• Question: Has a patient ever had creutzfeldt-Jakob? If so how did you treat it?

    Asked by anon-216556 to Robert, Olly, Nicola, Jasmin, Dennis, Caroline on 10 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Dennis Relojo-Howell

      Dennis Relojo-Howell answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I haven’t heard of that condition. I have to google it. The best thing to do is to refer that person to a clinical psychologist or other mental health professional.

    • Photo: Robert Dempsey

      Robert Dempsey answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Like Dennis, I hadn’t heard of this condition before. I don’t work therapeutically so I don’t think I would be likely to meet someone with this condition. I think speaking to a medical profession (e.g. a GP) would be best

    • Photo: Oliver Clabburn

      Oliver Clabburn answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I’ve not heard of CJD before and so not worked or met someone with it. As mentioned by Dennis and Rob, referring to a specialist would be best.

    • Photo: Caroline Brett

      Caroline Brett answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I have heard of this condition as I used to be a medical secretary in neurology and some of the neurologists (these are doctors who specialise in the brain) I worked with there also worked at a Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) clinic (in Edinburgh). Later in my career I also met a researcher working in this unit. It is a very complex and unusual condition! Unfortunately as I am not a clinician myself I have never treated anyone with this condition and wouldn’t know where to start – they are usually seen by neurologists who specialise in CJD (not all neurologists do – even they don’t know everything!), who then might refer on to psychologists where appropriate.

    • Photo: Jasmin Moon

      Jasmin Moon answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      I used to work in a residential home where one of the residents had suspected CJD. However, I believe the only way to confirm the diagnosis for certain is to look at the brain after the person has died so we could never be 100% sure. His symptoms were the same as the other residents who had advanced dementia so we looked after him in the same way that we did the other people he lived with.

    • Photo: Nicola Johnstone

      Nicola Johnstone answered on 12 Jun 2019:

      This is a pretty rare disease typically treated by medical doctors and is not something I have encountered.

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