Professor Citovsky asked me to post the following note:
I would like to clarify the involvement of my research group in the Morgellons studies. We are biochemists and cell and molecular biologists who study fundamental and diverse biological processes, such as genetic transformation, intercellular transport, and chromatin remodeling, using plants as experimental systems. Because one of our model organisms, Agrobacterium, is capable of genetically transforming not only plants, but also other eukaryotic species, including human cells, we were contacted by Dr. Stricker and MRF to investigate potential presence of Agrobacterium in biopsies from Morgellons patients. A limited number of anonymous samples provided by Dr. Stricker were tested by PCR for the presence of different families of Agrobacterium genes. Control reactions included samples from healthy donors provided by us. Only Morgellons, but not healthy subjects tested positive in these studies. This observation does not imply that Agrobacterium causes Morgellons or that Morgellons is indeed an infectious disease. However, it does encourage future studies to determine (i) statistical significance of our data, (ii) whether or not Agrobacterium is not only present extracellularly, but also causes genetic transformation of the infected tissues, and (iii) whether or not infection of laboratory animals with Agrobacterium can recreate at least some symptoms of Morgellons. These are the immediate goals which may or may not be pursued, depending on the available research funding which is currently non-existent for Morgellons.
Vitaly Citovsky, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology
My heavens. How impressive.
That he asked you to post that, I mean. :/
Maybe Dr. Citovsky wanted to emphasize the fact that those “alleged” Morgellons specimens were furnished by Dr. Stricker, a man that was previously caught lying on a grant application.
Michael,
Thank you for posting this from Dr. Citovsky. You have shown yourself to be a flexible, intelligent skeptic, and are apparently secure and confident in yourself. It takes a big person to admit that PERHAPS they may have been wrong about something. Thank you again, and for what its worth, you have earned my respect.
Now, TC and Smiley.
If my words to Michael do not sit well with you, or make you uncomfortable in any way,(I am guessing that it does), then perhaps you may need to meditate on it and figure out why you may feel this way.
Even if Dr Citovsky’s work has absolutely nothing to do with morgellons, what he has proven is that horizontal gene transfer and recombination is taking place between released modified organisms and natural life (mother nature). This includes practically anyone in the US that eats.
One can easily conclude that there will probably/possibly be a number of new and emerging health threats because of this in the years to come. Morgellons may be simply the tip of the iceberg, and although as bad as this illness is, one can only imagine the possibility, or probability, of another unintended and unnatural creation of nature that is much more contagious, and quickly fatal as a result of tinkering with the basics of life. read this article about the CaMV viral promoter, which is directly related to agrobacterium. The Cauliflower Mosaic Viral Promoter – A Recipe for Disaster? by Dr. Mae-Won Ho http://www.i-sis.org.uk/camvrecdis.php
So TC and Smiley, how would you like your crow served? With or without ketchup?
Also, Let me point out the last sentence from Dr Citovsky letter.
“These are the immediate goals which may or may not be pursued, depending on the available research funding which is currently non-existent for Morgellons.”
I would like for you to understand that your efforts with this website has greatly contributed to the delays in necessary research. So if you still wonder, as you have stated many times in various posts, “what have you done to warrant any type of personal attacks”. Wonder no more, because each time your efforts(good intentions aside) delay any form of research, these efforts are without question, a very personal, malicious attack on all of those who are suffering from this at this moment.
Southcity
You never cease to astound me, South.
South,
Michael didn’t say that perhaps he had been wrong about something. Do you even know what Michael has claimed and what he has not claimed. I think not. You are wrong about something else. We don’t give a rat’s ass what you think. If we needed anyone’s support, which we do not, yhy would we even consider the opinions of someone that isn’t mentally sound.
Tall Cotton
Well, here. I think everybody should read this. It explains all the “possible” concerns. Please read each category, in full. You’ll even find mention of Dr. Stricker. You know how BIG, South, that you, and most all “morgellons disease” believers are on credentials.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_misconduct
Maybe you don’t even know…
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/not93-177.html
Maybe you don’t even CARE.
I’d posted this, here, a couple of months ago:
Citizens For Responsible Care and Research (CIRCARE)
http://www.circare.org/pd/physicians.htm
State Medical Board Orders Related to Research,
Informed Consent, and FDA-Regulated Drugs & Medical Devices….
Geoffrey Stuart Ames M.D. The board restricted Dr. Ames’ medical license for five years and prohibited him from using the Life Information System Tens device (the LISTEN device).
State of Washington Department of Health Medical Quality Assurance Commission. In the Matter of the License to Practice as a Physician and Surgeon of Geoffrey S. Ames M.D. First Amended Statement of Charges. 2003-02-05.
Available from http://www.circare.org/pd/ameswasoc_20030205.pdf
State of Washington Department of Health Medical Quality Assurance Commission. In the Matter of the License to Practice as a Physician and Surgeon of Geoffrey S. Ames M.D. Final Order. 2004-05-30.
Available from http://www.circare.org/pd/ameswaorder_20040530.pdf
Read this, too…
Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners
***Minutes***
Open Board Meeting
24(o) Geoffrey Ames, M.D.
