“How can thousands be experiencing the same DOP at the same time? That does not make sense.”
That’s a good question, because it’s a point often used by people who believe they have “Morgellons” to “prove” that it’s real.
Dismissing things because they “don’t make sense”, is an “argument from a lack of imagination“, which is somewhat ironic, since the one thing that Morgies do not seem to lack is imagination. They believe in several things that do not make sense, but they believe them because they seem to fit their view of the world.
So, how can thousands of people have the same condition? Obviously that’s the wrong question right there, as nearly every medical condition has thousands of sufferers.
No, the question being proposed is “how can thousands of individuals have the EXACT SAME DELUSION”?
This question actually has two complementary answers. 1) Easily, and 2) They don’t.
Let’s be clear about the delusion. A delusion is fixed false belief, held contrary to the evidence. The Morgellons delusion is not that people have sores, which they obviously do. It is not the fibers themselves, as there are clearly fibers everywhere. It is not the itching, since itching is a subjective experience. No, the Morgellons delusion is that the fibers are somehow connected to the sores and itching.
(1) How can people share this same delusion? Easily. People itch for a lot of reasons, some scratch a bit too much, forming blisters and sores. Sores are wet and sticky, they get debris in them, people think the debris (fibers, dirt, etc) is what is causing the sores, so they try to pick them out. Later they hear of Morgellons, and think “that’s it!”
(2) How can people share this same delusion? They don’t. They all have different delusions. They all have different experiences with their symptoms. Their physical illnesses are varied. Their theories are varied. Even the fibers are different. Compare Anne Dill, Greg Vigil, Stan Skoumal, Andrew Leitao, Mister X, Ever Hopeful, Cindy Casey. There’s a lot of variety there. They don’t all have the same thing.
People are ill. People are genuinely ill. They deserve compassion and they deserve treatment. Some of them have a lot of imagination. I just wish they could use that imagination to try to imagine the possibility that they might have been mistaken in some of their beliefs, and imagine the possibility that their lives might be a little better if they let go of Morgellons.
Come check out the Morgellons Disease message board @ http://www.morgellonsite.com
Morgies tend to think that being delusional means that they are hallucinating. I’ve repeatedly tried to make them understand, as you have in this latest topic, that delusions are fixed false beliefs. They don’t seem to get it though.
You’re correct in stating that they don’t all have the same exact delusion. Most of them do, however, seem to have a similar misunderstanding about the fibers being part of a disease process.
They also tend to blame “Morgellons” for every unrelated disorder they have. These people may or may not need antipsychotic medication, but they do, in my opinion, need counselling.
Letting go isn’t easy. It has become their lives. I know. I’ve been there.
Tall Cotton
Naturally, there are many variables to this condition dubbed as “morgellons disease”, but in my very strong opinion, I believe that hallucinations are involved in quite a few people. Too many people discuss relationship problems due to others not seeing what they do. Too many move from home to home trying to get away from what they see there, just to find it’s followed them. Some say they see things everywhere they happen to be. Some see things all over other people and are troubled that they are unaware of it. Some report that the “critters” are reading their minds and go into hiding when they know that someone else might see them. As problematic as delusions themselves are, and waht causes them, hallucinations serve to make delusional states much harder for the victim to realize. But, with such a strong belief in this phenomenon of a “disease called morgellons”, even for those who aren’t hallucinating, it seems that some of them want to be seeing what others are, sometimes, saying it’s something they need to be looking harder for. The reinforcement people receive through interacting on the web is astounding, and, sadly, I don’t really expect quite a few to resolve their conditions. I, too, wish they were able to apply their imaginations towards the possibility that they could be mistaken, and to realize that the mind has the capacity to deceive when we’re ill.
The medical community also has the capacity to deceive when we are ill.
You better hope Mr. Smarty pants, that you don’t catch this horrific delusion. By the way, are you a doctor? I will challenge any one who thinks this is a delusion, to come and take a warm bath w/me. he he he…..you, I promise will not call it a delusion anymore. You will however, call it the most horrible thing you’ve ever seen. By the way, go to Dr. Hildegarde Staninger’s Toxicoloy report on Morgellons. She took the time to actually see what these oozing monsters were all about.. hmmmmm funny she actually found a silicone bicarbonate in the Morgellons sufferer. Fiber optics Material silica hmmmm government hmmmmmm….florescence….hmmmm….hmmmmm
CDC dragging thier feet….hmmmmm …I’m dying…..hmmmm…..Bush Sucks …duh…hmnm…….”Oh but wait, that all plays into thier DOP diagnosis that they give every sufferer,gee what
a crock, I can’t be honest,…must go ahead and die off…………..isn’t that what they tried to do with Aids?
I wish it were in my mind.
If your doctors can’t see what you see, then how exactly would me taking a warm bath with you help? If it’s that infectious, then it would have spread around the world by now. Or would I see a few fibers floating in the tub?
Madge said…
I don’t need to “hope”, in order not to catch your “horrific” delusion. I was delusional, just like you, at one time. I finally got my head screwed on straight, and I feel quite certain that I’ll never suffer from such a pathetic state again.
Madge said…
That’s plumb silly. You could have any number of diseases. Don’t you think it would be rather foolish to take you up on such a ridiculous offer. If I were to catch something from you, however, I wouldn’t have any reason to think it was Morgellons. On the other hand, I would have plenty of real good reasons to believe it wasn’t.
Madge said…
I don’t know what kind of physical problems you’ve got. If you have something that horrible, I advise you to go see a doctor and get it diagnosed. Your mental state is quite alarming. I suggest that you at least arrange for some psychiatric counselling.
Madge said…
I’ve read that report several times. That’s old news. It’s also been discussed on this blog. One patient had High Density Polyethylene chips in the tissue near her prosthetic knee joint. Those materials had obviously migrated from that artificial joint. The other patient’s specimens allegedly revealed High Density Polyethylene or glass tubules. It looks to me like she got into some fiberglass insulation. Do you ever ask yourself what Dr. Hildy’s real motivations are? That lab has a pretty large price tag on it. I wonder how much money she’ll make if she offers what she calls Far Infrared Treatment for “Morgellons”. Hmmm.
She is also an environmentalist, and in my opinion she is standing in the way of needed biological technology. Agenda?
Madge said…
“Morgellons” has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the bio-tech industry, fluorescence, George Bush, or the government, other than the fact that the CDC is being pressured into investigating the claims of a bunch of delusional people, when it already knows that Morgellons doesn’t exist.
If you are really dying, it has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with that either. I get so sick and tired of hearing Morgies compare their skin problems to AIDS. I also get sick and tired of hearing them claim to be “the chosen ones”. They’re a buch of MENTALLY ILL people with skin problems that they don’t understand. AIDS KILLS! If anyone was trying to kill you, they sure wouldn’t give you these conditions you people call Morgellons.
You Morgies need to start using your heads.
Tall Cotton
Madge, since you didn’t state a name, who, exactly, were you addressing?
Tall Cotton, the extremely sad irony is, that if morgie people only could use their heads, they would never have ever thought they had “morgellons disease” in the first place. After taking the bait and falling under its spell, not too many appear to be able to take any steps to break free. Publicly showing that they’re as vulnerable to deception as they are, wolves in sheeps clothing are on the prowl, and it is sickening.
Gillian, you said:
I don’t know whether you’re referring to accredited physicians who treat patients, when you say “the medical community”, but I’ve dealt with a tremendous amount of doctors throughout the course of my lifetime. Some have made mistakes, but I don’t think any intentionally ever meant to be deceptive. I’ve had a large role as a patient, to assure the best health care for myself, and I’ve had a tremendous role in the responsibility of advocating for others. If you’re referring to doctors of quackery, deception is well noted as often being their field of expertise.
Dearest Mr. Tallcotton
Madge here, and you’re soaking in it. ha ha
Anywho, I knew my comments would really get a know it all, such as yourself, going. My considering this merely because, if you are not suffering from this disease or a doctor, than what could your affiliation possibly be? Perhaps you wait for new emerging diseases to come along so you can argue w/sufferers and actually add to their problem. Do you even realize that? I mean really…come on… what is your goal? Have you ever met a sufferer or experienced any of the number of symptoms that wehave no choice but to live with, at all? I personally have never experienced any of them until about a yr and a half ago. Furthermore, don’t flatter yourself in thinking I really meant for you to take a bath w/me, as if? As if I’m some dirt bag that has all these unknown or known, for that matter, diseases and wants to share them…..PLEASE!…..Whatever man…get a clue. I’m being sarcastic because I have nothing to lose, this stuff is absolutely debilitating, horrific, etc. etc. and yes, there have been times when I don’t believe my own eyes. I have personally witnessed cobalt blue fibers coming out of my face, fingernails, toenails, scalp etc. I suck egg sacks out of my throut to prevent my teeth from decaying and further infesting, my personal way of trying to slow the process. If you don’t suffer, you wouldn’t understand. So, I suggest go on ahead and make an evil comment on egg sucking. Yes, I’m being blunt and honest, if you even had a clue as to the nearely constant grooming I have to perform everyday, you would have a hay day in personal cuts. I am going bald from were the fibers have consentrated under my scalp and have made lumps. My balance is completely off my equal lebrium is shot at times, it is only getting worse from progression of this disease. I had no clue what was going of w/my entire body “infestation” I went to my first dermatologist who said it was psoriasis and pick marks on my face, “ummm no I know my own body, these are not self inflicted pick marks”. So, without ever hearing the word Morgellons or checking out the internet, I went in denial about what was happening to me and believed the dermatologists/delusional god. “Did you know they can diagnose without examination or test or micro anything, amazing”. Too bad for me nothing topical helped the so called psoriasis or pick marks. I am now severely scarred from thier lack of knowledge on upcoming diseases. Eventually, through a mutual friend I found out what was going on w/myself and many others. I know I have this dreaded perhaps nematode/lyme disease fiber optics silica producing lab accident no regulation on disposing off, human infesting super thing. Could be air born, could be in bad water, could be in pesticides, could be caught through a low immune system and perhaps a manifestation of? Don’t know yet but hopefully before this gets the best of me, I hope they do. Instead of slowing the process of that, TC why don’t you use your efforts in finding out who, what, when, where and why this thing or things has plagued many unfortunate good loving people. It really could be you or someone you love someday. I honestly hope not another person, including you.
p.s. who cares if H. Staninger made any money, and that she should. She is only being honest and doing her job, right? If what she reported were false, she would lose much more than money. She is right, how can you say she is not? What evidence is there against that?
Yeah, they remind me of a calf, with a bucket stuck over its head. You try to help them, and they run away from you. They run and they run until they hit a fence. How do you help them? I wish I knew.
By the way, with the progression of this disease, unfortunately you can see it now. Most of the medical community doesn’t have time for diseases that are not in thier books, yet. Denial is not a safe place to be. I finally found a real doctor, not a delusional god, that actually used a magnifying eye instrument on me. She also said my symptoms sound just exactly like the ones her sister is suffering from. She too had never heard of Morgellons, nor her sister. She, the real working doctor, took a biopsy of the 2 to 3 inch long fiber worm type things that she witnessed coming out from behind my eyeball. I was so relieved that I didn’t get another Quack! I’ll keep you posted on her update of my real condition, okay, Morgellon.
Excuse me, Madge, but if you don’t think you have a mental disorder, brace yourself, because I am telling you that if you don’t, you’re just plain ignorant. What possessed you to not learn all you could about psoriasis, when you were diagnosed with it? You probably need to be on methotrexate, Madge, my gosh!! Seriously….MY GOSH!!!!!!
