Newbie, scared of vcjd

[miranda808]

Hello everyone! A little background on me. I am from the US, I am a 24 year old female. I have suffered from HA my whole life, but the last 4 months have been the worst I have ever experienced. I had a horrible panic attack out of the blue in March and haven't been well since. Lately my HA kick is that I have contracted VCJD (human form of mad cow disease). I know, it is crazy. I know it is so rare and never been traced to anyone in the US that didn't reside in the UK at some point. I just can't stop reading about it and finding anything on it and how I am feeling is the symtpoms on there. The two that are the worst is my skin constantly feels sticky. To explain more it feels like when you spill something sticky on your arm and that sensation of filmy stickiness that you could normally wipe off the sticky substance and it would go away. This is just a sensation I am having all the time but there is obviously not anything sticky on my skin. I am not sweating or anthing but the sticky sensation just wont let up. I also have been feeling very off balance like I am on a boat and it is bobbing up and down. I feel unsteady when I walk but I can walk still and don't have falls or anything. I have been to the doctor numerous times and he says it is just anxiety. He did a nero test on me yesterday, just the basics like reflex's and muscle strength, following the light with your eyes. He said everything looks fine and I didn't even dare to mention the fear of VCJD because I knew he would think I was crazy. I feel like I am forgetting more things and my mind is foggy. I try to keep in my mind the fact that this is almost impossible for me to have but it is such a mysterious disease and so new that I keep thinking the dreadful "what if's". Does anyone here know what the "sticky skin sensations" listed under the symptoms of VCJD actually feel like to real patients with it? I can't find much on it and when I look up sticky skin sensations the only disease that comes up is VCJD. It is really freaking me out and if anyone knows anything please let me know. I am seeing a therapist for the first time today so we will see how that goes.

Thanks all and god bless

[Downsouthdevil]

Hey,

this is my first post in months, please look at my older posts and u will see that a year ago I was having the same issue as you.

I, like many of the users of this site, experienced a wide range of neurological like anxiety symptoms. I categorically believed I was dying of vcjd and the stress of that belief reaped havock on my body.

A year later, I'm still here, no worse, still havin anxiety symptoms, but not dying. I did way too much research on vcjd and can tell you for sure that if you've never eaten beef in uk or France then the chances of you having are ridiculously small.

At its worst in the mid 90's BSe affected 100's of thousands of uk cattle. It is estimated that every uk citizen has consumed up to 50 meals of infected beef, however only 176 cases of vcjd in humans has been diagnosed in 16 years. the US have only had a few isolated incidents of BSe in cattle.

According to a recent report in the UK media there has not been a new diagnosis of vcjd in Britain since 2010. Hopefully the worst is over. Please stop worrying, the cost of obsession can be far greater to you than the cost of vcjd is ever likely to be.

[miranda808]

Thanks for the reply. As scary as it is, it is comforting to know that someone went through the same thing. Google is about the worst thing I can do. It is hard to control the impulses but I am going to try my best and just take on one day at a time. Is there any medications you found useful? I tried buspar but 4 months but just came off of it as it did nothing for me.

The facts you presented are re assuring and I am going to make the choice to try my best to believe it is just anxiety and the more I think about the symptoms, the more real they become.