Dr. McBride questioned Geoffrey Ames, M.D., who appeared before the Board to
respond to questions concerning his affirmative responses to Questions 8 and 11 on his
application for a change in licensure status from inactive to active.
Open Session Minutes
JUNE 9 & 10, 2006 Board Meeting
Page 31 of 38
Dr. Ames explained the circumstances surrounding the disciplinary action taken against
him by the Washington State Department of Health for conducting unnecessary tests and using
a device that was not approved by the FDA for diagnosis. He stated that if the Board grants him
a change in status to active, his scope of practice will be general practice with minor
dermatology. He described his training in dermatology. He said he notified the Board of the
investigation by the Washington Board at the time he renewed his license.
Dr. McBride moved that the Board return to Closed Session. Mrs. Kirch seconded the
motion, and it passed.
Upon returning to Open Session, Dr. McBride moved that the Board deny Geoffrey Ames, M.D.’s application for change of status from inactive to active, based upon the modification of his license in another state. Mrs. Kirch seconded the motion. Dr. McBride explained to Dr. Ames that he had the option to withdraw his application at this time, pending resolution of his court action in Washington, and resubmit an application for change of status at a later date. If he chose not to take that option, the Board may vote to take the action that was on the table in the form of a motion.
Dr. Ames asked why the Board was afraid of the machines he uses.
Dr. Anjum told Dr. Ames that was not the issue; the issue was that the Medical Board in
Washington took action against his license and he did not report it to the Nevada Board in a
timely manner.
Dr. Ames withdrew his application.
Dr. McBride withdrew his motion.
Mrs. Kirch moved to return to Closed Session for the same purposes stated before.
Ms. Stoess seconded the motion, and it passed.
(As long as they play it, right, with exactly what you need to hear, huh.)
Geoffrey S. Ames, M.D., s on the MRF Board, also.
The lying on a grant issue with Dr. Stricker is an ad hominem attack, and not particularly appropriate or relevant.
Instead, his work and expertise should be questioned. He’s a Lyme disease specialist in San Fran, a physician. Does that make him an research expert? No. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad physician, a high skilled person, but his knowledge of the scientific method may be on the shoddy side.
“I would like for you to understand that your efforts with this website has greatly contributed to the delays in necessary research.”
South, it’s a blog. To think this site has any effect whatsoever on the amount of research for Morgellons is merely a delusion of grandiosity.
Excuse me. I was seriously only meaning to inform, not to argue with anyone.
SBD,
Dr. Stricker lied on the research data in his application for a grant with the NIH. Why in hell would anyone believe him on any future grant application? It is appropriate and quite relevant. There’s too many researchers that are lying through their teeth about Morgellons, and many are exploiting mentally ill people. Inappropriate, my ass!! In my opinion, they need to be strung up by the balls.
Tall Cotton
In my opinion, people should be asking themselves whether or not they can trust Dr. Stricker not to deliberately corrupt those specimens with Agrobacterium.
TC
For interested parties, I recommend an article, written by David Whelan, in the health section of the March issue of Forbes Magazine, too. Requires registering, but it’s free and really fast.
http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0312/096.html
Not being about “morgellons disease”, yes, it may be off topic, but to me, it is relative. Dr. Stricker is mentioned. The article is entitiled…
“Ticks aren’t the only parasites living off patients in borreliosis-prone areas.”
It’s sad, too.
Your skill in character assassination is very strong, grasshopper, but please, lets try to stay on topic without the speculation of intentionally tainted samples. Think about it for a minute, why would anyone that is aware they are held under a microscope of scrutiny, risk everything by tainting samples? The logical answer is that they would not.
The issue that is brought up by dr Citovsky, on the surface, is about agrobacterium and its possible connection with morgellons. BUT what the real issue is, is the lateral exchange of genetic material between bacteria, (with risk of changing a benign bacteria into a pathogen), that would not happen normally in nature.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/FSAopenmeeting.php
Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Institute of Science in Society, PO Box 32097, London NW1 0XR
m.w.ho@i-sis.org.uk
“Horizontal gene transfer is one of the most serious, if not the most serious hazard of transgenic technology. I have been drawing our regulators’ attention to it at least since 1996 [1], when there was already sufficient evidence to suggest that transgenic DNA in GM crops and products can spread by being taken up directly by viruses and bacteria as well as plant and animals cells.
The oft-repeated refrain that “transgenic DNA is just like ordinary DNA” is false. Transgenic DNA is in many respects optimised for horizontal gene transfer. It is designed to cross species barriers and to jump into genomes, and it has homologies to the DNA of many species and their genetic parasites (plasmids, transposons and viruses), thereby enhancing recombination with all of them [2]. Transgenic constructs contain new combinations of genes that have never existed, and they also amplify gene products that have never been part of our food chain [3].