Madge,
Four and a half years ago I thought I had Morgellons. The lower half of my face was covered in hugh, oozing, lesions. My tearducts were filled with hugh balls of gelatin-like goo. I squeezed them out through the tiny tearduct openings. It filled my eyes. I had layers of what I called pseudoskin on my face. Underneath it were fine granules. Long, transparent fibers shot out through the pores of my face, and stood, still attached to my face, at lengths up to 5 inches. I had sharp, needle-like objects under my skin. I also had tiny one, that were like the stickers on a prickley pear. Removing them was very painful. Rocks surfaced on my skin… multitudes of rocks. I could hear sounds that sounded like a miniature popcorn popper. There was goo everywhere in my environment. I pulled scores of large worms out of my thighs. My environment was very attractive to arthropods. I also found colored fibers in my environment. They looked like hair, but they were fluorescent flue, copper, black, white, green, red, baby blue, transparent, and striated. I searched for a Morgellons pathogen for three and a half years. Don’t tell me I havn’t been there. I know what I’m talking about when I say that there is no Morgellons Disease. I’ve been to the place you call Morgellons, and I’m one of the few that came all the way back out.
I’m an ex-methamphetamine addict. I’ve been clean two years and three months. I almost died. I lay in a hospital for two weeks, going in and out of a crazy dream-like state. The drugs caused bleeding on my brain. The symptoms above, were real, but they are the same, or very similar, to what other Morgies report experiencing. Besides the bleeding on my brain, I was dying from toxic poisoning. Due to my lifestye, I was extremely dehydrated and malnourished. My kidney (I only have one) had practically shut down. I doubt that my liver was was functioning properly either. I know someone else that experienced very similar symptoms from heat exhaustion, dehydration, malnutrition, kidney stones, and fever. She never used drugs. But she also came very, very, close to dying. Her name is Smileykins. When the body can’t metabolize wastes, or eliminate them any other way, they come out through the skin, if you’re lucky. As I said, the experiences above were real. But I had plenty of others that were hallucinations. You don’t want to go where we’ve been. And if you do, you probably won’t make it back. Morgellons is not a disease. It has no pathogen. There’s no conspiracy to hide the truth. We stick around trying to help others, but what they believe about their condition is blocking their recovery.
Tall Cotton
I do not agree that when things dont make sense it is because of a lack of imagination. IMAGINATION???? Lets imagine this is a problem that needs to be addressed and not cast aside and could be a emerging disease. Lets imagine AIDS was never an emerging disease. We can imagine alot of things, I imagine.
Dearest Smilekins, I researched psoriasis out the ying yang along w/ringworm, scabies, contact dermatitis, seborric dermatitis etc. Nothing fit I used pine tar ointments, neosporin, hydrocortisone, amoxycillin, doxycyclene, Z-Pack finally slowed it down but no cure. Like I wrote previously, I have a “real” concerned doctor now and she is not delusional. She has seen my conditions w/her own eyes and a magnifying instrament she too is researching my real condition. You must really get off on calling sick people stupid. Like I said, denial is not a safe place to be, Dummy. I’ll ask you the same “?” are you a doctor or a Morgellons sufferer and if not what’s your point?
Dearest Smilekins, I researched psoriasis out the ying yang along w/ringworm, scabies, contact dermatitis, seborric dermatitis etc. Nothing fit I used pine tar ointments, neosporin, hydrocortisone, amoxycillin, doxycyclene, Z-Pack finally slowed it down but no cure. Like I wrote previously, I have a “real” concerned doctor now and she is not delusional. She has seen my conditions w/her own eyes and a magnifying probe she too is researching my real condition. I’ll ask you the same “?” are you a doctor or a Morgellons sufferer and if not what’s your point?
Thanks Madge
Keep us posted.
Madge-
Question the education and credentials of these folks w/ the definitive answers.
Methotrexate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methotrexate
My sister (an RN, who administers chemotherapy to cancer patients) told me last July/August when I started seeing that quack doc, ask him to give you Methotrexate, not just IV antibiotics. She said you need something like that, you are really sick. Actually she did say I should have been in hospital.
I asked him, he refused. He gave me some cock and bull story about a woman he new who had cancer, and took Methotrexate and because she had no immune system it killed her. So he went on to say, so Methotrexate would probably kill you too.
Well my sister was mighty shocked to say the least, shook her head and said “well I obviously don’t understand Rickettsiosis that well, but come on – we give it to our cancer patients”!!
Madge,
If you really believe Smileykins is a dummy, you’re more ignorant than I thought. Smileykins knows more about medical science than you could ever dream of learning. You would be wise to close your mouth, and open your ears. Everyone with any sense knows that Morgies are the ones denying the truth. Your belief about that is another mark against your intelligence.
Tall Cotton
Gillian,
Your doctor may have refused to prescribe Methotrexate for you because one of its side effects is anemia. Please be aware of all of the side effects medicines cause before taking them, and only take what is prescribed, in the dosage prescribed. Methotrexate has other known side effects also. Be be aware of the fact that it has been used to terminate early pregnancies. It should never be taken by pregnant women. You may already know these things, but these are just reminders.
Tall Cotton
Madge, I’m sorry that I’d said you were being “plain ignorant”. I was wrong, considering only that I would appreciate being told that, if I were in such a position. Do you always feel persecuted, and, in turn, interrogate people? Saying peculiar things, and reacting negatively when someone responds to them, is, well, rather ususual.
See, I didn’t go into anything else, other than cutting to the chase, addressing the importance of what you, yourself, stated right here:
Prior to that, you’d said some things in your initial comments, and followed with:
Of course, there’s more to your personal story, Madge, but all that anyone here has to go on, are the comments you’ve shared. That is what prompted me to say:
I’d asked who you’d addressed in comment #5, as Mr. Smarty Pants, but I suppose that’s immaterial. Now, I’ll state myself a little clearer, and thank you for affording readers more insight into this matter of “morgellons disease”. This is as clear as I can make it. Based on what you stated, minus all of the chaos and confusion, you apparently have psoriasis. And, you are not treating for it.
Although the cause of psoriasis is unknown, it is a autoimmune genetic skin disease. People with it have abnormally fast-growing and shedding skin cells. The skin cells multiply so quickly, that they’re shed every three to four days. Although psoriasis isn’t contagious, it often runs in families because it is hereditary. Psoriasis is often recurrent and occurs in varying severities. There are several forms of it, and it’s often very embarrassing and limiting, due to the excessive shedding into one’s surroundings.
The goal of treatment is to reduce inflammation and slow down the rapid growth and shedding of skin cells. At the present time, there is no cure for psoriasis. Treatment may include:
* ointments and creams (to moisturize the skin)
* sunlight or ultraviolet light exposure (under a physician’s supervision)
* steroids (such as cortisone creams)
* vitamin D cream
* creams containing salicylic acid or coal tar
* Anthralin – a drug that treats the thicker, hard-to-treat patches of psoriasis.
* methotrexate – an anti-cancer drug that interrupts the growth of skin cells.
* oral or topical retinoids
* immunosuppressive medications (such as Cyclosporine, Methotrexate)
http://www.psoriasis.org/about/psoriasis/
I don’t wish to further upset you, since you are under the delusion of “morgellons disease”, Madge, and I know that you can’t help it. For that, I’m very sorry. Maybe, through your assistance, we can help someone else, though, together. Thank you, and good luck.
P.S. Doctors only prescribe medications that suppress patients’ immune system when they are warranted. Unless a person has cancer, or an autoimmune disease, we all need our immune systems intact!!! If you were already fighting a serious infection, Gillian, that may have been a quack doctor, but he was 100% right in not prescribing it to you. Methotrexate, or any drug such as it, has some harsh side effects, but at the same time, it is very beneficial to those who need such drugs. Patients on any immunosuppressive meds need their blood monitored at regular intervals, and because the suppression of their immunity puts them at a high risk for infection, they have to be extremely careful, and to especially avoid exposure to people who are sick with anything contagious.
People who are convinced that there is something called “morgellons disease”, as I have said, many times before, are running around searching outside-of-the-box for the answers to the bizarre questions they have. The answers are all right there inside-of-the-box. People are individuals, with their own unique set of circumstances, which are all solvable, one way or another. It’s truly sad.
I know I’ve read some morgie people complain that the only test their doctors have performed was, as they’ve put it, “a simple CBC”. I’ve stated that it’s because it’s used as a first line of detection. If a patient is having symptoms of fatigue or weakness, or has an infection, inflammation, bruising, or bleeding, “a simple CBC” can help diagnose the cause. Significant increases in WBCs may help confirm that an infection is present and suggest the need for further testing to identify its cause. Decreases in the number of RBCs means anemia, and can be further evaluated by changes in size or shape of the RBCs to help determine if the cause might be decreased production, increased loss, or increased destruction of RBCs. A platelet count that is low or extremely high may confirm the cause of excessive bleeding or clotting. Based on patient presentation, not on a patient’s unjustified demands for tests that aren’t needed, other tests are ordered if necessary.
Can all of us, as patients, trust that a doctor won’t overlook something? NO. We owe it to ourselves to look out for ourselves and work with doctors as a team. Patients are a dime a dozen, I say. That is why I always tell people to get their test results and reports, and learn what is written in them. I’ve seen things that have been overlooked, or not considered important enough by doctors to address, that have greatly impacted my health care, and that of those I have assisted. I like doctors, and I believe in them. Truly, though, considering the pattern of things I have seen left unmentioned in test results and reports, which would lead to further problems in the future, the motivation for it has kinda sorta looked too obvious. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Things that the patient doesn’t know about, because it hasn’t progressed to the point of causing them much trouble yet, still needs to be addressed. A change in lifestyle, through diet and/or exercise, to slow the progression of things that can be, is damned important to know about. Doctors leaving things unmentioned, waiting for conditions to develop symptoms, to benefit the money making machines rather than me, or someone I care about, ain’t an option. Now, this is just something I see a lot of. Am I paranoid? No, I call it being smart. Get your records and learn how to talk to doctors, and if you have problems, ask for assistance. If you have no one close to you that you can depend on, most localities have patient advocacy groups.
Dearest TC, Morgellons and Meth addiction are two different things. So it is obvious that “no” you or Smilykins have not had any of the symptoms we w/this disease continue to suffer with. I am too tired to argue my points Smiley, this does not make me ignorant nor does anything I have written previously. Sorry for the intellegence I share on my behalf. I realize that recovery can be tough, keep up the good work TC and Smileykins and let us w/Morgellons try to do the same.
Thank you for clarifying the “Methotrexate” issue for me.
I was not aware that regular blood tests are required when one is on immunosuppressive medication (in my case Prednisolone). What a naughty quack he was, I think I went without blood tests for 9 months whilst seeing him, at the time I couldn’t understand it, but I thought he new what he was doing.
I am seeing my doctor today for a check up, so I will let you know how I get on.
I want to share something I read.
It’s apparent that a tremendous amount of people who believe in “morgellons disease” are very opinionated and extremely close-minded when it comes to the topic of mental health conditions. I wish, so badly, that they weren’t, because there is no reason for it in the modern world. My mind got very ill, for two months, back when my body was. That was psychosis, and I am not ashamed of it. The brain is just another one of our organs that can get sick just like any other part of our bodies, and it needs to be treated as such. That’s all there is to it, and it’s just that simple.
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+Psychotic+Experiences.htm
That site is such a good resource on many topics of mental health. Now, I am not coming from a place of judgement, and I want that to be understood. Quite the contrary. I’m only human, so I might come across the wrong way, but I don’t mean to. My extreme hangup is that I believe in getting real to deal with problems. I think everyone deserves to live the best life that they can, and that we should respect one another and always help each other out. Communication is a two-way street.
