Happy new year to the Ozb community.
For those who have a Audible account you may have already come across this brilliant book "Gut".
I'm about half way through and can say its very insightful. It is free for members (even a free trial account still gets this for free)
Enjoy learning more about this amazing organ and its incredible abilities!
Its especially interesting to me having just had my 3rd major bowel surgery as a result of Crohn's disease!
Happy listening :)
So that makes this a š© deal?
Available to more people free, if they're interested.
Non Audible member price $30.
A great š© dealš
Correction, my library has the ebook, not audio.
You can also return the audible, if you had already purchased it before it became the free monthly, and get the credit back as $14.95 coupon
Not free in the US store:(
is a subscription on Audible US any better than Audible AU in other ways?
I have been a member since before it was available here, and you can't transfer purchased titles across.
How long before purchasing budget faecal transplants for weight loss .. gets it's own OzB Forum heading!? lol
Horrible disease OP. Best for your future.
Thanks for the kind words :) I've had it for 26 years and hope to share more of my story to help those who like me went through it during their teenage years. All the best try2bhelpful!
Good for you on trying to help others when you are suffering. Iāve had a few health issues but, everytime Iāve end up in hospital, I seem to encounter someone worse off. I was having a Melanoma removed and the woman in the prep bed next to me had CJD. People like you are really suffering something awful, some of the rest of us need to get perspective.
did she tell you how she got the CJD? that's really rare. did she eat some brain matter?
@bargain huntress: Yes, very rare & cause may be unknown as most cases seem to be spontaneous CJD (involving prions).
At Uni I remember learning about historic Kuru (a variant CJD). Was confined to tribes in PNG that ate the brains of captured warriors from other tribes. It was of interest as it was rare & confined, so the cause was discovered. And then variant CJD was found in the UK as "mad cow disease". Definitely not a usual cause of CJD.
A terrible disease!
@INFIDEL: thanks for the reply.
there are still some rare groups around who eat human brains. a hindu sect apparently is one.
there are many more people who eat animal brains and i have heard that it can be transmitted that way also. but apparently mad cow disease can be transmitted from any part of the cow or its milk possibly.
i have also heard the back in the day before synthesised drugs people caught it from ground up human brains they took as medicine. lots of kids who are getting old now.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cjd+pituitary+growth+hormoneā¦
i remember Deni Crane on Boston Legal wondering if his Alzheimers might be mad cow. Scientists were hypothesising that lots of people may have been infected and not know.
And speculating that there is a prion connection between the three disorders.
https://www.google.com/search?q=alzeimers+mad+cow+disease&rlā¦
@bargain huntress: I remembered it from my studies long ago. Just then the word Kuru popped into my memory. It's not something that comes up in conversation very often!
Some believe eating certain creatures will give them the power of the creature. Animism can be seen in forms of Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism etc. And in tribal ceremonies where the strength of the enemy or venerated member of the tribe would be incorporated by by eating their brain.
These traditions are dying out.
Prions are a relatively recent discovery & more research is necessary.
Beyond that, I know little. We all hope to escape it in our lives, as it has terrible consequences.
Just having a chat with a friend in a tiny Japanese mountain village. He was the person who performed the Shinto ceremonies for his village of 200 people. But he doesn't believe in them. He is surprised I am interestedš
@bargain huntress: She wasnāt telling me anything, she was foetal position sick, I donāt think she wouldāve lasted much longer. When I saw the surgeons had the full āsplash gearā on I decided to listen in. Im not sure where she got it from but given this was nearly 20 years ago it might have been from England. It certainly put the removal of my melanoma in perspective.
@try2bhelpful: @try2bhelpful
yeah. towards the top of the list of worst diseases (and deaths) possible i reckon. just beaten by lewy body dementia perhaps.
sounds like she might have been one of the poor bastards who were given dead guy pituitary as kids if they weren't growing properly - right time and place.
@bargain huntress: I felt really sorry for her. It is awful to think but, at least, she was beyond understanding what was wrong with her. The UK had made some stupid decisions with feeding cows, contaminated blood supplies, medical procedures. Difficult to tell. Whatever went wrong she got dealt a bad hand.