The health risks of horizontal gene transfer include:
1. Antibiotic resistance genes spreading to pathogenic bacteria.
2. Disease-associated genes spreading and recombining to create new viruses and bacteria that cause diseases.
3. Transgenic DNA inserting into human cells, triggering cancer. ”
“The transgenic constructs used in genetic modification are basically the same whether it is of human cells or of other animals and plants. An aggressive promoter from a virus is often used to boost the expression of the transgene, in animal and human cells,”
“Unfortunately, although the CaMV virus is specific for plants, its 35S promoter is active in species across the living world, human cells included”
“In 1999, another problem with the CaMV 35S promoter was identified: it has a ‘recombination hotspot’ where it tends to break and join up with other DNA [6]. Since then, we have continued to warn our regulators that the CaMV 35S promoter will be extra prone to spread by horizontal gene transfer and recombination [7-9]. The recent controversy over the transgenic contamination of the Mexican landraces [10] hinges on observations suggesting that the transgenic DNA with the CaMV 35S promoter is “fragmenting and promiscuously scattering throughout the genome” of the landraces”
Don’t tell me that you all believe the tired explanation given, that the “overprescribing of antibiotics” is the reason for all of today’s new and emerging antibiotic resistance in many of the worlds old and known pathogens, do you?
In my opinion this is about a number of researcher’s attempts to obtain federal grant money to accomplish their personal agendas. For some, that aganda may be to obtain riches. For others it may be recognition. Some may have a personal vendetta against the genetic modification of crops or the use of bio-pesticides. But who is concerned with the poor morgie whose hopes are continuously being elevated, only to be followed by disappointment as those hopes are shattered. “All” is a powerful word, and it rarely applies to anything. Bacteria and other microorganisms that cause infections are remarkably resilient and can develop ways to survive drugs meant to kill or weaken them. This antibiotic resistance or drug resistance, is due largely to the increasing use of antibiotics. It doesn’t help matters when antibiotics are prescribed long term for diseases that do not exist. Not only does Morgellons not exist, but neither does Chronicf Lyme Disease.
Tall Cotton
Citovsky, in his letter:
“This observation does not imply that Agrobacterium causes Morgellons or that Morgellons is indeed an infectious disease.”
Citovsky, in the news, on “morgellons disease”:
“I think that it causes the skin lesions, or even makes them worse, until later danger.”
Plant Bacteria May Be To Blame For Mysterious Skin Disease
February 24, 2007
cbs2-KCAL9, from LA
http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=34515@kcbs.dayport.com
I think vulnerable patients need help. “Morgellons disease is a multifaceted disease”.
There are so many connections, and so many “professional” opinions. According to some, is the “original opinion” that many “chronic lyme” patients seem to have “morgellons disease”. DOP has connections to physical & mental diseases & disorders. That particular state of mind wouldn’t develop otherwise.
Given the variety of challenges “morgellons disease” believers have with their mental functions, especially, their diminished problem solving capacity, I can’t see how a lot of these patients are in any position to be able to be providing informed consent.
I knew, from the beginning of the time I spent on lymebusters, in 2005, (after I’d first heard the words, “morgellons disease”), that a lot of “morgellons” patients, then, and now, don’t even know who Mary Leitao is, or anything about her. Many don’t know, and they don’t care, who’s on the board of the Morgellons Research Foundation, either. It’s more plain than the nose on a person’s face, that such things aren’t an issue to people who are this ill. Morgie/lymie people don’t care about the credentials of those whom they seek (what they consider to be) “heath care” from. I’m not, at all, against complementary medicine. Alternative medicine is dangerous, and even, lethal, in the context of patients who have been led further away from trusting “real” doctors.
Dr. Stricker, President of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) — the largest medical organization devoted to Lyme illnesses — in my opinion, has an exceptionally profitable business. You believe he watches himself, South, and I have, what I consider to be, sound, and reasonable, doubts. He doesn’t appear to need, and doesn’t want, real science on his side.
http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=535816
Here’s who the Infectious Diseases Society of America (ISDA) is:
http://www.idsociety.org/Template.cfm?Section=About_IDSA
They ruled “chronic lyme” out, and passed new guidelines last fall.
This has some interesting insights into Stricker & Savely. Of course, the web has a lot to offer on them, though.
http://www.publichealthalert.org/3rd%20issue%20Sept-Oct%202006.pdf
Just one little excerpt from Dr. Stricker, on page 3.
Nurse Savely devoted something to the memory of Travis Wilson, on page 6. She says his mental illness didn’t give him “morgellons disease”, but that the opposite occurred. That’s the belief in both communities, “chronic lyme”, and “morgellons disease”. You need to believe it, and it’s what you’re all told, regularly. That’s not what numerous doctors told you, and there’s no scientific reason to believe that.
Today, Connecticut had some legislative action concerning lyme disease. It’s hard to keep up with all the lyme news, and the goings on with “morgellons disease”. Families of these patients should do all that they can, though, because, as it stands, it’s entirely up to them. I know that many don’t even have families. Our nation has a problem, that you’ve all increased our awareness of.
I strongly advise reading about the atrocities involved, and in how the internet has facilitated the “chronic” lyme movement, in the Forbes magazine link I provided in comment #15.
Hmm, if someone has a history of falsifying study evidence, then that’s inadmissible when they control the samples in a contentious study from which they stand to gain financially?
SBD, speaking of ad hominem, have you seen the fairy tale they are spinning about you?
http://cherokeechas.com/sbd-ch1.htm
There are three chapters.