Midge, Madge, or whomever you are, there’s nothing to argue. TC & I aren’t in recovery from anything, either. By clicking onto our names above our comments, if you’d want to for amusement, you can read more detail. “Let us with morgellons do the same”, you say? Well, I wish you were able to think about that statement, see it for what it is, and face who is really standing in the way of each one of your recoveries…your separate, individual, unrelated to one another’s, recoveries. We certainly aren’t in your way! And, this false belief in “morgellons disease” is the only thing in common that people who think they have it are united by. You are all singular, individual, persons with your own unique set of circumstances, for heaven sakes. You all only think that all of your symptoms match up to each other. I’m sorry, too. Really sorry.
Midge,
I had an infection on my face, in my sinuses, and in my tear ducts. Meth is what lowered my immunity, allowing the infection to take hold. There are other ways that one might lower their immunity. Meth wasn’t the infectious agent. It just set the stage for it..
I was extremely dehydrated because my metabolism was sped up and I wasn’t replacing the moisture that was lost. Again, meth set the stage for me to become dehydrated. But, there are other ways that one might increase their metabolism and become dehydrated. There are also other causes of dehydration besides a raised metabolism..
And on and on we go. Malnutrition? There’s lots of things that can cause it. I was also putting chemicals into my body. What kind are you putting into your’s? Do you even know? Now, I very clearly understand that you don’t have a clue what you are talking about. That’s a fact, but as long as you are here, I’m gonna make sure that everyone else knows it too.
You told me “and” Smileykins to keep up the good work with our recoveries. But you know damn well that I had already stated that Smileykins didn’t use drugs. You have no reason to accuse her or call me a liar. That’s what you’ve done. Also, try to understand, I have already recovered. But you can think what you want.
Good luck in getting Morgellons recognized as a disease, and finding its pathogen. You’re definitely gonna have to pull a couple of rabbits out of your hat. If you can get over your stubbornedness before what you really have gets the upper hand, you might recover.
Tall Cotton
Hey Small,
Your on the wrong blog. The meth blog is at http://www.methmadness.com/methmadnessmain.html
She is very happy with my progress, and said how much better I was looking.
She also examined me again today!!! I’m not used to that! My tummy still gives me a lot of trouble, that is why she likes to keep a check on it. I am taking the aloe vera juice like she recommended. I did take it years ago for irritable bowel, but then ceased when my delusions took a hold of me. I also need to stay on the Nexium but on a reduced dose, also going to take Nilstat tablets because I am rather over run with internal thrush. We are leaving the Neurological problems in the capable hands of the Neurologist.
All in all I am hanging in, now I just have to work on Tony. I am trying to bring him around from his delusional state, but this is really hard work. I have explained it all to him, but he keeps stepping backwards, not forwards (and drinking more than ever). This is a difficult situation, in the past when I felt like I was seeing the light and getting through this I would lose my way again. I am not blaming Tony, or even implying it is his fault.
The problem for myself coming out of a delusional state is living with a delusional person. His problem being Alcoholism. It’s easy to slide back or down wards at times, rather than going up. It is so sad that after 5 years of living in his home, I can now see why my health deteriorated to the stage it did and as fast as it did.
As for the quack I was seeing, he needs to retire and NOW! I feel sorry for him, but at the same time I am very annoyed with him. He is also guilty of reinforcing my delusional state and profitting from it.
I have said to myself recently – Why did he not ask me what I thought Morgellons was? I did not tell him about Morgellons until I had been seeing him for a couple of months, I was trying to establish a rapport with him first.
Was he scared to explain to me Delusions of Parasitosis?
I think he was.
Why??
Because he believed the fibers/fluff/grit/muck/yak were what I had collected off the floor?
And…
He kept trying to kill “it” with Intravenous Dalacin C (I lost count after 56 IV’s, so I have had a few!).
He has a Rickettsial “handout” which he gives to his patients, usually before they start any treatment. This handout is all sorts of messy, inconsistent information plus other stuff from Dr C.Jardin. This list is the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” whilst on IV antibiotics for Rickettiosis.
I never got one after my initial consultation. I did however come away with a list of syndromes I had other than Rickettsia Spotted Fever Group. I won’t tell you the entire list, but Epilepsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Raynaud’s Phenomenon were amongst them. Oh and he did this entire diagnosis whilst sitting in his chair. He never examined me, only listened to my heart – by the way without even telling me he was going to do this, just came from behind me and stuck his hand/stethoscope down my top and then said “who is looking after your heart problem”, I said “No one and yes I am aware I have heart murmur and this has been checked in the past”. Rather loose boundaries I thought.
You’re welcome, Gillian, but I’m sorry if I rambled on and caused confusion. I was speaking from the only points of reference I know. (I didn’t add that immunosuppressive drugs, of course, are also used to help prevent rejection of organ transplants too). But there are different classes of immunosuppressive drugs, with different properties, for different conditions, with varying dosages and guidelines to follow. Hadn’t you once said that you’d been hospitalized with an enlarged liver?
I wonder how many morgie people treat their autoimmune diseases. From the sounds of it, probably not very many. When a person’s own immune system ravages them, it needs to be suppressed, though, through the use of some of those types of medications. With people like that, it’s understandable that it makes them think that something else (other than their very own body) is attacking them. It pays, in so many ways, to learn about things we have been diagnosed with. I’m seeing an increase in something I suspected after the first time I saw one believer mention it, months ago. Morgie women who haven’t got a clue that breast implants have turned their immune systems against them. Blowin’ my mind, it is.
But anyway, other than a quack, I think doctors know what they’re prescribing to their patients and what the appropriate guidelines are to follow. We’re obligated to safeguard ourselves, check them out, and be sure to update any new doctors along the way with our medical histories, current drugs (dietary supplements and OTC medications, too), allergies, and to transfer our medical records to them. I don’t see how it could even be possible to see as many doctors as it’s reported that a lot of morgie people have, and stick with one long enough to do that. I just don’t. We’ve got to learn about medications we take, too, to be aware of possible interactions and side effects, and report any that we have that are troublesome. I’m sure prednisolone is rough, Gillian, and I hope you can come off of it sometime in the near future. I hope the doctor appointment went well today. Cheers!
http://www.drugs.com/mtm/prednisolone.html
Michael – sorry for typing so much, I know this is not a support forum, but I just needed to do my CBT!!
I will try not to “rabbit on” in future if I make a comment.
Thanks.
No worries Gillian. I’m glad you are doing better.
Norman, you really need to see a doctor as badly as your mom, and after you’re diagnosed, then, read all about your conditions from a reputable medical source. The NIH site is legitimate, and the one to trust for real information. Then, if you need support from patients who share the same conditions, I’m sure that you can find the appropriate message boards for them. However, some of them seem to be a little overrun with bad advice too. But, develop a good relationship with your doctors by learning the real nature of your diagnosed conditions, and learn all about any medications that you’re prescribed, if needed. Cooperate, and give things time. If something isn’t helping, discuss it with your doctor and try something else. Treatments are often through trial and error, so to speak. You’ve never told us what you and your mom have, but please, seek the right help. I’ll try to assist as much as I can, on line, to tell you basic things.
If you were wanting to help Tall Cotton with that link, I appreciate it, but he is recovered, and has been, for well over two years. I understand that you’re completely unable to realize that it is you, and other people who are believers in “morgellons disease”, posting very abnormal thoughts on line. And, since you’re also not aware that you’re incapable of understanding things, including certain words that seem to hold significance to you, and others, you can’t assimilate anything correct about them. You have seen the word, “meth” in association with TC’s name, and can’t grasp anything accurate, outside of what your own thoughts tell you. People being physically ill, and miserable, and facing such cognitive skills challenges, and other such extreme difficulties, need guidance. It is crucial to get it before things worsen any further. The best way to receive help, I think, would be to follow what a doctor says. Talk openly with a skilled, licensed therapist, in conjunction with regular doctors, of whatever field of speciality you need. Please try very hard to consider this. I know it is unlikely that you can, but please, try.
Recovery from addiction never happens, you have to work on it your entire life or I’m sorry, one day at a time. I feel for anyone who believes they have recovered, just because they have been clean for a couple of yrs. Madge
TC said:
Madge says:
I appologize for thinking Smiley was or is a Meth addict I guess I did misunderstand you TC. The only things blocking a Morgellon’s recovery is the unknown. That is why some real doctors and scientist are still working on it.
No cure yet, but I am trying to stay hopeful that the truth will come out before my teeth and the rest of my hair does. thx. Madge
Madge,
You think what you want to about addiction, and I’ll think what I want to. I quit meth after using a lot of it, for a long time. I did it without anyone’s help, except the help of my Father. I’m not speaking of my earthly father either. I’ll trust His Word over your’s any day of the week.
There is no such thing as Morgellons. It has no pathogen. They people who believe they have Morgellons are suffering from a wide variety of known illnesses. Some of them do have a cure. Some can only be treated. Morgies also suffer from a variety of mental illnesses, but they are all delusional, including you.
Tall Cotton
Madge, I, myself, didn’t need any apology, but thank you. Rest assured that you don’t need to feel for Tall Cotton, and you would do better in taking that sentiment and applying the energy towards yourself. TC is a man in control of his own destiny. He’s in need of no empathy, sympathy, or any assistance, from anyone.
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes” – Carl Jung
The answers are inside-of-the-box. I promise.
Oh, Gillian.
Dear Lord, what were you going through with your health BEFORE seeing this jerk? No wonder things haven’t made any sense. What type of doctor is the one you are treating with now?
My whole family (myself, husband, and 1-year-old child) just went through a really rough couple of months. It started out with joint aches and crushing exhaustion, then just a week or two later we started experiencing the terrible biting/crawling sensation so many morgies describe. It was so bad that none of us could sleep, and my child was constantly scratching, including in front of the docs. This was all taking place long before we had heard of Morgellons. We got a prescription for scabies in the ER without any confirmation of mites and after we used it tons of black specks came out of our skin for weeks. I now think the black specks (dead skin cells and blood, the doctor said) were due to the permethrin. In any case, it has taken several months for our symptoms to improve, and the only thing that helps us is staying on a program of 10+ hours of sleep a night. We were tested for just about everything and it all came back normal, including all our immune factors. I never saw fibers but did wonder if we had morgellons because no docs could tell us what else could cause our symptoms. We still feel the crawling sensation from time to time but it is now much lighter. Our joints still ache but, interestingly enough, the ache seems to go away temporarily whenever we get a real virus (cold). Since we all started feeling sick at the same time, it seems unlikely to be auto-immune. Also, benadryl never helps. I keep wondering, given the clustering of the disease, if it’s not some bizarre infectious agent that’s just hard to detect. If it was just an internet phenomenon, wouldn’t we be likely to see a big cluster in New York? Sure, they may be better skeptics than we Californians, but urban CA is not entirely unsophisticated. I am following the CDC study with much interest, and will accept whatever they conclude about Morgellons. Thanks, by the way, for maintaining this site as an island of sanity for those of us worried about our various undiagnosable conditions.
I have never been hospitalised (only the psych ward!). I think it was about 3 or so years ago I went to see a doctor at the Lymphoedema Clinic. Because I was so swollen all over, we thought this was a good place to start.
The doctor was really nice, she said you don’t have lymphoedema, but I can feel that your liver is enlarged and you are a very sick girl. She wrote to the doctor I was seeing at the time, and told him all of this. I had a CT scan of my abdomen a week later and everything was normal.
