« If it's Finances, You're an Idiot| Main | Nerd Word of the Day: Planemo »
Morgellons: The Limits of Sanity
I like the topic of UFOs. Not because of the little green men, but because it tells us something about how our culture deals with the unknown. Cryptozoology is another good topic, as is parapsychology. Lately there's been a new item on the news that is a venture into the unknown, Morgellon's Disease.
First you get a little bump on your hand
then you get specks or little fibers growing out of it. The fibers can be red, blue. Sometimes they wiggle.
Nobody has seen something this odd in quite a while, and it has drawn a lot of public attention. Let's dive down a bit and see what's going on.
First, like UFOs and other oddball phenomenon, its clear that there are real, sane people who are experiencing things with their senses that the rest of us find exceptional.
Cindy Casey suffers from Morgellons. Symptoms of the disease include lesions that leave scars, the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin, and fibers that pop out of the skin."Mostly black and white. Some of them were blue, and some of them were red. The whole area gets really sore and you feel some sort of crawling sensation around the lesion," Casey said.
Doctors examine the subjects, but do not take samples. Why take samples? The subjects are describing things unknown to the medical field. It's not in the textbook, therefore it does not exist. This went on for a long time, until some doctors at Oklahoma State University started really looking into it.
"I am 100 percent convinced that Morgellons is a real disease pathology," said Dr. Randy Wymore, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at OSU.Wymore has spent the past year studying hundreds of fibers from Morgellons patients.
"The samples do look very similar to one another," he said.
Wymore added that the fibers don't look like anything found in textiles. He has also determined that the fibers are not rubbing off from clothing, because doctors at OSU have found the fibers inside the body.
"We were able to observe fibers under completely unbroken skin," he said.
If you have this, don't bother coming by the house.
So what did the doctors say? All of those patients (perhaps hundreds) going to doctors, hoping they would get some help.
The doctors told them they were crazy.
It makes sense. After all, when confronted with the truly unknown, it is much easier to believe in mass delusion or insanity than something new. After all, mass delusion and insanity happen all the time. Truly new things don't happen that much. So the doctors have general name for people who think little things live in their skin: Delusional Parasitosis.
A nice person even made their own website talking about their delusions. If you check out one site from this article, this one is a good one. This site has pictures of the delusion at various magnifications, including video of the delusions.
Why would you need video of a delusion? Check this quote out from another web article:
"I pulled some fibers out, and I was just taking a look at it, and the fibers just started to move around, kind of around each other," Cindy Casey said. "And I screamed to Charles (my husband), 'Charles, come here and look, because everyone's been telling me I'm crazy. Charles, look at this,' and he looked at it, and yeah, he saw it too.""This one I didn't want to believe," Charles Casey said.
Now that it's spread far enough that other doctors are getting it, and OSU is interested, perhaps some progress will be made. The disease may have elements of delusion attached to it, it may be an unknown organism using an unknown vector, it may be truly alien, or it may be some sort of chemical/nano-material reaction. Who knows. That's kind of the point --- science needs some ability to be flexible. Yes. 99% of UFO sightings are fake. Yes. 99% of patients who claim aliens are inside their body are delusional. But let's not generalize. It's perfectly reasonable to assume that we don't know everything. Somebody should be looking at those other 1 percent of cases -- and that's true of all scientific fields. Instead, we get a "herd mentality" that does not facilitate independent analysis.
If your skin flakes look like this, that's probably not good
I think that there may be many things going on here, but to sort it all out, somebody needs to apply some research money. Fortunately, a study may be in the works.
The CDC has formed a task force to investigate Morgellons, and they are launching a study to find out where this condition is most common and who it affects. Texas is one of the states with the most cases per capita, and the epidemiology study may be conducted here.
The CDC has setup an e-mail address for people to ask questions. That e-mail address is morgellonssyndrome@cdc.gov
12 Comments
Leave a comment
They say it's important to get enough fiber in your diet. Perhaps these people went a little overboard? After the 12th bran muffin, the stuff can't get out of the digestive tract fast enough, so it takes a shortcut through the skin. It's as reasonable an explanation as anyone else has given, right?
Great overview of this bizarre phenomenon!
