India

Tall Cotton says:

That’s an excellent article. It makes it very clear that many cutaneous disorders are accompanied by psychiatric conditions. The skin problems and the psychiatric conditions should serve as warning flags, each for the other.

What came first? The chicken or the egg.

A serious skin condition can effect a person emotionally, and an emotional problem can affect a person’s skin. Which should you treat? In my opinion, it would be wise to treat both, if both are present, but if either of those conditions are of a serious nature, treatment should be left to professionals.

The mind and the body are members of a system of checks and balances, but many people refuse to nuture another key figure in the system, the central figure or interface between the two, and that is the spirit.

What came first, the chicken or the egg? Does it really matter? Let any member go and the whole house of cards comes crashing down.

Covered In Lumps says:

“In my opinion, it would be wise to treat both, if both are present”

Bingo – therein lies the answer. Any long term medical complaint has a psychological aspect to it – if nothing else, constantly feeling cruddy makes you feel depressed, and you end up in a cycle of not coping and so on. Those with skin conditions are particularly susceptible because of the shame and dirtiness connotations, even subconsciously, people hold regarding skin lesions.

Treat the whole person, not just part of them.

Smileykins says:

I agree about treating the whole person, and I tend to think that anyone with skin conditions other than “morgellons disease victims” can tell whether their emotions create an exacerbation in their skin conditions, and vice versa, and that they seek the right methods of assistance for it, if necessary.

I’ve been in remission from eczema for about 20 years now, and stress definitely caused it to flare, although I didn’t seek help over it. The stress, I mean. I just treated the eczema.

I got the heck teased out of me at work over my big raw patches, but that honestly didn’t bother me. Hehe, I’d just chase after whomever was teasing me, and threaten to rub my sores on them. It was really pretty fun, actually.

Morgies, however, have such a distinctly different set of circumstances. I know, from when I’d been ill, and recovered, from a unique set of explainable things, several years ago, with what has since been labeled as a “disease called morgellons”. There is no such “disease”, but there is a condition that can be brought about through many states of ill health.

The misconceptions that have been instigated and instilled in peoples’ minds, though, due to the “creation of morgellons disease”, which is causing them to disbelieve, and disregard, their other medical concerns, thinking it is all a result of morgellons, is
a very seriously unique matter of concern for us all.

abac68 says:

1111 West 17th Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74107-1898
918-582-1972
May 15, 2006
Re: Morgellons Disease
From: Randy S. Wymore, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology & Physiology
Rhonda Casey, D.O., Department of Pediatrics
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Dear Practitioner,
This letter concerns a patient population that manifests a particular set of symptoms we have encountered
with increasing frequency, and that OSU-CHS is actively researching. The condition has been labeled as
Morgellons Disease and it is unclear if this is a single disease or a multi-faceted syndrome. Until recently, most of
these patients have been grouped as a subset of the diagnosis of Delusions of Parasites (delusional parasitosis;
DOP). After obtaining careful patient histories and thorough physical exam, we have determined that Morgellons
patients have several important distinctions ruling out the diagnosis of DOP.
This population of patients frequently exhibit the following symptoms:
• Distinct and poorly healing skin lesions with unusually thick, membranous scarring upon eventual healing.
• Moderate to extreme pruritis at sites of lesions as well as un-erupted skin.
• Microscopic examination of these lesions will most often reveal the presence of unusual fibers, which may be
black, blue or red. These fibers, which many healthcare providers initially thought to be textile
contaminants, are often present in the deep tissue of biopsies obtained from unbroken skin of individuals
with this condition. Careful examination of these fibers further reveals that they are frequently associated
with hair follicles, and are definitely not textile in origin.
• Most of these patients suffer from a host of neurological symptoms which can vary in severity from mild to
severe. These neurological symptoms include peripheral tingling, paresthesias and varying degrees of motor
involvement which appear to progress.
• Intermittent cognitive and behavioral status changes are often observed and also seem to progress with the
severity of disease. This is often referred to as “brain fog” by the patient as they experience a waxing and
waning of this symptom.
• Laboratory findings in these patients are variable, but often reveal eosinophilia and elevated levels of
Immunoglobin E.
• Other symptoms of varying severity and frequency have been described, and are included in the attached
case definition.
Continued…
Morgellons patients differ from classical, delusional parasitosis patients in several areas. They do not respond to
antipsychotics, and new lesions continue to appear upon complete cessation of manual excoriation.
Due to the sensation of foreign material in their tissue, that has been described as sharp, stinging and/or splinterlike,
the patient may have discovered the fibers prior to seeking medical care, and may bring them to your office for
examination. Please do not assume that the patient’s problem is purely psychological based on this propensity.
Many of these patients may appear skeptical of traditional medical care due to frequent dismissal of their
symptoms in the past. The combination of suffering from a chronic disease with distressful symptoms and no known
cause or cure can cause some patients to appear anxious or agitated.
We encourage you to take the time to carefully interview any patient who may fall into this category, perform
any testing you may deem appropriate, and most importantly treat the patient with compassion and dignity.
Sincerely,
Randy S. Wymore, Ph.D. Rhonda Casey, D.O.
Director of Research, Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Morgellons Research Foundation
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Oklahoma State University
Center for Health Sciences
1111 West 17th Steet
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74107-1898
email: morgellons@okstate.edu
Morgellons Information Line: (877) 599-7999
http://www.healthsciences.okstate.edu/morgellons/index.cfm

Smileykins says:

I appreciate abac68 sharing Doctor Wymore’s statement to physicians, which otherwise, I had only read once and missed the importance of what he says near the end.