Thank you for that link on Prednisolone. I am still reducing the dose, I am half way, so hopefully I should be off it all together in 3 months.
*********************************************
This is the first line taken from the Prednisolone link.
• Do not take prednisolone if you have a serious fungal infection, or if you have recently received a “live” vaccine. Prednisolone weakens the body’s immune system and you could become ill.
*********************************************
I was tested for Candida 2 years back, and was positive. My symptoms continued to worsen – my doctor was on holiday so I saw his colleague in the same practice. He dismissed me out right, and told me he does not believe in the “yeast overgrowth” theory.
I have suffered from “thrush” since I was a child.
Oh yeah I’m wild, real wild, witch doctors is what they are.
Cara,
I think your aches are an immune response. Then when you get a virus, your immunity drops. That leaves the compromised immune system less able to respond with an ache. I think what’s happening is normal under the circumstances.
I don’t know what’s causing your symptoms, but it’s not Morgellons. There is no such thing as Morgellons. People who believe they have Morgellons are suffering from a wide variety of known disorders.
You sound very level headed. Don’t let the Morgellons Believers suck you into their madness. Good Luck to you and your Family. I hope your doctor can find the problem.
Tall Cotton
Ummm – sheer hell.
General practitioner, her speciality is women’s health.
Cara – TC is right. Focus on yourself and your family, good luck.
There are no two people on the face of the earth who are the same. Families can share illnesses, of course. People coming into contact with allergens may, or may not, react, depending on a lot of factors. People who come into contact with infectious agents may, or may not, get ill, depending on a lot of factors.
There are people who feel like crap once in a while without anything that’s detectable through any amount of testing. Plenty of things can make a person feel crappy, though. There are people who feel that way all of the time, without anything that’s detectable through any amount of testing. Some people accept it, and take it in stride. Some people don’t, and imagine they have all sorts of things wrong with them.
Some people complain about having the same thing that anyone else around them complains about. There are people who have health conditions diagnosed that they don’t learn anything about, making no efforts towards improving their health, other than to be content popping a pill and expecting it to do everything for them. There are people who have health problems, despite living healthy lifestyles, following their doctors’ orders, and taking medications. People are just all different, sick ones, and healthy ones, all.
I heard on the Oprah show the other day, that people can have depression and not know that they do, because the chemicals that are lacking in their brains, due to the depression, can actually prevent them from knowing they’re depressed. If someone has felt fatigued, and lost interest in things they once enjoyed, isolated themselves, become irritable, can’t concentrate, had a change in their eating or sleeping habits, and felt in a saddened state, lasting for a couple of weeks, or more, or had thoughts of suicide, that is depression and help should be sought for it.
People can have side effects and reactions to medications they’re on, too. People who have diagnosed conditions they’ve never concerned themselves with learning about can have skin symptoms from them. People who are confused about skin symptoms, or anything else that they have, and think it’s “morgellons disease”, do so because of what? Because any symptom they have fits into the picture of this non-existence disease, because it is made up of a lot of symptoms to cover just about everything. Fibers are thrown in, because it pulls the whole thing together for people who can’t perceive things correctly. Fibers are everywhere.
There are so many things people can have, none of which is anything new and mysterious. It isn’t only bizarre to believe in “morgellons disease”, but the notion that a cure would be on the horizon, once it gets all figured out by these nutty people that have the believers believing in it, oh, people, Take your minds off “morgellons disease” for a few minutes each day and read a bit about all the diseases and disorders in the world that have no known causes and no known cures. We’re blessed as we can be that modern day science has treatments for such things, and people need to treat what they have.
Hey Smelly-
Thanks for the advice. Maybe I’ll see a doctor. Maybe you should go to school. That 12th grade education just doesnt make you a scientist.
Heres another Smelly factoid
I make long posts, day and night, too, Christian, and it sure isn’t due to being on stimulants of any type. I have an incomplete spinal cord injury, and having no form of pain management causes me to lose a lot of sleep. Things aren’t often as simple to apply reason to as what they might seem, so I’d consider holding off on making that bet about all morgie people being meth users. Some may be, yeah, but I’m sure not all are.
I probably shouldn’t be asking this questsion, but I am going to have to.
Could someone please tell me what these readings mean.
Baterial serology Cat Scratch Fever *
Cat Scratch Disease:
http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/diseases/catscratch.htm
Serology is a blood test to detect the presence of antibodies against a microorganism.
So “Baterial serology Cat Scratch Fever” means a blood test was done that indicated the likely presence of antibodies against the bacteria Bartonella henselae in the blood.
Hmm, looking at the symptom list for CSD, I could easily write an “Occam’s Cat Scratch” article.
http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic84.htm
You can see how it could easily act as a trigger for the belief in Morgellons.
It’s another disease that the cause of which has only recently (in the last 20 years) been identified, so older (or retired) doctors might not be familiar with it.
Gillian, a positive serology test might not mean anything, since eMedicine says: “only a minority of exposures to B. henselae result in CSD”. Still, you have a cat and some symptoms, so it’s entirely possible some of your recent malaise is due to CDS.
You’re welcome, Norman. Where did the 12th grade education level info come from? Me, I think. Mercy sakes, I haven’t claimed to be a scientist!! One thing that I think is terrible about morgie people being able to talk about their “research”, on line, is that unassuming people who are ill come across it, and they’re led into thinking it’s legitimate. I’ve witnessed people messing around, too, fooling morgie people into thinking they have the lowdown on things by posing as CIA agents, Secret Service Men, a scientist from Denmark (you know the one with the infamous videos of what it is-what it is. Hehe, he should have held off on his videos, until he got finished with all of his speculative “theories”). Nah, seriously though, Norman, people who are so ill, that they’re unable to know any better, don’t know that isn’t right to screw around with others who are at an increased risk of believing them. There are a lot of dynamics, there. Oh, they bicker among themselves, and some catch onto things to a certain extent, but they fall right back, twice as hard, in no time at all. One thing we will never do here, is lie to you.
I’d love to see an “Occam’s Breast Implants”, no joke. Upon seeing them mentioned by one morgie with an autoimmune disease diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, I’d wondered how many morgies have them. I’ve seen four or five more speaking of their breast implants, since then. Out of curiosity, I looked up the percentages, and along with New York, California, Texas, and Florida, were the states with the highest numbers of breast implants. I’d surmise such ladies as these have some serious health matters, and they think they have “morgellons disease”, instead.
Thank you Michael for clarifying that serology for me.
I have been around kittens and cats since I was a baby. I can recall in the past when I had new kittens that if they scratched me the scratch would result in a big red welt. Anyway I’m not bothered I have always loved kittens and cats. I love my Sally to pieces, I do not know where I would be today without my little girl.
On the topic of breast implants – well I don’t have them, but anyone would think I have recently had them!! Starting to look a bit like Dolly Parton.
My breasts hurt like hell! oh yeah and lots of those fiber things too.
Toxoplasmosis
http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/dpd/parasites/toxoplasmosis/factsht_toxoplasmosis.htm
Michael, Toxoplasmosis now this is different to CSD, yes? This also sounds like a really nasty parasitic infection.
As you know I am having my Brain MRI (with contrast)- would this be able to show up any anomalies that could be consistent with either Cat Scratch Disease or Toxoplasmosis?
What a mess hey, I have a weakened immune system, I’m on this stupid steroid and a lot of our doctors are obviously deluded.
Yes, Toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasitic protozoa (Toxoplasma gondii), whereas CSD is caused by a bacteria, (Bartonella henselae). Very different diseases, but both frequently transmitted to humans via cats, and you seem to have had a lot of exposure to cats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
I don’t know if MRI would be useful in diagnosing CSF, but it certainly is used in Toxoplasmosis workup. I would be very interested to hear what the results are.
Thanks Michael, don’t worry I will let you know the results. I will be having the scan very soon, and the Neurologist said he will phone me when he has the results.
I had a look at the Toxoplasmosis link. There was a mention of France, and contaminated water. I have been to France, and lots of other countries in Europe. I know that I have ingested some type of “dirty” water because I suffered “spanish belly” when I was in Madrid. I was only 24yrs then, and whilst I was still in England and once back home in Australia I started with some unusual symptoms. I had my tonsillectomy a few months later.
Meow!!
http://www.entusa.com/oral_photos.htm
Michael, please go to this link and scroll down to the pictures showing “tonsils”.
My tonsils looked worse than those pictures!! Both of mine had clear “round holes” filled with pus, and the pus would even drop into my mouth, nasty stuff.
I had had tonsillitis and pharyngitis ever since I was a kid, probably because I had suffered Erysipelas when I was 20 months, leaving my immume system a little comprised. Then I got Epstein Barr at 14yrs, I guess the rest if just history now….
I was told by the doc then Glandular Fever, that is the same as Epstein Barr, yes?? You know the “kissing disease”.
I should never have picked up that little kitten in Phuket Thailand about 4 years ago, and not forgetting the stray kittens I picked up in Greece!! Everyone told me I was going to get rabies if I didn’t wash my hands!!
Best go wipe the froth off my chin now!!!
Morgellons is a real Disease, not a delusion. The only things delusional here, are the people giving medical advise, as if they were a real doctor. That seems delusional to me also the fact they keep denying Morgellons as a real disease. What is the reasoning behind that? Certainly, I can understand the fact that the CDC is dragging thier feet on a definite answer. I know for a fact that when they stop “procrastinating” or whatever you want to call it….hmmm…(DOP DOP)….ha ha yeah right….anyway, if they get serious about all the evidence “physical” that is, then the mental problems the Morgellons causes itself. For instance, OCD, ADD, the rages, all of it! I’m sure eventually they will have a cure and hopefully a vaccine for those not involved physically. No one wants this crap, trust me. Hang in there any one suffering, there is support for you and you are not alone. I know it sure feels like no one understands, then we read about the skeptics and wanna-be doctors saying this is only in our heads. Well, you and I know they are wrong and that’s all there is too it. Really don’t by into their “know it all” mentality. This denial will only prolong your suffering and make the disease stronger. There are many many stages to this thing and they are all extremely terrifying especially when everyone is telling you you are crazy. Well, you are not, someone does believe you and yes this is very real. Don’t give up keep searching for the right help and if you need to speak w/someone who cares and lives with Morgellons and knows others afflicted, let me know and we will get together, their are shoulders to cry on. Don’t give up, I know it is very hard. Sincerely L L ~
Midge,
You’re as full of shit as a Christmas goose. The people are sick, some of them, but they have a wide variety of known disorders. There is no such thing as Morgellons. The only thing Morgies all have in common is DOP. Those who think they aren’t are in denial. You people are proving yourselves crazier and crazier every time you open your mouths.
Tall Cotton
Midge – Delusions of Parasitosis (DOP) is a real disease, Morgellons is not. Please re-read the newspaper article below by following the link.
I have put an excerpt below from this article. Dr William Harvey clearly states the words “mystery disease symptoms” and delusional parasitosis.
Midge – What he is saying is that your “mystery disease symptoms” which you call Morgellons Disease are in fact Delusional Parasitosis. And YES your symptoms are REAL, not delusional. And we ALL suffer a variety of different diseases and illness to begin with, then DOP sets in.
Take care and Good Luck.
http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2004/05/08/70309.php
A Medical Mystery: Delusional parasitosis
Patients claim fibers sprout from lesions and parasites crawl under their skin. Most doctors tell them it’s all in their heads
Frank X. Mullen Jr. RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 5/8/2004 07:49 pm
********************************************
Excerpt:
Dr. William Harvey of Houston said many of his chronic fatigue patients, including 17 with “mystery disease” symptoms, have tested positive for borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that also causes Lyme disease. He suspects the weird symptoms and parasites are not the cause of the illness, but are opportunistic infections and organisms taking advantage of the lowered skin immunity of people whose systems are weakened by the microbe.