If you are interested in Morgellons Disease or experience Morgellons symptoms, I would like to invite you to participate in the Morgellons Disease Information Community and Message Board at morgellonsite.com
I have the disease or what ever it is on my neck primarily. It was on my butt, and I got it healed up so far. I've tried many remedies and it seems that herbs with hot compacts do the best. They hurt like hell on fire, but seem to slow it down . A product "Yeast Away , and Yeast Control" made to enzymatically disolve celluloid cell wals seems to help throughout the body and I get it from Peak Health in Los Vegas Nv. Oregino is the herb along with Tea Tree Oil and Tumeric in a vasoline salve and then hot packs to drive it in. Ouch!!!!There's more tothe treatment, but I'm not totally healed yet.
Thanks for the comments, Doug. I wish you the best of luck. It sounds like this problem is finally getting the attention it deserves.
The US Center for Disease control is conducting a test and interview of Morgellons victims for one year in Southern California. The fibers that grow out of Morgellons victims skin will be studied at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, but doctors there believe that they are most likely just threads and fibers from clothes, so we might not even find anything out anyway.
if you want to read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22687124/
my last comment was not in may it is January 16, 2008.
I'm a believer. I dont have this terrible infliction but I hope they find out what it is so the people who have this can get the relief they need.
I think its wrong to tell patients that they are delusional when the sores can be seen with the naked eye. If your looking for one person to believe you...well im that person.
Don't stop fighting for a diagnosis. That is what we pay insurance companies for!
This is a nasty disease. Would not wish this on no one. Hang in there and stick together.
To clarify,
Doctors do not just classify people as delusional when presented with unprecedented diseases for no reason. In medicine, everyday it is made apparent that we are far from knowing everything that can happen to the body. Some people die of unknown causes, some have pain in locations with no illness, some have chronic nausea for no reason, some have uncontrollable anxiety, and the list goes on that could fill volumes of books.
The way a doctor approaches a problem is he/she tries to find the simplest answer based on the biology of the human body. It has been shown that some mental disorders can cause individuals to constantly scratch their skin, creating chronic sores, and these disorders can also create a paranoia about a disease driving this behavior.
This is a very logical conclusion based on the evidence presented to the doctor. First, there has never been a disease like this ever documented in the history of human existence, except for the one case leading to the name Morgellons. Second, there is evidence suggesting a mental cause for the disease, leading to the mental diagnosis.
I am not saying that this is not a real disease, it very well could be. It could be a reaction to new chemical, it could be an infection by a new bacterium/virus, it could be some sort of genetic mistake, or it very well could be a hoax. The CDC is currently investigating that claim. I just want to stress, in medicine, it is up to the doctor to deal with rational, empirical evidence to do the best good for the patient. Without good evidence and research, it is impossible to make an accurate diagnosis.
So please, do not label doctors and scientists as non-flexible, because that simply is not true. If we were not flexible, creative, and curious, medicine, or any science for that matter, would not exist because medicine itself is dedicated to understanding that which we do not understand to prevent illness and death. The aim of medicine is to prevent its need.
I hope all of you suffering from this mystery find relief in the near future.
Best,
Dr. Ken
this is a horrible thing ,it started after i tried to save bird eggs after the mother died ,i personally believe its birdmites in different stages i went to a local vet and had him show me a book on birdmites and there lifecycle and the charaistics sure do favor all the things i gotten out of my skin so far....
I am new to this so bear with me;
I have had itch, lumpy skin for 23 years after a long stay in hospital/ Doctors are baffled as to what the cause is and have tried numerous things over the years. Recently had check up at Infectious Diseases clinic and tested positive to staph and strep and was put on heavy anti-biotics. They are hoping that will do the trick but the itching is still prevalant and the lumps, although lessened, are still apparant. Not sure if its Morgellons as don't have the fibers, or at least not seen any so far. Am still trawling the internet to find clues as to what I may potentially have. Can anyone suggest any tests available todetermine Morgellons?
Pam, England
I have been studying Morgellons for 3 years and have spoken with hundreds of victims. I assure you that this disease is real.
Most victims tell me that the only thing that helps them is nutrasilver. It seems to heal the lesions in 3 weeks and eliminate the brain fog, depression and chronic fatigue in about 2 weeks or less. You may wish to give it a try: www.nutrasilver.com