New Lesson: A-P-B-What?

 

I am pleased to announce the launch of our newest lesson in the MyJewishGeneticHealth.com series: Adult Polyglucosan Body Disease (APBD). “What’s that?” you say? Well, as you will learn as you watch the webinar and read through the associated materials, it’s an adult onset condition causing numbness, walking difficulty, and urinary problems, it is more common in Ashkenazi Jews, and is frequently misdiagnosed!

The fact that this condition is frequently misdiagnosed is a really big deal. It means a lot of people may be undergoing unnecessary treatments or not getting the supportive therapies that would be helpful for them. When we began to develop this lesson, and I first started learning about APBD, I started thinking about all the people who might actually have this condition but never knew it, and have been undergoing frequent evaluations and unsuccessful treatments, all of which could have been avoided if the proper diagnosis was made.

It doesn’t surprise me that most people haven’t heard of APBD; I hadn’t heard of it until we began working on this lesson. I think a little awareness will hopefully go a long way, and might help some in our community have a better understand of their own symptoms and health, and to have their diagnostic odyssey finally come to an end.