I'm scared - CJD

[daisycake]

I read a magazine article about this not long ago - and just when I'm feeling fine it comes creeping back to haunt me. I was born in 1991; so I think I must be at high risk? But my mum was born long before that so she must be at even higher risk? I'm really frightened, what if, what if's running through my head, and I need to be up early tommorow cos I'm getting my ears syringed but I'm too scared to go to sleep, I want to phone my mum (I'm at Uni) but she'll be in bed :weep:I don't know what to do please help :weep:

[nomorepanic]

Why are you worried about it now?

If you had it you would know by now 8 years later.

[daisycake]

Yeah I know, I latched onto my worst enemy google and it said it can take decades to develop and as many as 1 in a thousand have it - hence me panicing :unsure: got my first counselling appointment tommorow though, might mention this

[nomorepanic]

Oh please don't google

You are looking for reasons for your problems now and Google is not a good place to look

You are fine

[Deepest Blue]

Hi daisycake,

I share your fears on this subject and I was worried about this for many many years back in 1996 when it all surfaced and went a bit out of control in the media. I become so frightened of this because I had eaten so much meat (some bad meat too, eg, Kebabs, Pies, Burgers) that I was totally convinced that I was going to develop it.

The actual illness you're talking about is called nvCJD (new variant), and not the Sporadic CJD in which normally only occurrs in older people. There is a big difference.

As I said, I was really concerned about this so I took up the trouble of studying this illness for about a whole year, gathering facts, watching every documentary, reading every article, every bit of scientific evidence and although it's conclusive that you can develop it from infected meat, the chances are still very slim because when all is said and done, it depends on your genetic make up whether you're going to develop it or not, just like with cancer or any other faulty cell in your body, it depends on how you're genetically made up if the cell is going to mutate into the illness.

Even if you were exposed to it and carried the faulty prion protein in your brain (which is what CJD is referred to), you may never develop it, and I believe the last study I read was that only a tiny% of the population were genetically made up in a way that you'd develop the illness and cases in humans have been on the decline in recent years anyway. If there was anything to worry about, for sure you would have heard it in the media now, the number of deaths are still in the 100's since it all began, that's a really tiny number.

The incubation period of nvCJD is around 5 years from the early 90's so as already been said people would have developed it by now.

I hope this has made you feel a bit better,
Take Care
Danny

[daisycake]

Thank you :) glad to know I'm not the only one worried about this! I started panicing because a) I can't remember how much meat I might have eaten at that time, and b) I also had my adeniods taken out in 1999 - but even so I can't spend the rest of my life worrying about this, it's a bit silly! xx