barbaric_yawp
02-14-2006, 02:51 PM
Happy Valentines to you all! Hugs all around!
Question: Alz. and mad cow have the same symptoms, how do you know that your loved one does not have the latter? Idaho has a high rate of mad cow (9--I know, sounds low, but I think it is one of the highest in the U.S.), and I think bc of this my mom was initially diagnosed with MC.
Can PET scans tell the difference between the two?
B.Y.
Question: Alz. and mad cow have the same symptoms, how do you know that your loved one does not have the latter? Idaho has a high rate of mad cow (9--I know, sounds low, but I think it is one of the highest in the U.S.), and I think bc of this my mom was initially diagnosed with MC.
Can PET scans tell the difference between the two?
B.Y.
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Martha H
02-14-2006, 04:00 PM
Dear B.Y.
I was in Europe when the BCE scare first came out. It is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, and Creuzfeld Jakob's Disease in humans.
It has only affected a handful of humans in the entire world since it became identified in the 80s or 90s.
It causes such rapid deterioration that the person is usually dead within weeks. The brain turns into sponge-like tissue.
Alzheimer's on the other hand cause 'plaques and tangles' in the brain ... e.g. something HARD, not soft like a sponge.
C-F is so rare that few doctors have ever seen it. It is usually not diagnosed until post mortem.
You have already been writing to this Board for longer than the entire run of this disease, and your Mom is still walking, eating, and living a nearly normal life. Relax, it is not Creuzfeld Jakob's.
The few people who got it were almost all butchers who worked with raw cow meat.
Cheer up - this is the first time on this Board where I have encountered a disease WORSE than Alzheimers, and hope to cheer someone up by saying, relax, it's only Alzheimer's ...
Read up on it and you will see major differences.
Love,
Martha
I was in Europe when the BCE scare first came out. It is called bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle, and Creuzfeld Jakob's Disease in humans.
It has only affected a handful of humans in the entire world since it became identified in the 80s or 90s.
It causes such rapid deterioration that the person is usually dead within weeks. The brain turns into sponge-like tissue.
Alzheimer's on the other hand cause 'plaques and tangles' in the brain ... e.g. something HARD, not soft like a sponge.
C-F is so rare that few doctors have ever seen it. It is usually not diagnosed until post mortem.
You have already been writing to this Board for longer than the entire run of this disease, and your Mom is still walking, eating, and living a nearly normal life. Relax, it is not Creuzfeld Jakob's.
The few people who got it were almost all butchers who worked with raw cow meat.
Cheer up - this is the first time on this Board where I have encountered a disease WORSE than Alzheimers, and hope to cheer someone up by saying, relax, it's only Alzheimer's ...
Read up on it and you will see major differences.
Love,
Martha
barbaric_yawp
02-14-2006, 06:46 PM
relax, it's only Alzheimer's ..
Whew, you can say that again. I did not realize that C.J kills so fast. I am relieved to know my mom will have many more 'good' years under her belt.
Thanks so much for your reply, that probably wraps this thread up :D
B.Y.
Whew, you can say that again. I did not realize that C.J kills so fast. I am relieved to know my mom will have many more 'good' years under her belt.
Thanks so much for your reply, that probably wraps this thread up :D
B.Y.