Harvey said delusional parasitosis is a real disease, but some of the patients he’s seen aren’t hallucinating. Because the symptoms of the real disease match the description of the psychosomatic ailment, doctors often misdiagnose the cases, he said.
“This disease isn’t alien or magical; it’s real and the symptoms are real,” said Harvey, who is board-certified in aerospace medicine and has worked both as a space-medicine researcher and in hospital emergency rooms. “After three-and-a-half years, I’m still trying to understand this as objectively as I can… “Without understanding the skin lesions fully, I’m treating patients with antibiotics and having clinical success. Something appears to have happened to their skin immunity.”
Heck, Midge. Imagine this. When I’d had “it” (ha, listen to me, now, calling it, “it”), I didn’t “need anybody to understand” a darned thing. I was the one who had to make sense of it. If you could only get that message, and had a true willingness to do your own homework, the real homework, concerning “morgellons disease”, you’d be like, “what the heck was I thinking?”. I promise that you could be well on your way towards getting better, then.
People need to come to terms with realizing this (although, sadly, I realize most can’t), and that it is an individual’s battle, not one to be solved for a group of patients by the government, or anyone outside of their very own self. There is no new pathogen behind this phenomenon, and there will never be one discovered for causing so many different things, in so many different people. I guarantee that Wymore’s research, too, is also not going to eventually lead to a cure for all the patients who have fallen prey to this false belief. There is NO silent super bug. That guy, there, is one of the sickest!!
I don’t get how come people thinking that they have something that poor, disturbed, Mary Leitao made up to replace DOP, can’t realize the whole shebang. Well, yes, I do get it, but it seriously isn’t something that is new and mysterious. It is only mysterious to the person under its power to influence their sensibilities. The new thing is, that it’s never been mainstream before, and, seemingly, so widespread, until people who’d been diagnosed with it united in a movement to call the world’s attention to it.
Hallelujah, Gillian’s had what it takes to delve into the real matter for herself, and she’s been working hard on sorting through it. She’s had the courage it requires, and it takes a lot, too!! She’s made wonderful progress. We all know how it seems to appear to be some new “disease”, and really, considering the people who were already vulnerable, it was further devised to appear that way. This isn’t anything new and unheard of, though. And, for the most part, people who think they have “it”, have chosen, by and large, to deny what they really have, for whatever their underlying reasons have been, even before ever hearing the words, “morgellons disease”, a lot of the time.
Midge, come on, do you not know that the CDC has said what this is all along, and that they’ve been forced into this investigation? Idealistically, this awareness may eventually lead to bringing about some sort of reform, due to the public outcry over it. But, just how much have you looked into the background of this “morgellons disease”? I don’t mean how you came into believing that you have it, but, what do you know, in depth, about what caused the movement Mary Leitao began? Have you known all there is to know, for very long, or is that all just immaterial to you?
Midge – Do you know how many times I have heard that statement from people? Not just from “Morgellons” internet forums/support groups etc, but I have actually been told that on the phone whilst talking to another suffer.
So my question here is;
What on earth are you talking about??
and..
How on earth do YOU know that??
I believe if people are going to be making statements such as that, they should back it up with some good hard evidence, don’t you?
and..
It really is frightening for someone like myself to read that information, especially when I have been so ill for so long and my appearance is not what it is meant to be genetically. Can you not see how this type of talk just perpetuates the sheer madness of this entire situation?
I thank you in advance for giving thought and consideration to what I have just said.
Bravo, bravo!! Gillian’s got the key. Kick it, lady!! The power our minds have to incorrectly influence our perceptions, being reinforced by others sharing the same misconceptions, is what it’s all about!! It is totally understandable to need to share strange happenings with someone else, especially when there is nobody else around to understand it the same way. But relating it all to each other, remaining bound and trapped, forever, inside of that gripping power, expecting that someone will ride in to save the day, ain’t gonna happen. People have put it all out there, and they’re going off into really weird directions, doing out of the ordinary things. Predators have seen opportunities to play a dreadful game with them. We, here, are not the enemies. We understand.
Midge said:
You see this is the very thing I am talking about and what Smileykins is talking about – “reinforcing one anothers misconceptions”.
What are we hanging in for Midge?
Where is the support Midge?
Prove to me I am not alone okay Midge?
And Midge if you do believe Morgellons is a real disease, may I ask you this – Do you know what the causative agent or pathogen is?
I ask this question of you because you are so firm in your belief as to “Morgellons” being a distinct real disease.
Think about this for a minute please;
Delusions of Parasitosis is a real disease, but I could not tell you for one minute what the single causative agent is, because I do not think there is one, BUT then again I wouldn’t have a clue.
So..
Why not leave that up to the CDC to figure out hey Midge?
Post 63 response to post 62 was not necessary or even clever. Small is trying to start another round of “your stupid”.
Morgies can believe anything but the truth. Now, thanks to Gremma, and her friends, they’re starting to believe that they’ve become infected by nano machines. Mary L. ought to be proud of them. They’re about as far outside of that box (reality) as people can get. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
TC
Hi! I have been checking your website periodically to keep up what’s new on Morgellons Disease or No-Disease. Can you please give me the name of the new website that someone, I think, Gillian started? I signed up on it the other day, cleaned my computer up and lost it, forgot the name of it. (probably due to my craziness). Thanks.
NORMAN!!! Hehe, TC could have broken it down, something like this, to all that Midge said….
Midge: “Morgellons is a real Disease, not a delusion.”
TC: “That is not true.”
Midge: “The only things delusional here, are the people giving medical advise, as if they were a real doctor.”
TC: “None of that is true.”
Midge: “That seems delusional to me also the fact they keep denying Morgellons as a real disease.”
TC: “It is clear you have a problem.”
Midge: “What is the reasoning behind that?”
TC: “We don’t know, but we’re all ears.”
….And so on and so forth. Norman, she’d made declarative statements that are not based in reality. TC just cut through it quickly to save space and time. People that think they have “morgellons disease” read those kinds of declarative statements from others who are as confused as they are, and they believe them. Don’t think that it doesn’t occur, because the entire world can see it as it’s unfolding.
Dearest Gillian,
Thank you for your questions now here are my answers: when you asked “how on earth do I know there are many stages to Morgellons and how do I know that they are terrifying” For one, I have lived them and when you have already gone to the doctor and researched over and over and nothing seems to match cobalt blue strands coming out of your face, scalp, finger and toenails, lesions with the same coming out of them, not to mention the pubic area or the bald patches on my head and the pools and pools of pastie chunky looking waste after every tub soaking. Oh and the two inch long white fiber slimey things coming out from behind my eyes. Oh yeah I forgot about a year ago when my ear was covered with smearie whitish goo that finally stopped but moved to my face. This all started w/one nodule type blackhead pimple looking thing on my neck. The blue strands were and still are coming out of my feet and hands they look like very dry and cracked skin, to the naked eyelike never before. These were not symptoms of psoriasis like the 1st dermatolagist diagnosed. When you continue on with living with crazy things happening to your body and you have exhausted yourself trying to convince doctors that you know your own body and these things are not normal you tend to feel all alone. These symptoms continue on and only get worse. When you witness with your own eyes lesions healing in front of you and at the same time small black head spore specks popping out behind the closing lesion. When youv’e seen black spore plug hairs retract when you try and pluck them, that’s a little spookey. I was telling a friend of mine about some of these symptoms he said he has another friend who has the same symptoms and that I should speak w/her. I did and this is the first I heard about Morgellons. I denied it, blew it off and did not want to know about it. I said to myself “I don’t have any crazy disease thing”. Well, as time went on much denial later and many scars from lesions and still no answers and trying to convince myself this is only psoriasis. I am getting very tired right now that’s another dragging symtom extreme fatigue and joint pain. I’ll continue later. thanks Gillian and once again, I know Morgellons is real to all you wanna-be doctors and QUACKS out there. DOP is real too and I am not a carrier or afflicted.
over and out, Madge
Starlink,
Is this the post you are referring to?
If I would have meant, stupid, I would have said, stupid, stupid. Now, see what you caused.
TC
Linda – Hi there. I never started a website. I can only assume you are talking about “morgellons support au”?
Our friend Al Pal started that website. Is this the website you were talking about Linda? I will go check it out in the meantime.
Linda – I just checked that website. Morgellons support group it is called, and I have made a couple of posts and that is it. I see someone else has posted there recently, and mentioned they “cured” themselves with pine oil. Is this the website you were referring to?
I would not have a clue Linda how to make a website or even start a blog site. You can ask Michael about that one.
Our yes the nano machines?? Well if that is what I am supposed to be infected with – I will wait until a doctor of medicine can tell me so. Otherwise it is a load of bologna.
“Only” psoriasis? Click on some of these:
[WARNING: Graphic images of severe skin condition]
http://www.dermnet.com/moduleIndex.cfm?moduleID=15
I’m showing you some things you’d said, Madge/Midge.
Madge, what you have reported are precisely the symptoms of psoriasis and pick marks, like you had said. Sticky lesions get fibers in them. Did you think that psoriasis is some mild little skin problem that is supposed to go away if you just treat it relentlessly? I had asked why you didn’t learn all there is to know about it, and you came back with something you’d considered as smart about it. You know nothing about psoriasis, and allowed a “friend” to further influence your already troubled state of mind. Why would you run with their word, over a doctor’s diagnosis?
Now, look. You are completely way off base, in thinking that anyone here is playing “wannabe doctors or scientists”. We are regular people who are just grounded in reality with a good dose of common sense. If what you have has progressed, and become debilitating, you may have possibly psoriatic arthritis. You need treatment, and not simply from a legitimate derm doctor. And, if you keep on screwing around with thinking you have “morgellons disease”, mark my words, you are not going to improve. You need to seek assistance from a REAL medical doctor, tell them that you were diagnosed with psoriasis, and ask them to give you a referral to a rhematologist.
Madge. Please read from Michael’ topics, and not so much from the comments’ sections here. All sticky skin lesions have fibers adhere to them, for pity sakes. You are misinterpretting what is wrong with you. If you’re unable to grasp that, and turn loose of the thoughts you have…that is a delusional state of mind that you’re suffering from, on top of having psoriasis. There is no “morgellons disease”. If you’re messing with a doctor who’s told you that is what you have, check into their background. Ha! You know you don’t have to do that, already, because they are not legit. Tell a real doctor what they are doing. You are being taken for a ride, like anyone else under this spell, and you are pleased as punch to allow them to do it to you.
Wake up. You need to treat what you really have, instead of living in such misery. You’ve already lost enough ground over letting this ravage you. Psoriasis is a bad thing to have. Maybe you aren’t old enough to remember the old ads, “The Heartbreak of Psoriasis”. I’m not going to go any further into the condition, but, Madge, it can be a very serious disease. There are various forms of it. Please, wake up.
