One year ago Alzbeta Mühlbäck and the European Huntington Association established Ask the Doctor. Since then people have been asking questions about Huntington’s disease from all over the world.

The idea behind Ask the Doctor was to provide a low threshold platform where questions related to Huntington’s Disease (HD) could be asked. Over the last year Ask the Doctor have received many questions:

How can I talk to my children about the disease? What does the results of my genetic test mean? What kind of symptoms is normal? How can I handle my hair dresser appointment with hyperkinesia,” among others.

– Many of the questions are similar to the ones I get in everyday clinic, Alzbeta Mühlbäck says. – The worries of HD families are the same all over the world.

The Doctor

Alzbeta Mühlbäck,  Photo: Private

Alzbeta Mühlbäck works as a doctor at the hospital Isar-Amper-Klinikum of Taufkirchen in Germany. She is senior resident of the Neuropsychiatric department at the Huntington Centre. Together with a multidisciplinary team, she works with genetic counselling and neuropsychiatry.

And she is the person sitting behind the computer, answering all the questions.

In other words: Dr. Mühlbäck knows Huntington’s Disease – and she knows the person “behind” the disease.

Questions from all over the world

Since the platform was established, 19 different countries have contacted EHA’s Doctor: from Pakistan to Mexico, from Norway to Australia.

At the moment Ask the Doctor answers questions in English, German, Slovak, Czech, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Spanish, Turkish, French, Romanian and Arabic.

– I am sure that we, with the help of local associations, will be able to handle all the spoken languages in Europe in the future.

A promising future

Mühlbäck takes her time to understand each question and answer them in the best possible way. Sometimes she provides with material, articles, schemes or contact information to local advocacy groups. Unfortunately, there are still countries without local organizations and limited access to information.

– Our goal is to provide information and help, Alzbeta Mühlbäck says.– I think we have established a very promising service with a lot of potential.

And it seems like the people behind all the questions agrees. One of them wrote: “Thank you for your response, it really meant a lot me. I will stay in touch”. And another one: “Thank you for your reply, it’s been very helpful”.

If you have any questions about Huntington’s Disease – ask them here: Ask the Doctor