I’ve just heard about Morgellons two days ago. I’m very curious to know more, especially since I live in SF Bay Area, where most of the “cases” come from. I have two questions, may be someone can answer:
1) It’s stated that at least 1300 people are infected. Where does this number come from, if doctors don’t regard it as an illness? Who’s counting? 🙂
2)The most striking symptom is the “fibers” and other substances that people see coming out of the wounds. So, if they are able to see them and get them out, why not take a picture/video of someones’ wound with actual “fibers”? All I could find online were some weird x200 close-ups, that – to me – could be anything (just like the pictures in the photogallery on this blog). Where is the proof that those “red, white and blue fibers” came from the wound? Other “graphic proof” include images of skin lesions that – again – could be anything: eczema, psoriasis…
In any case, this whole story is interesting.
“It is appropriate and quite relevant.”
I see your point, TC. It is relevant. You got me there!
“Hmm, if someone has a history of falsifying study evidence, then that’s inadmissible when they control the samples in a contentious study from which they stand to gain financially?”
Okay, after seeing this second comment, I realize that I inadequately expressed my facetiousness about Dr. Stricker’s less-than-noble past. I was kidding, folks.
And yes, I’ve seen the installments on the New “Morgelons” Order. People at my old work are thrilled, and we’ve all had a good laugh. They’ve printed and posted copies up all over. Some folks wanted the UGA lawyers to pursue it, but I didn’t want them to interfere with me getting the third chapter! They said I was pretty in the first chapter, so who am I to complain?
If the NMO was so interested in “the truth,” instead of smear campaigns and blatant lies, I’d reckon they would just call or email me and ask what the old research was all about.
Perhaps an article on the logical fallacies of Morgellons is in order.
yermolitskaya,
many pictures are available here.
http://tinyurl.com/2dbc4u
and here.
http://tinyurl.com/37w64k
chicken shits,
whats the matter, did I make all you tongue tied? Why block me? You are the ones who said for me to come back and debate like a man, so by blocking me, what the hell does that make you? Ill tell you what I think. I think you are scared, not only of this crap but also because you are failing to do your jobs well and no matter what kind of efforts you and others like you put forth, you are beginning to see that this story will break.
When you stand before god for judgment, how do you feel you will fare? You should be ashamed by your ignorance and your fears.
ok lets try this again.
yermolitskaya,
you can view picts here- http://tinyurl.com/2dbc4u
and here- http://tinyurl.com/37w64k
detailed video can be viewed at http://www.silentsuperbug.com
Might I also ask that before you all start to bash me, why not post the 2 other messages I wrote before this previous one?
South,
You have comment #3 and #4 on this topic, prior to these last two comments. Is that not the ones you are referring to. No one has put a block on you.
We aren’t afraid of truth, and it isn’t the truth that we object to. What we object to is the false information, and the way that this false information is causing people to believe they have Morgellons.
We aren’t personally afraid of anything you have to say, although you are living in a delusion. We certainly aren’t afraid of contracting a nonexisting health condition. Morgellons is a lie!!
You worry about your own judgement and don’t be concerned with ours. Do you even know the judge?
Tall Cotton
yermolitskaya, it’s a mess.
South, I’m sorry, but in the NPR Morgellons topic…
I had said that, in reference to my earlier…
I have asked those simple questions too many times. But, forget about them. Here’s a new one…
Why are you so consumed about the things you worry needlessly about, more than taking care of yourself?
SBD,
Now I know why those kids called you Sarah Baloney. hehehe. Just kiddin!
TC
South, did you post something other than the two comments #16 & #17, prior to your most recent?
South,
You also have comment #16 and #17. No one has blocked you or deleted any of your comments.
TC
Take care of yourself, man, and forget the world. You can’t save it.
Southcity, your comments were marked as spam by an automated filter, probably because you had a few links in them (typical of comment spam). I have no control over that, it’s a WordPress thing. I retrieved them from the spam queue, and they now appear as comments 24 and 26. I don’t check here very often, so it might happen again. As admin, I’m the only one who sees the spam comments.
Yermolitskaya,
The Morgellons Research Foundation counts the number of households that register with them. Please be aware of the fact that their count is inaccurate due to the fact that some households have registered more than once. Neither does the count accurately represent the number of households in which one or more members believe they have morgellons. Some people register merely so that they can receive newsletters from the foundation.
The reason there is only anecdotal evidence of the Morgellons fibers is because the disease does not exist other than in the minds of delusional people. The people who think they have Morgellons are suffering from a variety of other “real” physical disorders, plus a number of mental ones. The CDC is only investigating because the recent media blitz has forced it upon them. It isn’t because they believe Morgellons is a real disease.
Tall Cotton
Self-assessment quiz
http://www.havidol.com/
According to reports, the following letter was recently received from Dr. Vitaly Citovsky.
* * * * * * * * * *
“thank you for the thoughtful remarks. you are right that funding is not forthcoming and this is because morg. is not recognized as a disease. and may be it is not. regardless, the sores may become infected with agrobacterium and should be treated.
yes, i think agro is only a part of a much more complex thing. probably combination with parasitosis and psychosis. we are trying to help treat the former.
as for tests, it is done by pcr at this time. but agro is not yet diagnostic for morgellons. so there is no use doing tests. we must first complete our research to prove or disprove the correlation between the presence of this bacterium and the illness.”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Money, money, money, money!!!
