Tay-Sachs disease symptoms appear quite early in childhood. Children who acquire it start to show symptoms at three to six months of age as the muscles used to turn over, crawl and sit are affected, making such actions difficult to impossible for the afflicted. Children with Tay-Sachs also startle in an exaggerated manner when confronted with loud noises. Tay-Sachs destroys the enzymes that work to clear growths in the brain and spinal cord, inhibiting children in physical and mental capacities.
Eventually, vision and hearing loss accompanies motor skills loss, seizures, paralysis and loss of intellectual abilities. Sufferers also may develop something called cherry-red spot in the back of the eye. As the disease advances, symptoms become worse and other organs are affected, eventually causing the child to die very early, usually before age 5. Disability in those who have Tay-Sachs symptoms usually become severe by age 2, with the child becoming completely disabled and unable to communicate or help itself.
There are also forms of the disease that can appear in adolescence and early adulthood but are usually milder than infant form and are extremely rare. These include loss of muscle coordination, weakness and movement and speech problems. The afflicted may also suffer from mental illness. The symptoms vary widely among individuals with the adolescent- and adult-onset form but usually start to manifest before age 5 and result in death by age 15. A form called late-onset Tay-Sachs may develop in which there is muscle weakness and slurred speech, but mental abilities remain normal.