Gee…..Morgellons, you forgot some of my other posts like:
I have lived them and when you have already gone to the doctor and researched over and over and nothing seems to match cobalt blue strands coming out of your face, scalp, finger and toenails, lesions with the same coming out of them, not to mention the pubic area or the bald patches on my head and the pools and pools of pastie chunky looking waste after every tub soaking. Oh and the two inch long white fiber slimey things coming out from behind my eyes. Oh yeah I forgot about a year ago when my ear was covered with smearie whitish goo that finally stopped but moved to my face. This all started w/one nodule type blackhead pimple looking thing on my neck. The blue strands were and still are coming out of my feet and hands they look like very dry and cracked skin, to the naked eyelike never before. These were not symptoms of psoriasis like the 1st dermatolagist diagnosed. When you continue on with living with crazy things happening to your body and you have exhausted yourself trying to convince doctors that you know your own body and these things are not normal you tend to feel all alone. These symptoms continue on and only get worse. When you witness with your own eyes lesions healing in front of you and at the same time small black head spore specks popping out behind the closing lesion. When youv’e seen black spore plug hairs retract when you try and pluck them, that’s a little spookey……Did you happen to read the part when the fibers are coming “OUT” of. I realize these are crazy sounding symptoms and it would sound logical that an outside fiber could stick to an oozing lesion, sad to say it’s the other way around. The fibers come out of me. Think outside of the box kids, there are many things in life not you, me or any brilliant scientists have the answers to yet. When you find out that we have been suffering in some of the worst ways possible, you will be I’m sorry to say, but you will be eating your words. I have many more symtoms that I have to deal with that I have not disclosed, if I did you would really think I were crazy. For Pete’s sake we don’t need that shit, do we? Love All, Madge
Midge,
If you don’t know what is going on with your own body, how can you say that you know your own body. All you really know is that something is happening that didn’t used to happen.
When you get any disease for the first time, it’s a new experience. You then go from “knowing your own body” to “learning new things about your body”. The doctor, on the other hand, has gone through this experience with a lot of other people. You’re certainly not the first. He knows much more about what you’re just now learning about than you do.
A delusional person is the last one to know it. No one goes to an appointment and tells the doctor that they believe things that they know aren’t true. In fact, it’s impossible to know that one’s current beliefs are untrue. You cannot know that you are delusional.
I see you as being delusional, and you see me as being delusional. One of us is wrong, but you are the one that has the wild, twilight-zone-like, opinions about what is going on. If you can’t let it go, all you can do is, wait and see. But are you going to believe the CDC if they tell you what we are telling you?
I believe you are sick, both physically and mentally. You probably think the same thing about me. But I don’t consider it an insult, if you have my best interests in mind along with your own. But we aren’t getting anywhere. We’re just butting heads.
I hope you figure it all out.
Tall Cotton
Midge – I know about all the crazy symptoms you describe, the strange lesions and the way they heal in an incredible way, the colbalt blue, oh yeah I have been there and “it’s” still with me. But it isn’t Morgellons Disease, it is actually Delusions of Parasitosis. And yes your delusions are real, so are mine.
Take care and good luck.
Thanks TC for admitting you don’t know either, atleast I think that’s what you’re writting? Ofcourse, I’m sure there will be someone out there calling me ignorant for thinking that. Anyway, the fact remains that I still know my own body. However, I have had to adapt to all the changes for lack of knowledge of the unknown. I stated previously that I have finally found a doctor that has witnessed some of these strange things happening to my body. Due to the strange fiber strands coming out from behind my eyeballs everyday along with my vision blurring, the doctor has taken a biopsy and used a hand held magnifying instrument to actually examine me and did not call me delusional and is investigating this strange symptom. This doctor is fully aware that there are diseases upcoming in this life that the med community is unaware of. She is not comfortable in just giving the simple diagnosis of DOP, just because she is not familiar with whatever it may be and/or it is not in her med book. She is actually doing her job and investigating this. She and I both agree DOP is to be diagnosed by the process of ellimination/ exclusion not just because one does not know or is unfamiliar.
Over and Out, Madge
Midge,
I don’t know what ails you physically. There’s any number of illnesses that cause lesions. Everyone’s lesions have fibers in them. I’ve personally seen clear fibers shoot out of my face, but I understand that they were extruded through the pores, and that they hardened into a hair-like fiber on contact with the air. They looked like clear hairs, and were roughly the same strength. You could melt them with a cigarette lighter. The material was pooled within my hair follicles, under a sebum plug, until the plug was freed. Clothing fibers, and other environmental fibers, macro and micro, are in everyone’s lesions. I wouldn’t consider it strange for fibers to become trapped in one’s eye socket. Afterall, moisture is on and around the eye. Lesions don’t heal because they are kept exacerbated with harsh chemicals and the scabs are removed or prematurely knocked off. I know that Morgellons is not a disease. I know there is no Morgellons pathogen. If you think you have Morgellons, I know something about your body that you don’t know. Morgies love to say that they know their bodies, but the truth is that NONE of them do. That includes you.
Tall Cotton
I just wanted to clarify for those that may not be aware;
I have never been given the diagnosis of “Delusions of Parasitosis” by any member of the medical establishment.
If DOP is written in any of my medical histories, I am totally unaware of this.
In my case, how I see it, the doctors have ended up putting themselves in a worse position because they did not do their job properly.
I was never given the full medical investigation or lab tests.
Therefore…I have self diagnosed Delusions of Parasitosis..
All you have mentioned is “the 1st dermatologist” that you went to Midge, and that they had diagnosed psoriasis. How many other doctors have you been to?
Can you explain why it is more important, to you, to defend a non-existent disease, than it is to improve your health through working with the doctor who diagnosed you?
You’d said:
Yes, Midge, and we also read:
I had suggested, that for your own amusement, you click onto either Tall Cotton’s or my name and go read some of what it was like for us.
And, lastly:
Madge, we ‘re not on the topic of the many things in life that are not understood. We’re focused and grounded, here, on the topic, of people who believe in “morgellons disease”, and the fact that there is no such thing. Morgie people are confused, and thinking way outside of the box like that, because they can’t help it, and focus on what is actually real. Outside of the box is no good place for people to be. This all seems, as you’d said, “crazy”, (your words, not mine), because that’s precisely what it boils down to.
Also, when people are trying their best to help point you into the right direction, if you don’t want it, then just move on along with it, Madge. There are plenty of the morgie copy & pasting groups, and all the fear and conspiracy theorists. People who are in this pitiful state of mind seem to need that kind of worry. I’m real sorry that you feel that we don’t know what we’re talking about, and that you’re standing in the way of yourself getting any better, too. I do appreciate your sparing us personal details, if what you’d alluded to is anything related to so much of what we read about what should be private female discussions by morgie women. I wish they knew to be discrete, and use email or private messaging, but they don’t. Thank you, and I’m sorry you’re so ill, Midge. I mean, Madge.
All I can say is get a life.
Midge,
You know very little, if anything, about our lives. There’s a lot more to know, but this isn’t a social club like the forums of the Morgellons Believers.
TC
Midge/Madge, I’m sorry, but you came into the discussion of your own free will, so please relax. You have brought up many things, but you have left out a whole lot. Have you had a biopsy done on your eye by a doctor of opthalmology, or are you saying to us that whatever kind of “doctor” you are now seeing biopsied mucous coated strands of external contaminants (fibers) that had gotten into your eye, or strings of mucous, alone, due to having irritation from dry eyes, and/or infection?
Midge – “Get a Life” – Yes, that is exactly what you need to do!
For all of you people on this site; the “disbelievers”; who have SO, SO much time to spend telling morgellons sufferers how “delusional” they all are, well, you are the delusional ones. Now that the CDC is investigating this REAL disease, and finding that it truly DOES exsist, how will you “higher- than-mighty-yet-proven-wrong” bloggers spend your time now? I guess you will all have to find another cause that you know absolutely NOTHING about, and stick your uneducated, unwanted nose into their personal horrors of life. Better start trying to figure this one out now, you are running out of time…
Yvonster – I have been wrong about million things in my life before, so if I am wrong about the outcome of Morgellons – so what! That is how we learn in life Yvonster.
That sounds like a personal problem ya got there, Yvonster.
Hello Yvonster,
I’m a Morgellons disbeliever, and yes, I do have lots of time on my hands, lots and lots of time to debunk the foolish beliefs of morons like you.
No, we’re not delusional. I’m sure you either believe we are, or simply wish we were. The CDC knows you’re delusional. They’ve always known.
But since you believers will undoubtedly scream “conspiracy”, they are trying to figure out how to present the “findings” to you in a way that you will accept and get the mental health treatment that you are so badly in need of.
We’re not here for your benefit. We’re here to keep newbies from getting sucked into your dangerous cult. And since you can’t see the harm you are doing, you are the one in need of an education.
Tall Cotton
Hello my name is James In Austin Texas
Janruary of 2006 I was in vegas for 2 days, after drinking wine for
several days and nights and sleeping little and then walking to the
airport my heartrate went to 180 bps where it stayed there for 6
hours, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital where they checked me
for cardiac problems which showed to be “grossly negotive” but found
leisons on my liver. I returned to Austin and started flushing, or
puritus that would not stop, or would only happen when I drank
alcohol. Does anyone have such a problem with Alcohol???
Scans of the liver again showed 3 leisons in Feb 2006. I started
support for liver and checked into carciniod cancer info and then
mastocytosis information.
The flushing would usually only happen after a little wine, In March
no more wine or alcohol, but still puritus and the creepy crawly
felling, almost and electrical sensation on my skin, itching etc. I
fasted 2 times did liver cleanses, colon cleanses and by June the
liver spots had resolved were gone.
When I use valium I have no flushing or puritus at all. Now a small
red spot on my lower left side, doctor said it was H Zoster, that was
4 months ago, it never itched, but hurt at first. Still red, a couple
of other smaller ones, but no sensation at all, no fibers at all.
Biggest problem is with the rapid heartbeat after eating, or with heat
this I had before the valium.
Allergist put me on testosterone cream, then I found small white fatty
like globules on my scalp, which he said was subasus debris from the
testosterone,,, Hmmm
Looking for Virginia Savel, but cannot find her. Dr Swartz says he can
cure me, but how can he know for sure what this is. I was thinking
Mastocytosis before, and some call him a quack, and to me that means a
doctor that is willing to thinkoutside the box and not fall in line
with big pharma/
Anyway, got to take out the dog for a walk, need a doctor in Austin
asap. Any one can help?? Thanks,
James in Austin
Since this topic is called, “Imagination”, this guy has a good one — a “healthy” one. What he wrote about his skin problem, was during the “pre-morgie era”, and it’s an entertaining account of what he went through.
http://www.lebofsky.com/write/pityriasis.html
Of course, “now”, he might take what he’d had, and look at it totally differently.
Nah, I doubt that.
A newbie on a morgie message board, today, says that “this disease” was spread from Germany by people that told him about 9/11 before it happened, and it was all covered up. I read on another message board, someone demanding to know where the government is, with “morgellons disease” happening to people.
SICK, SICK, SICK!!!!….and they don’t even know how sick they are. I wonder how many have become like this because of 9/11’s effect on their minds.
Most Morgies don’t have enough common sense to come out of the rain. If they did, they would treat their diagnosed illnesses and quit chasing an illusion.
I hope the government is watching the horrible things they are inflicting on themselves, their children, and even their pets.
A lot of these people need to be committed to institutions, and they certainly aren’t responsible enough to be raising children.
A Friend of mine made the comment that these people have become “Roundup Ready”, by demanding that the government do something about the Morgellons issue, and by publicly exposing their insanity.
I sure don’t know any other answer to this problem. They’re a danger to themselves and their dependents. The country is in bad need of mental health care reform.
Tall Cotton
Smilyekins said:
“newbie” – after eductating myself on what a “newbie” actually is when they enter the world of support forums, I’m horrified.
and just think, it happened to me and I didn’t even know.