“The combination of suffering from a chronic disease with distressful symptoms and no known cause or cure can cause some patients to appear anxious or agitated.
We encourage you to take the time to carefully interview any patient who may fall into this category, perform any testing you may deem appropriate, and most importantly treat the patient with compassion and dignity.”

Imagine the levels of toxicity, and what role they help play in “appearing anxious or agitated”. That cautionary statement that he made is so sad.

Prichard says:

If you are interested in Morgellons Disease or experience Morgellons symptoms, I would like to invite you to participate in the Morgellons Disease Information Community and Message Board at morgellonsite.com

Smileykins says:

I’m not interested in anything other than what people are benefiting from by believing in “morgellons disease”.

Gillian says:

Prichard – Interesting link, I was only interested in what the CDC had to say. I am not interested in newspaper stories. I put my faith in the CDC and I know they will come through for me. Mr Rutz told me I could do this, and I will.

If this entire website and the whole circus involved was a hoax the CDC would never have phoned me at home and Mr Rutz would never have sent me such a lovely letter. A man in his position of authority, and respected by so many would not in his wildest dreams go out on a limb and take the time to write such a lovely supporting letter.

The truth here is the letter from Mr Rutz got me to where I am. No help from my family, which is why I kept doing this, Morgellons internet stuff, I new all along my life and whatever happened was not my fault.

But this blog site is not the place for me to discuss this personal information, it is not something I wish to share with anyone. It would be my own personal therapist, a person I know I can trust, someone I really really respect.

Gillian says:

I just remembered something.

You know the Lymebusters site NOT the message board oh NO. I mean where you read about Kerry and I think Patty, their stories.

I printed those up whilst I was researching Lyme Disease. My sister said straight away to my Mum my god that sounds just like Gillian, especially the back herniation at 16 yrs of age.

My back never got the treatment it should have done at the time of my injury, I was really made to feel it was ALL my fault.

I have an anterolateral herniation at L3/4 of my spine. This herniation will actually show on a plain x-ray, this is in fact unusual I was told by a couple of doctors. So in other words the inherniation pops inwards rather than out.

My right leg first gave way when I was 16 yrs old walking home from school. My butt would go numb when I sat on the loo. The pain was awful. I had to take pain killers at about 16 or 17, right after my mum told me to quit school, she even chose my job for me.

You see, that is probably why she (my mum) has the youthful face of a 25 year old woman and I have the face of a 120 year old woman. My Gran well, she is just a controlling selfish old cow and looks great, and Tony is slamming doors right now because I don’t want to listen to his pissed talk about his f&^$%( mate who did not want to know me anymore when I became ill (his mate that is). Only interested in me when my legs came up to my armpits. and that includes Tony too.(only wanting to know me when I looked good).

And the quack wanted to fix Tony’s alcohol addiction. Give me one minute alone in room with that quack. I won’t hit him or hurt him physically. I will talk very calmly and point out what life is about, the good, the bad and the very ugly. He will learn not to use and abuse the word of the “Lord” as a tool for selling his snake oil treatments.

The abuse is immense.

Gillian says:

I meant to say DOP and MSBP and Morgellons it is a fine line between the THREE…

allenvestal says:

This is my story take it or leave it. In 1994 while I was working as a medical record clerk at Austin Regional Clinic South a sore appeared on my forehead. It hurt like hell until I removed the scab and found egg like things that appeared to be made from hard rubber. Dr. Abraham Delgado examined it and said it did not look like cancer but my family made me get a second opinion and I went to Dr. Randal Grimshaw. I thought the egg shaped things were the most interesting thing but he decided to biopsy the edge which came up as chronically inflamed tissue. I had this lesion for over 4 years. Years later I was working at Austin Heart PA and began to have them on my face and arms. When I went to work at Renaissance Womens Group in Austin in 1999 all hell broke loose. I ended up with more lesions than I could possibly bandaged and made an excuse to quit two weeks before 9/11. I had hundreds of high quality pictures of various plastic or rubber like thing I had removed from my flesh and doctors looked at them and had no explanation. During the time I worked at these clinics I was the only one who had this and it was not till much later that I found out it was common in nurses around Austin. This is how I describe it. I feel like I have slivers of glass in my skin and when I remove the scab it has what looks like stalagmites made from molded superglue. Under this there are egg shaped things that seem to be made of tire like hard rubber. After I remove a scab a thin liquid seeps in that is clear/slightly pink that quickly hardens into a mold of the stalagmite looking things that came off with the scab and the process starts over.