Treat for the psychosis, Citovsky, and the bugs will probably go away!!
Tall Cotton
Some of the Morgies are pretending not to be offended by Dr. Citovsky’s statement concerning psychosis. They are admitting having short and long term memory loss and anxiety. But that is not what Dr. Citovsky said. He said “parasitosis and psychosis”. That means parasites, both real and imagined. Psychosis is a form of mental illness. Here’s some of what Wikipedia has to say.
Psychosis (not to be confused with psychopathy) is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state in which thought and perception are severely impaired. Persons experiencing a psychotic episode may experience hallucinations, hold delusional beliefs (e.g., grandiose or paranoid delusions), demonstrate personality changes and exhibit disorganized thinking. This is often accompanied by lack of insight into the unusual or bizarre nature of such behaviour, difficulties with social interaction and impairments in carrying out the activities of daily living. A psychotic episode is often described as involving a “loss of contact with reality”. The American Heritage Stedman’s Medical Dictionary defines psychosis as “A severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration of normal social functioning.”
Tall Cotton
Patti obviously doesn’t know the meaning of psychosis, but Ruth sure does. And although although Ruth, like most Morgies, doesn’t quite understand the meaning of delusional, she’s hot about this. I can say this about Citovsky’s statement. It’s about time someone in their camp opened their eyes.
Tell us John! Is Professor Citovsky just another dumb physician? Isn’t that what you are saying? Yes, John, this definitely IS DOP! In fact, it’s worse than DOP. It’s “DOP and More”. Welcome to reality!
Tall Cotton
The handful of “professionals” who chose to involve themselves with these patients take for granted that the general public is also ill-informed, misguided, and gullible as hell. It’s a fact that some are, though. If I were a family member of a morgie person, though, especially since the patients have so many unfounded ideas of lawsuits on their minds all of the time, buddy, let me tell you, I’d be rounding up other families of morgie people, and we’d instigate a few humdinger lawsuits on their behalf. It really makes one wonder where, exactly, their families’ minds happen to be.
Offended at the suggestion of psychosis = Dead giveaway they’ve got it pretty bad.
I’d throw the first lawsuit smack in the lap of the MRF, and I wouldn’t stop there.
Imagine the lives that could have been saved, and the many lives that could have been restored, if these patients hadn’t been so prideful to think that their own senses couldn’t deceive them to such a monumental degree. They work so diligently at trying to understand utterly nonsensical things, and can’t even apply any of their thinking towards remotely trying to grasp what has actually happened to them. If a lot of them are intoxicated from using scabies creams and other toxic preparations, it’s no wonder.
I wonder how many could have escaped their delusions, had it not been for the reinforcement of the NPA, the MRF, and the believer’s message boards. By the definition of Delusions of Parasitosis, the delusions are unshakable. But are they all in that catagory, and if so, when did their beliefs become unshakable. They are getting a lot of reinforcement, and helping to reinforce each others delusions. At the very least, these groups have served to round these people up. The MRF has cncouraged them to take their beliefs mainstream, and now they’re pushing, but you cannot help someone with Delusions of Parasitosis without proper medical attention. When a doctor tries to help them, they reject his diagnosis and refuse to follow his suggestions, then accuse him of abandonment. It’s crazy!
I wonder if the Morgies would call everything off and follow their doctor’s advice if they all were given a Walmart gift card.
One of the Morgies recently said that it’s enough to make one want to shake someone till they get it. She said that the doctors are uneducated, ignorant to the facts, and that the Morgies don’t have any choice and have been given the job of helping educate them. She referred to them as the medical you know what’s, since, as she put it, the Morgies all know much more than 99.9% of all the doctors put together! Her statement is more than an exaggeration. It’s an outright lie.
She got one thing right though. She said that they, the Morgies, are living it, that they have done the trial and errors with so many products and drugs that that part alone is insane. Yes, it is insane. The experiments have already been done, and the warnings are on the labels.
Some of them have repeatedly applied Lindane to their skin, with no other indication of a scabies infestation than an itchy skin. Lindane is a nerve toxin, and it is responsible for causing harm to 500 people on the first list of Morgies. That, and the fact that these people’s symptoms were different from those of scabies is the reason for the list in the first place.
She said that she hates the life of a ginney pig, but that the Morgies have had to do what the doctors should have been doing all along. but that the Morgies have had no choice, no options. What she failed to mention is the fact that their doctors did make the correct diagnoses. The diagnoses were not parasitic infestations, nor did the doctors prescribe Lindane.
The Morgies did have a choice. They had the option to follow their doctors’ advice, and treat the illness that their doctors diagnosed them with, and that illness was, and still is Delusions of Parasitosis (DOP). She said that it is nothing short of a “crime shame”, whatever that is, how they have suffered, and that it will continue until they educate the ones who are suppose to be treating them.
Do you see anything wrong with this picture? She said that the doctors know that even a bad fever can cause a temporary delirum, and that their condition has the capablity to do things like that. But some of these Morgies have been in their so-called delerium over twenty years. That’s a pretty powerful delusion, but the belief that these people are infested with parasites is a delusion.