Lemme tell ya a good one. No, it’s a bad one. A guy who must have just recently heard of “morgellons disease”, through his wife, who is a pharmacist, recently created some “morgellons disease” information in the form of a blog. He states that he hasn’t seen enough looking into the matter from both sides. Okay. But, here’s one real humdinger of a doozey (among a few others) — he instructs anyone who thinks they might have it, to hang onto anything they can collect and take it in with them to a doctor, as well as saying to visit the MRF to compare pictures. I left word that he just instructed them to carry in the match box sign to get a DOP diagnosis. I kind of think just about everyone’s already been there, done that. Strange, huh?
The more posts i read, the more i`m convinced that it takes an ignorant *ss h*le, to argue against the existance of Morgellons. Can any medical “expert” explain to me in simple terms that an idiot such as myself can understand, how thousands of people with no history of madness or imaginary delusions, and who dont know each other, can suddenly decide to “imagine” identical symptoms, and would do so for no reason ? I agree that itching will induce more itching, but why would someone start if they didnt have an itch ? Why would someone suddenly say they feel a crawling sensation at the age of 40, when they`ve lived happily for 39 years without inventing illnesses? |If its mass madness and coincidental-would any doctor like to make up a different illness and its symptoms to show me that mass delusion is possible? This illness must have physical evidence to back it up and it must be desxcribed identically by thousands of other unrelated strangers worldwide.. It must also have web sites dedicated to it and it must be realistic enough to cause life changing torment and even suicides!! Go for it Dr wise ass- you make up a disease that fits and i`ll accept we`ve all made this one up.. And for good measure, invent a way to show your physical evidence to a
disbelieving doctor without it being seen as the “matchbox sign” (a term from the dark ages !) No rush doctor- in your own time.
For 15 years i`ve lived in the same house. 13 of these years i had no symptoms, no `delusions` and no knowledge of morgellons. My job is the same- my diet is the same. I dont stick needles in me or sniff things up my nose-nor do i smoke anything other than tobacco.. So why did i suddenly develope these odd symptoms? My life didnt change yet one day my “imagination” decides to give me DOP. Coincidentally, these “delusions” happen to be identical to thousands of people who i`ve never met, who i dont know, and many of whom dont even live in the same continent as me !! WOW ! What an “imagination” we`ve got ! Just like them, i`ve been branded a fruitcake by doctors and lost faith in the medical system we`re supposed to trust.. One hell of a coincidence dont you think? Why do you think we arrive at the same answers? It`s not the internets fault-if we didnt feel ill – we wouldn`t look for answers !! I know my body and so do the other people- we say we fewel the crawling and find the fibres BECAUSE WE DO!! I`m no doctor but JESUS CHRIST – IT`S HARDLY ROCKET SCIENCE IS IT?? To be honest, i couldn`t care less if one day i HAD woken up raving bloody mad! I dont care if i am a lunatic ! I just want someone to be able to tell me FOR SURE and return me to someone who DOESNT FEEL THE CRAWLING AND WHO DOESNT FIND WEIRD FIBRES ! Take me seriously- bother to examine me -cure my symptoms- give me back my life, and i`ll get on with being crazy quietly and leave the blinkered, ignorant medical profession to diagnose and treat athletes foot and warts! But till i stop feeling what i DO feel- or someone comes up with another answer- it`s MORGELLONS and NOT sudden, unexplained delusions -or lunacy!
From Steve a delusional educated, intelligent fruitcake from the UK.
Steve, have you noticed your joints ache more aged 40 than they did aged 20? That’s your body getting older.
Notice your eyesight getting weaker? That aging. As you get old, your body changes, often for the worse.
You can’t expect your health never to change as you age. I’m sorry you are ill, but if many doctors agree on the meaning of your symptoms, then why are you so sure they are all wrong?
If you don’t care if you are a “lunatic”, then why not give that a shot for six months, and see if anti-lunacy treatment can help a little?
Steve,
Where’s the evidence that thousands of people are experiencing the same symptoms. I’ve studied this issue for fibe years, and it’s clear to me that people are experiencing a wide variety of symptoms. It’s also obvious that they have a variety of physical disorders, in addition to having some common delusions. You asked, “Why would someone suddenly say they feel a crawling sensation at the age of 40, when they`ve lived happily for 39 years without inventing illnesses?” I ask you, Why anyone would suddenly acquire any other health problem at the age of forty?
Nevertheless, if you’ll do a little bit of study yuo will realize that this isn’t something that suddenly came upon everyone at the same time. This has been going on as long as mankind has existed. Before Morgellons, it was called Elliot’s Disease. But it has always been a variety of skin conditions, plus the delusions that people have about them. There’s other mass delusions also. Take a look at the many people that think they have chronic Lyme Disease. Do you really think there is such a thing? Those people share a lot of the same symptoms also, and they have their websites. Their lives are in torment for a variety of reasons. Not to mention the fact that their common delusion is causing them to abuse antibiotics and create superbugs, like Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
You spoke about the “matchbox sign”. The opinions that the medical community has about the matchbox sign is due to the fact that the patients bring in scabs, cellular debris, dried globs of sebum, hair, blanket fuzz, and other meaningless crud. They may have skin problems, but their beliefs about them, although unshakable, are quite confused. I’m sorry, but you are obviously delusional. Treat your mental disorder, then hopefully you will be able to make an accurate report to your doctor so he can tackle your remaining physical problems.
Tall Cotton
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/12/30/HOG2VN91IS1.DTL
Oh, of course he will identify the Morgie’s bugs for 10 dollars per specimen. It looks obvious to me that he’s telling the Morgies enough of what they want to hear, to get them to trust him, so he can take their money. Go for it, sucker!
TC
Again, the Bugman said:
It’s very sad to think that the Bugman can’t deduce that DOP is now out of the closet because of Mary Leitao.
In reference to what I’d said in comment #106, upon looking back at the Bugman’s answer, he also said:
Actually, I don’t think Mary Leitao’s “morgellons disease” on the internet, and its mass media coverage, is the ONLY thing Bugman isn’t taking into consideration. Patients weren’t exactly sharing DOP experiences, publicly, twenty years ago. I think he’d surely have noticed whether the increase to a dozen or so such letters a month, five years ago, began after September 11, 2001.
Does anyone know when the first message board, or web site, showed up on the internet?
Sorry, I meant stuff on “skin parasites”, and whether anyone knows when they first appeared on line. I really just don’t see how the Bugman expects people to think he’s thought this all the way through. It smells fishy, to me, and for quite a few reasons that I haven’t even brought up. Ya know, I just hate people being so vulnerably susceptible to predacious behavior. I read an extremely moving article he’d written a few years ago about a young lady with DOP, in the University of New Mexico’s independent newspaper, the New Mexico Daily Lobo, though, and he’s an animal rights’ advocate, too. He sounds like a really nice man, but…..
Hi one and all
Thanks for taking the time to reply, all opinions are helpful and welcome whether they coincide with mine or not. I like to think i`m rational and open minded about what i feel and learn from others. I understand `Michael` point about natural aging and as i`ve never been 40 before, i cant give any proven explaination to disprove his arguement. All i can offer is my surprise at how sudden and severe the change is when i reached 40 yrs old. At 39 ~~(pre delusional madness) cycling, walking and playing with my kids, was not only possible, but enjoyable. Yet now 18 months later, they are painful when i try, and exhausting after a short time. I would`ve thought such sudden decline would be common knowledge if everyone experienced the same ! I thank him for his belief in my lunacy too.. If a doctor or shrink would give me the same answer, and back it up with some evidence,(a proper examination would be nice too) i`d be delighted and i`d get treatment for it immediately. Mental illness isn`t anything to be ashamed of, and i`d be happy to be treated for it. I`d also be interested to know why i`d suddenly gone cuckoo almost overnight, with o signs of it in my life previously. Sadly no one will confirm for sure whether i`m crazy or ill- because they aren`t 100% certain. As the American medical people are investigating this, i can only assume that they`re unsure and have decided to find out if they can.. Open mindedness and the ability to challenge the obvious answers, are signs of basic human intelligence.
Thanks to `Tallcotton` for his time too. It is genuinely appreciated and interesting to see how others feel. In answer to the question about how people get any ailment at the age of 40,(or any age) my only answer can be “because they`ve been infected or affected by something”. The same reason that Morgellons sufferers suddenly report the symptoms. Believe me- i didn`t wake up one day and think `i think i want to be ill`, and if i had, what are the chances that i`d choose such similar symptoms that so many other people had also described ? Why didn`t i notice strange fibres in my skin or the crawling feelings before ? Why did i suddenly become aware of the `fuzz balls` if they`re normal tumble drier fluff that was here before ? Doesn`t the fact that these symptoms have been reported for years, strengthen the case for the existance of something that can cause them? I am pleased that you dont share the view that Morgellons is an internet made disease.. What stupid rubbish is that theory ?! As if the people who have found some comfort from the websites would`ve ever have bothered to look had they not had symptoms and been dismissed as delusional by the medical professsion !! As i said- i`m grateful for your time aand contribution but i think it`s rather blinkered to describe anyone you dont know and have never met as “obviously delusional” from two written messages.. Wouldn`t `POSSIBLY delusional` be a more open minded and sensible description?
“That fruitcake“ Steve
Steve,
Well, you seem to be changing your tune some. In your previous post you said that you were labeled a “fruitcake” by doctor. That sounds like a diagnosis to me. Don’t bullshit me, Steve. When you try to understand this, you’ll understand it.
TC
Oh my gosh, Steve. I beg your pardon, but reprimanding anyone for using your own written communication as their only point of reference, is a little off-tilt. Please refer back to your comments #101 & #102. You should get an appointment with a mental health professional, and discuss what you’re feeling with them. Psychiatrists can order medical tests, and they will, when they feel they’re necessary. Often, when illness strikes a person, regardless of their age, it is not all unique for it to have a sudden onset. People are individuals. Best wishes to you.
To say “I have a high IQ” or “I’m intelligent” or “I’m a doctor” or “I’m of sound mind” doesn’t give ANY evidence that a person is not delusional.
I reference Dr. J. Traver, a brilliant woman zoologist, and sufferer of DP.
Sorry to anyone who took offence to anything in my post. None was meant. I`d best try to explain my self. TC- I dont intend to appear stupid, but i`m not sure what you see as bullshit. I cant accept the `fruitcake` diagnosis of a doctor who took one look at me as i walked in, labeled me in his mind, and didnt examine me for more than a minute. I genuinely assumed i`d picked up a scabies mite or two. His opinion was to offer me a course of anti depressants. I left there still believing the problem was scabies and his quick glance had missed it. As for trying to understand..believe me i have and gave up trying long ago. I hope you`re right and one day a logical explanation smacks me round the face. I`m not trying to make anyone agree or see things my way, i just dont understand why no one seems able to be open minded and understand why this thing freaks out the sufferers so much. Even if it all turns out to be delusions and imaginary when the truth is known, it`s still weird and one hell of a coincidence. I`ll be honest, it scared shit out of me to start with! I`m no genius by a long way,i dont claim to be abnormally clever, Im no doctor or teacher- i`m a truck driver as it happens, but i do consider myself rational and logical and somewhen i hope there`s an explanation that i can get my head round.. Even if that answer sends me scurrying to a psychiatrist for treatment ! I asked my (new)GP if he thought i would benefit from seeing a head doctor and he said i probably wouldn`t. He said that i came across as far more logical and straight thinking than people with DOP generally are. Maybe i just hid my insanity well that day ? He also confessed he`d never heard of Morgellons and he was (acted?) genuinely in doubt that so many people could have such similar delusions. Anyhow- sorry again if i pissed anyone off. I appreciate the time and effort put in by people who post their opinions and read mine. Being able to accept that the, visible signs, physical feelings and energy draining symptoms, aren`t real- is never going to be easy-however good the imagination is. Real or delusion- it`s messed up a lot of peoples lives and even ended a few.. That makes it a shit thing by anyones reckoning.
