Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  It's my birthday too.  Always a fun day to have a birthday on because everyone is celebrating and in a Jolly mood.  I was teasing the reporter today about wearing green and we were talking about keeping the old, "I'm wearing green underwear" in your back pocket to keep from getting pinched. 

There's a big up roar about this case of CJD in Fayetteville and everyone is terrified.  With good reason, because it is a really scary disease.  3 months or less from diagnosis to death and going from completely normal to falling down, hallucinating, losing your mind and memory, losing use of your muscles and dying of organ failure secondary to brain death.  Terrifying stuff right.  I try not to think about it too much, but yeah, it can get your blood pressure going if you let it. 

I first learned about this disease in my pathology fellowship.  A year doing autopsies!  How fun!  I had a mentor who was very interested as he had the gene for it and had several family members who had been afflicted.  Good motivation to learn more.  He was from Central America.  My motivation has been hormone problems my whole life which has empowered me to learn and teach life transformation of health and wellness to patients for over 20 years!  I won't tell you how old I am today on my birthday.... LOL  but knocking on the door of 50.  :-) 

The good news about CJD...
is it's really RARE!  Less than a 1000 cases reported in the US a year.  You have more of a chance of getting breast cancer (1 in 8) or dying in a car crash than getting this horrible disease. 

So what is this disease everyone is asking?  It is a disease of the brain DNA encode proteins by a defective protein called a prion (some think it akin to some sort of virus, but can't be killed or treated like viruses so it is virtually an unknown entity... which makes it really scary, right?!?  Fear of the unknown.  And what is worse is we don't know how to kill it effectively or cure someone once these prions start doing there thing.  So what is their thing?  It's replicating proteins that fold over each other like a fruit roll up and this folding makes tough plaques called Amyloid that stops the flow of information.  This stopping of the flow causes neuron death and where these cell deaths occur a big hole forms.  These holes accumulate and cause a sponge like appearance.  This is why we call it a spongiform encephalopathy (sponge brain) and results in complete destruction of the brain. 

How do you get it? 

Most cases we have NO idea how they contracted it.  NO known risk factors.

About 15% of cases are of some sort of familial or genetic component meaning someone in your family has it and passes the genes on to you for these defective prions. 

And the really good news is that less than 1% is contracted or transmitted from someone else.  Meaning you can catch it but you'd have to come in direct contact with brains or spinal fluid or blood that has been in contact with the brain.  Unless you are a cannibal or zombie, the risk is pretty low!!! 

How is it diagnosed?  Basically when you have ruled everything else that is treatable or curable out.  Brain biopsy is the only way and only done after you have died usually.  It is important to find or treat other infections like meningitis which are much more common and thankfully curable. 

How is it related to Mad Cow Disease?  Mad cow or Bovine spongiform encephalopathy has only one type of spongiform encephalopathy of which CJD is a type as well.  NO cases of Mad Cow have been found in the US so as for now I think we are safe.

So, in summary... very rare.  Not easily contracted.  And it's actually a really good thing if there has been a case identified because they can take precautions to prevent any risk of spread.  It's not knowing that is the scary thing.  Knowledge is power!!!

I consider myself The Health Empowerment Queeen!  I encourage people to know as much as they can about their bodies and strive for health and transformation. 

To learn more about Better Living Rx (Live Better Longer) or any of our programs go to www.betterlivingrx.com or visit me on my facebook page Dr Tammy or The Naked Doctor Show Facebook page.

To learn more about CJD: 

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creutzfeldt%E2%80%93Jakob_disease

Want to ask me a question or ask a question for the weekly radio show we do, facebook message me! 

The more you know, the more you are!