She said that the doctors shouldn’t be harping on that, that they should be connecting the dots. Morgies like to talk about dots. But since they aren’t, she said, the Morgies will continue to help the doctors do it. Now that’s a crock if I’ve ever seen one.
The Morgies experiment with every chemical they can get their hands on. They want to kill something, but there’s no organism there to kill, other than their normal flora, and themselves. And many of them also mistreat their children. It’s the Morgies that just don’t get it. Something has to be done about this madness.
Tall Cotton
Michael, I apologize for my outburst.
the comment above that something must be done about this madness is quite true, and in fact is being done. I cannot go in to detail just yet, likely though in the next few days, that will rock the med community that favors a delusional explanation. I agree that there are many who should be treated for existing afflictions as I have witnessed many who think they have this, but likely do not. I have always said that all should seek care for this condition from their physicians and to not jump to conclusions too quickly. however, there comes a point when those truly infected by this, simply give up on the traditional med world and patiently wait for more info to emerge. Most that I am sure who DO have this, have tried every treatment available and most of these have not had any problem attempting treatment for a psychological diagnose either, at least not until said treatments fail and do not reduce symptoms. most infected people I know where productive, happy people until becoming infected. it is not until after infection, that many mental problems appear to surface. this is important to keep in mind.
get ready for the upcoming announcement(sometime this week). it is quite big and will no doubt silence most of the steadfast disbelief of and by the med. community currently held.
once again thank you for following up on the post I had believed censored.
In reference to post no. 48, the link below is a very good read. No the man doesn’t have Morgellons, he has Lymphoma, but he makes an excellent point, if you know what I mean?
Climatologist Professor Stephen Schneider wrote a book called The Patient from Hell. During his treatment for lymphoma he discovered that the way doctors make decisions is seriously and deadly flawed.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/healthreport/stories/2007/1854032.htm
No, morgie people believe that, and the wolves in sheeps’ clothing need to keep them believing that, and they think it can be force fed to the general public, when it can’t be.
The indifference/denial/refusal to treat their serious, and properly diagnosed, state, has made so many of these patients feel that they’ve had to resort to, although they don’t know it, poisoning themselves. Aside from the things that can nearly cause me to pass out from shock when I read what some of them do to themselves, it is outrageous to read that so many of them apply scabies cream, repeatedly, hoping it can help calm their itching sensations.
It’s all so wrong, in the first place, aside from it being done to some of their children, too. Concerning those children, which the MRF says have the behavioral disorders listed on their site (and “morgellons disease”), they are probably on meds for their behavioral disorders. Such medications can cause side effects of making those children feel as though bugs are crawling on them and biting. I absolutely shudder over morgie mothers putting scabies and lice preparations on them, which are even far more harmful to children than they are to adults! Those toxic preparations, if a child survives them, will cause behavioral disorders in the first place! What a double-edged sword of irreparable harm to those innocent children.
Lots of morgie people tell about using scabies cream on themselves for years, too. They all know how to read, yet, they won’t follow what they read. So many, if not all of them, have all these fixed beliefs that our world’s environmental issues have directly caused them harm, and other wild ideas, when they’ve done it, and are continuously doing it, to themselves.
It’s good that a toxicologist is on the CDC’s task force, but, realistically, with such a wide range of patients falling into this category, what can any of them, or their family members, expect the CDC to do about any of their situations? There is too broad a range of different illnesses that have caused them to develop a state of DOP.
Concerning their poisonings, the damage is done, for a lot of them, no doubt. Since the state they’re in rendered them unable to take care of themselves, to start with, they aren’t able to treat the illness, stop the dangerous practices, and, possibly get placed on a liver transplant waiting list, if they need to be, or anything like that. Without real medical treatment, they don’t stand a chance, and lots of them may be beyond any way of getting help for themselves, ever.
“Morgellons disease” sure has that appearance. All in all, they seem to not want help, thinking that their level of intelligence is above and beyond all doctors. Intelligent people, though, quite often, solve their own problems, and that would include yielding to the intelligence of knowledgeable doctors and treating what is diagnosed.
They really are about as bad as it gets. Begging and pleading for someone, anyone, to step in and take on the job of saving them all from the fate that they claim has befallen them, well, we can all see how many volunteers there are, and what they have in mind.
There isn’t anyone, anywhere, that can make an announcement that Morgellons is a new emerging disease and cause me to believe it. It simply is not true no matter who might say otherwise. You’re not going to convince the CDC or the rest of the medical community that your delusion is anything but DOP. That’s bullshit, and if you don’t know it, you ought to.
Synthetic Fiber Granuloma (Teddy Bear Granuloma)
Arch Fam Med. 1998;7:207-208.
A 4-YEAR-OLD girl was referred for evaluation of a lesion of the left inferior conjunctiva that had been noticed 1 month earlier. Over the 2 days prior to her examination, small amounts of spontaneous hemorrhage had occurred from the lesion. Her medical history was unremarkable.