Right. People are people, and I think the best thing to keep from being thought of as being delusional is to stop acting like it.
Steve,
There’s hundreds of causes of itching skin, and, by far, the majority of them are not caused by any kind of organism.
I used the term, “bullshit”, because you acted as if you would readily treat a mental condition if your doctor diagnosed you with one. But you had already said that he thought you were a fruitcake. To me, that sounds like a mental disorder, whether or not you know its scientific name. You fall back on your opinion that the diagnosis wasn’t thorough. That’s typical of every Morgie.
Delusions are not necessarily illusions. Delusions are fixed false beliefs that are contrary to the evidence. I don’t know whether or not your doctor diagnosed you according to protocol, but the protocol is nothing more than a suggestion, and the doctor can take a lot of shortcuts bases on the things you say. A lot of things can also be ruled out with a blood test. As many causes as there are for itching, it’s rather niave to think you’ll ever know the cause, much less cure it completely. For example, millions of people have eczema. A lot of them are Morgies. Some also have sarcoidosis, ms, ALS, lyme disease, RMSF, psoriasis, folliculitis, seborrhea, dandruff, head lice, mite infestations, kidney problems, liver problems, and many, many, other conditions. The wisest thing to do, in my opinion, is stick with a good doctor. Some conditions are curable, and some are not. Some are relatively easy to diagnose, and others aren’t. I believe that Morgies have a variety of physical problems, and I also believe that most of them have a variety of mental problems.
Tall Cotton
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/itching_skin.htm#possible
I didn’t take offense, Steve. But, when a person states a bizarre belief, poses questions as to why they, and thousands of others, are fixated on it, then issues a sort of reprimand over honest replies to their questions, I don’t quite know any satisfactory way of responding.
You seem very bewildered, and since your doctor wanted you to try antidepressants, but you’d concluded that as meaning that you are a “fruitcake” and a “lunatic”, you have some serious prejudiced beliefs about mental health matters. You seem out of balance with your statements, as though you can’t trust yourself to know what you think, or what you mean, and you imply that you have been someone that was quite sure of himself at one time. You did say that you presented the matchbox sign, so that’s a medical issue that has to be dealt with in a straightforward manner.
I’m sorry, but I’m straightforward, too, and don’t mean to be offensive. I got out of DOP, and so did TC, a few years back, but not without a steep price. We’re both alive to tell it. We’d both had the secondary organic form. Nobody who believes in “morgellons disease” will know what form of DOP they have because they prefer to keep it. If you want to run with a crowd of other delusional patients and allow the consequences of your behavior to dominate your life, spiral you downward, and risk losing your loved ones, like so many of them have, that’s your prerogative. Many of them apparently seem to derive a sense of purpose from their bizarre beliefs and it’s a perverted form of coping mechanism. It leads nowhere, though, only into oblivion. There are more unscrupulous “doctors” preying on these poor people as time marches on.
I’m not saying you’re planning on, or doing, any of that, and, like I said, I’m sorry about my style of communication. When was the last time you had a physical? You may have something very simple to explain this, such as anemia, elevated liver enzymes, elevated blood glucose, thyroid problems, a bladder infection, actually, any number of things. I wish you weren’t so inclined to not want to try antidepressants. You sound like you also have chronic fatiigue. Low energy goes with a lot of things that can happen to us. Psychosis can be triggered by many things as well, but you may only have a misunderstanding, and “morgellons disease”, naturally, seems to perfectly fit the profile. It really doesn’t though, Steve, and I think you’re intelligent enough to reason that out.
So, please, get a doctor, get a physical, work with them, and move out of this dangerous belief. Look all around on Michael’ blog, beginning in the April archives’ topics, read them, and work your way up in the topics, to the present.
Concerning that low energy, Steve, you could take this in to a doctor with you, to assist in receiving the appropriate tests, to help you in your quest to restore your health to a favorable state…
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_40887.html
I hope your opinions can change, because that is a treacherous thing to believe in, and that the more posts you read, you’ll become un-convinced that it takes an ignorant *ss h*le, to argue against the existence of morgellons.
You people are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
Go see a psychiatrist today.
“Concerned For All Of You”, morgie people only see psychiatrists, most of the time, as they say, to get a clean bill of mental health. See, they have this big plan. Well, look into their forums, you’ll see.
Dr.Smith even told them how to avoid a DOP diagnosis. I would say that he stooped pretty low when he wrote that letter. But although he should know better, I suppose he’s deceived like the rest. In my opinion, if he isn’t going to practice medicine, he ought to keep his words to himself. I think people hear his advice and falsely assume that he’s educated on the issue of Morgellons. That’s like going to an MD and misrepresenting your symptoms, but in this case, some of the Morgies may very well need mental help more than the physical
Tall Cotton
Hey Steve,
“The more posts i read, the more i`m convinced that it takes an ignorant *ss h*le, to argue against the existance of Morgellons.”
Has it worked for you in the past, to call people names, and suddenly, they agree with your opinion? Just a thought.
“Can any medical “expert” explain to me in simple terms that an idiot such as myself can understand, how thousands of people with no history of madness or imaginary delusions, and who dont know each other, can suddenly decide to “imagine” identical symptoms, and would do so for no reason ?”
It is actually quite common for thousands of people with no history of madness to share the same delusion. Take other mental health conditions, such as anorexia, the most deadly mental health condition documented to date. Thousands of people share the same delusions, that they are fat, so do you question that an actual organism is causing anorexia? Another example, in schizophrenia, there is a paranoid subtype, where it thousands of people with schizophrenia are convinced the government is out to get them. It can be concluded, that just because thousands of people “have the same symptoms” does not therefore exclude a mental health cause.
“I agree that itching will induce more itching, but why would someone start if they didnt have an itch ? Why would someone suddenly say they feel a crawling sensation at the age of 40, when they`ve lived happily for 39 years without inventing illnesses?”
Because you’ve never had mental health or physical illnesses before, does it mean you can never acquire them? Because you’ve never had the flu before, you’re not susceptible to the condition now? A person can live their whole life and then be diagnosed with cancer, why would that mean they didn’t have cancer, and that the treatment was fraudulent?
[next part was repeat of a prior comment, so I’ll skip]
“It must also have web sites dedicated to it and it must be realistic enough to cause life changing torment and even suicides!!”
Mental health conditions have websites, can make you miserable, and are associated with suicide too. What is your point?
“Go for it Dr wise ass- you make up a disease that fits and i`ll accept we`ve all made this one up.. And for good measure, invent a way to show your physical evidence to a disbelieving doctor without it being seen as the “matchbox sign” (a term from the dark ages !) No rush doctor- in your own time.”
We don’t have to make up a disease that fits. It’s called Delusory Parasitosis. And it’s only a “matchbox sign” if there are not presence of insects. So, I don’t understand your animosity, could you explain?
Hi again.
I think a couple of things i`ve said were poorly worded and haven`t come over as they were meant. I`d like to explain what i mean if i can. TC- I used the word `fruitcake` to describe how i felt, and how i imagine i would seem to other people, when i was told i was delusional. If someone else had explained the symptoms,before i was affected, i`d have immediately branded the person a raving lunatic ! To me, the word `delusional` was a posh word for `crazy`. I felt as if the doctor was saying `delusional` but thinking `bloody nutter` ! If he`d examined me and given me a possible cause before he arrived at this conclusion, i wouldn`t have taken such offence. And YES i would welcome being diagnosed mentally ill after a proper examination! It would be the much needed answer and i`d know where to go for treatment. Believe me, an end to the symptoms is my wish, not to prove or disprove anything. I cant and wont say that i have definately got morgellons or that morgellons exists.. i`d be a fool (or ignorant ass h*ole) if i did. But i`d be equally unwise to say its totally impossible. One thing i can say without hesitation is that, almost overnight something unpleasant happened to me and many other people. That is a fact and it`s very real-whether the cause is real or not. Surely we all agree on that ? Please dont think i`m having a dig at anyone but unles you are affected by this, you will never know how `real`it feels to the sufferer. It`
Steve,
I was a genuine Morgie for 3 years. I had my illness, plus I was delusional. Every Morgie has their physical problems, and they vary a great deal. They do not have the same health problems, or the same symptoms. That’s part of the delusion. There is no such thing as Morgellons, other than DOP. And they all have that, on top of their particular physical problems. Morgies need to go to their doctors, listen to them, and follow their instructions. A doctor doesn’t have to examine you to tell when you are delusional. He just has to hear what you believe in.
Tall Cotton
Steve said:
I agree Steve.
Tallcotton said.
We do all of that TC, and we leave the surgery with a big fat nothing, other than a hole in our purse/wallet.
I admit I said that Morgellons was DOP, you brain washed me good and proper. I guess I had to do it to get myself to the “other side”.
I’ve reached the other side and I haven’t a clue what it is, but it sure isn’t normal.
And TC you know you can not tell me that I am DOP because you can not dignose me over the internet, you don’t have a leg to stand on.
Small doesnt have a clue. Or an education.
Hi again
I think a couple of things i`ve said were poorly worded and haven`t come over as they were meant. I`d like to explain what i mean if i can. TC- I used the word `fruitcake` to describe how i felt, and how i imagine i would seem to other people, when i was told i was delusional. If someone else had explained the symptoms,before i was affected, i`d have immediately branded the person a raving lunatic ! To me, the word `delusional` was a posh word for `crazy`. I felt as if the doctor was saying `delusional` but thinking `bloody nutter` ! If he`d examined me and given me a possible cause before he arrived at this conclusion, i wouldn`t have taken such offence. And YES i would welcome being diagnosed mentally ill after a proper examination! It would be the much needed answer and i`d know where to go for treatment. Believe me, an end to the symptoms is my wish, not to prove or disprove anything. I cant and wont say that i have definately got morgellons or that morgellons exists.. i`d be a fool (or ignorant ass h*ole) if i did. But i`d be equally unwise to say its totally impossible. After all, every illness must`ve started as an unknown thing at sometime. Perhaps the first humans with cancer were thought to be delusional ?? One thing i can say without hesitation is that, almost overnight something unpleasant happened to me and many other people. That is a fact and it`s very real-whether the cause is real or not. Surely we all agree on that ? Please dont think i`m having a dig at anyone but unles you are affected by this, you will never know how `real`it is to the sufferer. Its totally consuming and the idea that it is a mind generated delusion seems unimaginable. Keeping an open mind and a logical head is very difficult, the frustration is incredible and peoples attitude is generally infuriating. For me, it`s only the absence of hard medical proof that lets me question why i feel what i feel. Christ knows if that made sense- but try to accept that i`m not here to piss anyone off or insult anyone. I dont assume i`m right and i try to understand other peoples opinions even i dont agree with them.
Steve Buddy-
These folks dont give a crap.
Steve,
That’s how we differ. I know I’m right. No question about it, whatsoever. And I’m sick and tired of the harm that is being caused by the Morgellons hysteria. It all started with Munchhausen Syndrom by Proxy, and it evolved from there. There is no “it”, except for the “it” of DOP. The physical illnesses are widely varied and unrelated. I don’t like the way the Morgies are abusing themselves, but what’s worse than that is that they are abusing their children and their pets.
Tall Cotton
Small is playing nice. Good Small.
How’s the pregancy coming along, Gillian?
My skin everywhere is very losoe. How my neck, can I stop this before it effects my face? It there hope?
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