@bargain huntress: Lewy is the truly scary one. It is the 2nd most common type of progressive dementia after Alzheimer's.Those who have a family member with LBD or Parkinson's disease are at greater risk.
My Grandpa had it :( Sure hope euthanasia is legalised before I reach my late 50s. It is a terrible, terrible way to die.
Lewy is the truly scary one. My Grandpa had it
i still can't believe that robin williams - a man who spent his life giving joy to others - had to go that way.
if there is a god, i think he/she/it might be an $$$****
@bargain huntress: Variant CJD, which is linked to consumption of contaminated meat products, does not occur in Australia.
ā
@INFIDEL: No cases of variant CJD has been identified in Australia to date.
Classical CJD occurs in Australia and about one in one million people per year develops the disease. There are 3 types of classical CJD:
@[Deactivated]: We will never know, as was pointed out She wasnāt telling me anything.
As I said earlier, I studied it at Uni & most cases seem to be spontaneous (sporadic) CJD.
@INFIDEL: We can definitively diagnose variant CJD via tonsil or brain biopsy and that is how we know that there hasn't been any vCJD diagnosed here.
There's also a blood test that can now be done but it is not as definitive as a biopsy.
@[Deactivated]: The point made - in this particular case we will never know!
We don't know for certain if it was CJD. So no point theorising!
Tests are irrelevant to the particular question. We don't have access to the patient files & the (presumably deceased) patient.
All that can be surmised is it was not vCJD, as No cases of variant CJD have been identified in Australia to date.
@[Deactivated]: And kept on commenting about for that time! Pointless in a simple question asked out of curiosity & presumably compassion!
@INFIDEL: Why not just admit you were wrong and that you've just done a backflip?
Pointless in a simple question asked out of curiosity & presumably compassion!
Not pointless since you, and presumably try2bhelful, have just learned something new. Glad I could assist :p
@[Deactivated]: I said it was most likely Sporadic CJD yesterday! I chose the alternative term Spontaneous as it seemed easier to understand for a general discussion.
That was an appropriate level of response to a general interest comment on the subject.
I pointed out my response - to you. But you were too busy "proving" to read / listen.
Bombarding people with facts & stats is pointless in a general discussion. We have Google for further information. That was not the level of information sought!
I added the possibility of vCJD being present in Australia from overseas contact - in response to you comment that it does not occur in Australia. It just hasn't been found, yet - in those tested. That does not mean it does not occur in Australia!
I did not refer to the case discussed!
The risk is significant enough (though unlikely) for blood transfusions, that people have been screened (via questions) for possible contact with it overseas before donating blood.
Nothing new added! You're very late to this general sharing about illness.
Don't have a clue what you think you were "proving"?? You really missed the point of this discussion!
A very arrogant intrusion, lacking compassion, into a discussion sharing personal health issuesš
You rate your importance far higher than I ever would. That's all I learnt.
Goodbye!
chose the alternative term Spontaneous as it seemed easier to understand for a general discussion.
So you chose a term that doesn't exist to make it easier for others to understand?Hmmm…
That was an appropriate level of response to a general interest comment on the subject.
How arrogant! And how insulting for the 2 other people involved in this discussion.
Bombarding people with facts & stats is pointless in a general discussion.
??? Would you rather I take your lead and make up terms and dumb down the information for @try2bhelful? I can assure you that she is more than capable of understanding these facts and stats.
(…) in response to you comment that it does not occur in Australia
I never said that. My actual comment was that "no cases of variant CJD has been identified in Australia to date."
Don't have a clue what you think you were "proving"??
By providing facts and stats rather than using dumbed down language and making up terms? I'm beginning to wonder why I bothered myself.
A very arrogant intrusion, lacking compassion, into a discussion sharing personal health issuesš
Intrusion? It is a public forum after all but I do apologise if I came across as lacking compassion. That was never my intention nor reflective of who I am as a person.
You rate your importance far higher than I ever would.
The feeling is mutual.
That's all I learnt.
That is a shame. I've worked in this area as part of a team of researchers and could have provided you with a lot more insights into this disease than your uni textbook ever did.
By the way, I've noticed that you've negged my comments, got super defensive and come across as angry in my replies to me.I wonder what that says about you and your level of maturity…
On that note, goodnight.