On examination, she had normal vision in both eyes. A 1 x 2-mm white lesion was present in the left inferior conjunctival fornix, with hairs appearing to arise from within the lesion. Results of the remainder of her ocular examination were normal.
The patient was examined under anesthesia. The lesion was pedunculated, and the hairs on its surface were easily removed with a cotton-tip swab. The surrounding conjunctiva was erythematous, and follicles were present. With gentle manipulation, the lesion was peeled from the underlying conjunctiva. It appeared to contain synthetic fibers.
Synthetic fiber granuloma (“teddy bear granuloma”) of the conjunctiva was first described by Weinberg et al1 in 1984. The lesion results from an inflammatory reaction to synthetic fibers that become implanted in the conjunctival fornices (the space between the inner eyelid and the globe). In young children, these commonly result from close exposure to stuffed animals or blankets made of synthetic material. Affected patients present with ocular irritation secondary to the inflammation. The lesions are unilateral, and they are almost always found inferiorly. Eyelash hairs commonly adhere to the lesions.
Weinberg et al1 described several histologic features of synthetic fiber granulomas, which are used in their diagnosis. Gross examination reveals the presence of compressed, tangled fibers. Under the dissecting microscope, the ends of the fibers may demonstrate a light-pipe phenomenon. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of the fibers reveals a granulomatous inflammatory infiltrate, usually with foreign-body giant cells. The synthetic fibers do not have central cores, which are commonly seen in cilia and natural fibers. Scattered black granules may be seen within the synthetic material, resulting from titanium, barium, and zinc used in processing. Scanning electron microscopic examination of the fibers reveals an underlying smooth surface with longitudinal grooves. When the lesion is clinically suspected, the simplest method to confirm the diagnosis is the demonstration of marked birefringence when examined with polarized light.
The clinical differential diagnosis for this lesion includes an inflammatory reaction to other foreign bodies, such as hairs from the adjacent eyelashes or caterpillar hairs (conjunctivitis nodosa). The presence of a white lesion with hairs on the surface arising from the conjunctiva also suggests the diagnosis of a dermolipoma.
Removal of the lesion is required for successful treatment. Surgical excision is usually employed, although successful removal at the slitlamp with topical anesthesia has been reported in a 5-year-old child. If the lesion is recognized early, it is less likely to be encased in granulomatous tissue and adherent to the underlying conjunctiva. This would allow for removal in the office if the patient is able to cooperate during gentle manipulation at a slitlamp.
After the nature of our patient’s lesion was discussed with her mother, she reported that the child frequently slept with a large stuffed animal that shed fibers onto the surrounding bedding material. Contact with the teddy bear was eliminated, and the patient was treated with topical neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B sulfate, and dexamethasone ointment for 2 weeks. Three weeks after removal of the foreign body, the left inferior conjunctiva appeared to be normal.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Selected from Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150:327-328. Pathological Case of the Month.
http://archfami.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/7/3/207
TC-Your level of ignorance is only overshadowed by your lack of empathy and your state of closed mind. It really is quite clear, not only myself, but most I feel reading this blog, that your unwavering, boistrous, position, is of a foolish nature and very dangerous. may karma come and bite you square in the ass.
Smiley- I agree with most everything you state in the above post, but some things must be clarified. first of all the treating oneself with elimite, lindane, etc, is almost always the initiial treatment offered by these peoples G.P. and derms when one first seeks med help, which practically all have done. contrary to what you claim as the lack of seeking treatment. the relief from these is likely a mental effect as the relief is tempory and short lived.
also you place the burden of the blame for harmful treatments squarely on those infected. the REAL problem lies with the medical community at large because of their methods aswell inability to believe that not all diseases have been disovered. the belief that if it is not in a med book already, it must not exist, is completely foolish and dangerous in light of all witnessed emergences, sars, cwd/vcjd, norwalk virus, etc etc, not to mention the emergence of pathogens newly created, either in the lab or by lateral tranfer of genetic information between relased GMO’S and other organisms in nature.. I believe if the med comminity is so sure of morgellons NOT existing, then the responsibility lies with them to actively prove this as truth. Any physicans that have attempted to do this have concluded further investigation must be done and that a real pathology exists. and the number of dr.’s in this group is growing daily.
South,
You are a schizophrenic, and that is what is obvious. You’re always dreaming about some foolish conspiracy theory. You did it on your old website until you abandoned it, and your ideas, to follow the poet son of a tulip farmer. He’s no scientist, and his ideas are nonsense. Why can’t you see the obvious.
My mind isn’t closed, but there’s one big difference between you and me. I know what I’m talking about and you don’t. South, the truth never waivers. It’s as solid as a rock. If you know anything, you should know that a negative can’t be proven. It’s utterly impossible to ever prove that Morgellons doesn’t exist. That’s why you’ll be trying to prove it forever. You’ll ride one theory for a while, then jump off and ride another. All you’re doing is riding all the horses on a big merry-go-round.
You Morgies make it very hard to have compassion. You think you are smarter than your doctors, but you’re fools. You inflict harm on yourselves and your children. You abuse your pets, and you make things impossible for your friends and relatives. You won’t listen to your doctors. Listen, South, listen hard. You need anti-psychotic medication, probably for the long term. You’re not normal.
