt, involuntary movements that have a flowing, almost intentional quality to them. Movements may seem playful or like restlessness. More severe forms of chorea might involve a sometimes violent, “flinging” nature called “ballism”.
Choreas can be misdiagnosed by doctors. Many doctors struggle to differentiate between tardive dyskinesia and Huntington’s disease, for example. Tardive dyskinesia is a drug-induced movement disorder that includes chorea-symptoms as well as athetosis, tics, buccolingual sterotypy, and dystonic movement.The disorder persists even after the offending drug has been removed though scientists don’t understand exactly why this occurs.
That being said, in patients with Huntington’s disease, before the Huntington’s diagnosis is made, patients or parents may describe the patient as “impulsive” or “irritable” with anger management issues. This impulsivity might be mistaken for a mental illness and medication that provokes tardive dyskinesia. At this juncture, readers might also be interested in knowing about trauma and trauma-informed therapies that can be helpful in reducing symptoms of impulsivity, irritability, and anger. Indeed, it’s possible that, at least in some cases, that trauma is what triggers chorea symptoms in Huntington’s disease. Thus, releasing trauma through trauma-informed therapies like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing / EMDR, hypnotherapy and guided meditation or brain entrainment, and of course, sacred medicine work, can function as a preventative strategy to avoid symptoms altogether or at least lessen their severity for those with this disease.
Click here to learn more about the DreamLight.app, an online guided meditation and brain-entrainment tool.
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder (PANDAS), for example, is a disorder that develops after a child has a Streptococcus pyogenes infection like strep throat. The disease is treatable, but the best treatments are natural treatments rather than the medicines prescribed by doctors (which can make the situation worse). Some doctors might diagnose a child with autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) instead of PANDAS or Sydenham’s chorea. Nonetheless, if you understand that this type of movement disorder is treatable using medicinal agents like Cinchona officinalis and Artemisia annua, you might consider administering these medicines to patients with other forms of chorea, like Huntington’s chorea (though doctors say it cannot be cured), as these herbs have an extremely broad spectrum of action. Perhaps Cinchona officinalis won’t be able to cure Huntington’s chorea, but the quinine in this herb may still help with symptom management in some cases. Indeed, the substance known as “quinic acid” is found in Cinchonca officinalis along with quinine and quinic acid can prevent the development of Huntington’s disease, perhaps through its ability to keep inflammation under control in the digestive system.
Quinine, as a synthetic, prescription drug, can produce side effects, most of which can be overcome by strategically supplementing with L-tryptophan prior to taking a course of quinine. Side effects are mostly caused by tryptophan deficiency. But though Cinchona officinalis contains quinine, it does not have the same risk profile as synthetic quinine simply because the other substances found in the whole herb help to buffer the effects of the quinine content. Quinic acid is a substance that can reduce inflammation in the gut and modify how the body uses the quinine content in Cinchona officinalis and also prevent the development of Huntington’s chorea
Some choreas are regarded as “genetic” a term that we discussed earlier in great detail while other choreas include:
-
Vascular choreas
-
Autoimmune choreas
-
Metabolic or toxic choreas
-
Drug-induced choreas
-
Chorea caused by Levodopa (the drug, not the natural substance known as Levodopa)
-
-
Infection
-
Stroke
Click here to subscribe to the Living Database now.
Resources
Cardoso, F. (2009). Huntington Disease and Other Choreas. Retrieved July 23, 2026 from https://www.neurologic.theclinics.com/article/S0733-8619(09)00020-6/fulltext
Hossam, R. and Thabit, S. (2024). Quinic acid protects against the development of Huntington’s disease in Caenorhabditis elegans model. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12906-024-04670-4
Kaiser, J. (2025). In a first, gene therapy seems to slow Huntington’s disease. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://www.science.org/content/article/first-gene-therapy-seems-slow-huntington-disease
Feleus, S. et al. (2024). Medication Use and Treatment Indications in Huntington’s Disease; Analyses from a Large Cohort. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mdc3.14230
Ekwudo, M. N. et al. (2024). The microbiota-gut-brain axis in Huntington’s disease: pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic targets. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.17102
Kotta, A. et al. (2025). Diagnostic Challenges in Distinguishing Huntington Disease from Tardive Dyskinesia. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/distinguishing-huntingtons-disease-tardive-dyskinesia/
Hale, H. K. et al. (2025). Methylene Blue Attenuates 3-Nitropropionic Acid-Induced Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Striatal Cells: Therapeutic Implications in Huntington’s Disease Neuropathology. Retrieved July 26, 2026 from https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12610986/