P.s: No hard feelings:)
We can definitively diagnose variant CJD via tonsil or brain biopsy
How come tonsils work?
@INFIDEL: Forgot to mention that the progession of the disease is also different between vCJD and the other types of CJDs.
And yes, every suspected case gets biopsied post-mortem as it is a matter of public health safety.
@[Deactivated]: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/creutzfeldt-jakob-disease-cjd/
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48947232
There is nothing to say she contracted it in Australia. It can have a reasonably long period from contraction to symptoms.
@[Deactivated]: Thanks for the update. Looks like we can put a stop to the potential āif only she was Veganā side argument here.
Maybe you two need to dial up the civility and just have a good chat. It sounds like you could have a mutually interesting discussion :)
I did actually learn some new things, which isnāt bad for someone in their late 50s whoās worried about dementia. Yes, I am glad Euthanasia is available in Victoria but, sadly, it would appear having dementia might complicate your access to it. Personally, I want to be able to create the equivalent of a living will as to what is ātoo much to bearā but, it would appear, some people prefer I suffer rather than be able to make my own decisions and take my own consequences.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/how-victoria-s-aā¦
The point of my comment wasnāt to spark an argument just to point out that there are, always, people worse off than we are and offer a fellow Ozbargainer my support.
it would appear, some people prefer I suffer rather than be able to make my own decisions and take my own consequences.
Yes. My grandpa was a doctor so he knew what was coming. For him, waiting for the inevitable was more unbearable than the inevitable itself. He died alone and scared and caused unbelievable trauma to those who loved him.That should never have happened. He should have been afforded the right to die with dignity when it was no longer possible for him to live with dignity š¢
@[Deactivated]: Amen to that one. When my grandmother had a stroke she had just enough left to keep trying to take the feed tube out. They tied her hands to the bed. My mother forced them to take it out and we had to let her starve to death (heavily sedated). Part of the problem is our public Hospitals, and old peopleās homes, are, too often, run by religious organisations. Especially with the religious freedom (to discriminate) legislation on our doorstep I wonder if people are going to find hurdles in their way to accessing doctors willing to provide the necessary sign offs. In Australia people already have a right to worship, so that argument is a furphy. I have a very big objection if their beliefs infringe on the rights, and lives, of others. Religion should play no part in a public organisation selecting a nurse or a doctor. Iām not arrogant enough to say their isnāt a God, Iām just arrogant enough to think the current religious models donāt seem to make a lot of sense but, if someone wants to follow them, personally, that is their choice. I just wish people would get rid of the middle men and talk to their Deity directly. Frankly I like to chat to āGodā, even if the reality is Iām only providing my own sounding board.
Looks like we can put a stop to the potential āif only she was Veganā side argument here.
zoonosese still worry me though. if veganism wasn't so incredibly nutritionally difficult to pull off, that would be enough of a reason for me
@bargain huntress: If we stopped crowding animals into feedlots, feeding them the untreated offcuts of other animals, stopped selective breeding and stopped misuing antibiotics we would reduce the risk of these things happening. Personally, I think, we will eventually be the masters of our own demise. It will just depend on what insanity finally gets us. Interestingly enough there is a school of thought that the healthiest that the English population has been was during the second world war. Lots of fruit and vegetables, a measured amount of meat, butter and eggs. Lots of exercise due to fuel shortages and rationing. People were encouraged to grow food in their gardens. Would be minimal alchohol as well. We could all, do worse, than using that as an example.
@[Deactivated]: @JarJar
about 90% of classical CJD cases occur by chance (sporadic CJD)
@Infidel
Yes, very rare & cause may be unknown as most cases seem to be spontaneous CJD (involving prions).
in my opinion all this means is that they haven't found the reason yet
i very much doubt it is actually random or sporadic or spontaneous
do i get to keep it after february like a purchase?
Yes
thanks
No problems. I've picked up these free offers before - still on my bookshelf long after my subscription ended.
![[Audiobook] "Gut" The International Best Selling Book by Giulia Enders Free for Subscribers @ Audible](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/68/512268.jpg?h=2b49a9c0)
Not currently an Audible subscriber, but interested.
Found it at local library in book or audio format. So downloaded it free.
Stay health OP!