According to the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN) it is estimated that there are 8,000 ataxia patients in Spain. A disease that can present itself in 200 different ways depending on genetic, environmental or personal factors. Since 2001, the International Friedreich’s Ataxia Day has been celebrated every September 25 so that this disease does not fall into oblivion.
Friedreich’s ataxia affects the nervous system and the heart. Its discovery was made in 1863 by the German physician Nikolaus Friedreich. Most types of ataxia are degenerative and their origin is given by the loss of cerebellar function or in the anomaly of the associated pathways.
Symptoms of Ataxia
The main neurological symptoms of this rare, non-contagious disease are: difficulty in coordinating joint movements, muscle weakness, speech problems, involuntary eye movements, scoliosis and palpitations. The first indications that a person may suffer from this pathology are signs such as: frequent stumbling, inability to play sports or instability when walking.
From the time the first symptom appears, it may take 5 to 15 years to be completely affected and need a wheelchair. In the case of hereditary ataxia, the disease can only be transmitted if the mother and father are both carriers of the gene. Our body can be a carrier of a gene, but without developing the disease.
Treatment of Ataxia
Currently, there is no single treatment for ataxia, but there are treatments for its symptoms. Important research is progressing on the chromosome and the gene that causes it, chromosome 9 and frataxin. It is being studied whether antioxidants and iron-forming chelators, components that help transport iron through the body and excrete it, can slow the course of Ataxia.