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Re: Fatal familial insomnia
Posted by susie on December 28, 1998 at 08:44:59:In Reply to: Re: Fatal familial insomnia posted by Meg on December 27, 1998 at 18:26:05:
Yes, it is a tragic situation. To me it would be like getting Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Huntingtons and maybe a few other diseases all at the same time with the downhill course being much faster and with no treatments available to help. If it were me, I am not sure that I would not want the choice of ending my suffering, so I sort of agree with you on that.
The doctors have no treatments for it. It is one of the new "prion diseases". At some point in life cells in this area of the brain start to make an abnormal form of a normal protein molecule. This event is genetically controlled - because they have the specific gene. The abnormal protein accumulates in the cells so that they cannot work correctly. Thus far, there is no known treatment for these types of diseases. (Another prion disease is the "Mad Cow" disease).
It is not that the doctors did nothing deliberately, it is just that they have no way of even easing the symptoms.
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