I’m compassionate enough to tell you the truth. What else will get you well. Nothing!!
I know who invented the crazy idea of Morgellons. She was told she was mentally ill back then. Did she get help or did she keep pushing her nonsensical ideas. The belief in Morgellons is what’s causing people harm. We’re here to help but you can’t tell the difference. This has you blinded. I’ve watched this nonsense evolve over the years, and watched it’s description change. You believe it if you want. Follow your Pied Piper off into the sea. But first, take your Karma and stick it where the sun doesn’t shine.
Tall Cotton
Tall Cotton
Southcity, TC cares, a lot. I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but we’re not trying to argue anyone out of believing they have “morgellons disease”. Minus the spread of this distorted perception of reality to vulnerably susceptible people who hear of it for the first time, and become overly concerned that they might have it, what’s being called “morgellons disease” is a very serious condition. It’s a delusional disorder, causing all of you to have extremely incorrect thoughts. None of you can understand that, BECAUSE of it.
Since patients alerted us to what’s going on in their lives, concerned and caring people need to know the details of how this phenomenon evolved. Nobody can come to terms with it, because of what they see, think, feel, and believe. No one can even try to grasp the concept of what a delusional disorder is, and the ones pulling all of your strings, knowing all the right things to say, from reading your on line accounts, are purposefully tinkering with your extremely vulnerable states of mind.
We all know that you feel things, see things, and have things wrong with your skin, and we all know that others can see it as well. There’s no lack of physical evidence. That is NOT the problem. It’s what you believe about that physical evidence. (Did you catch that? Of course, you didn’t.) Every morgie person who says that a doctor has told them “it’s all in their head”, has completely, and totally, missed the point.
The nutty professors, and the rest of the “so-called experts on morgellons disease”, who say that if a doctor just looked with a hand-held scope, that they’d see something too, have had no business getting involved with this. Other than their own business, that is. If they were genuinely motivated by the goodness of their hearts to assist this group of patients, they really would. If they, as well as news reporters, thought there was a new disease, the first step of neglecting to have interviews with the overabundance of diagnosing physicians that patients have seen is not the way to go about it. “Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly”. Can anyone stop people who want to be exploited from being exploited? You say that you’re not, and that you don’t want to be? I’m sorry, but you all have a delusional disorder.
Rather than working with one primary care physician, like most patients, and taking prescribed medications, and going in with referrals to another doctor to discuss what’s being felt, seen, and thought, patients take offense. Normal-thinking people who are ill enough to seek medical assistance, want to get well, and don’t go from doctor-to-doctor trying to get diagnosed with something they want to hear, instead of following the wisdom of their doctor’s correct diagnosis and treatment. There is nothing new, yet, to be learned about what causes a state of DOP to develop, but it is nothing new, whatsoever, for patients who have it, to firmly believe in all they feel, see, and think, and at the core of it is their solid conviction that they have a foreign invasion of their body. That is the way it goes. Some people with it are a lot worse than others, because it’s triggered by a lot of different health conditions, physical ones, and mental ones.
When doctors prescribe scabies creams to patients, it’s the responsibilty of the patient to follow the explicit directions, and keep in touch with the doctor for follow-up. That is how the real world operates, but, sadly, it’s not the way things are for everyone in our society.
South, the misalignment of your thought processes includes your belief, that you’d mentioned a while back, that TC has no compassion, as well as your most recent opinions of him. By virtue of the state of mind you’re all in, you can’t be reasoned with, or talked out of your dangerous beliefs. If you could only treat it — through a process of working towards achieving a goal of recovery through one trusted doctor — and you could recover some normalcy, again, you’d realize the overabundance of empathy, compassion, and open-mindedness that TC possesses, and you’d all have an awakening that would knock you flat back on all your asses.
Tallcotton said:
The particular statement referenced, in comment #56, from the Morgellons Research Foundation’s website, is invalid. Everything about “morgellons disease” is invalid. Unless a very unsuspecting person, who doesn’t know the background of this phenomenon, reads that, and can only take it at face value, it’s only intended for drawing in others who aren’t treating DOP. Treat the underlying physical cause, if a physical illness triggered the state. Treat the underlying mental cause if an underlying mental illness triggered the state. Diagnosing physicians aren’t to blame for patients who can’t take care of themselves, and the patients aren’t at fault, either. That’s abundantly more and more evident.
Pathological Case of the Month
Gregg T. Lueder, MD, Contributor; Bertram Matsumoto, MD, Contributor; Morton E. Smith, MD, Contributor; Enid Gilbert-Barness, MD, Section Editor
Arch Fam Med. 1998;7:207-208.
A 4-YEAR-OLD girl was referred for evaluation of a lesion of the left inferior conjunctiva that had been noticed 1 month earlier. Over the 2 days prior to her examination, small amounts of spontaneous hemorrhage had occurred from the lesion. Her medical history was unremarkable.
On examination, she had normal vision in both eyes. A 1 x 2-mm white lesion was present in the left inferior conjunctival fornix, with hairs appearing to arise from within the lesion. Results of the remainder of her ocular examination were normal..
The patient was examined under anesthesia. The lesion was pedunculated, and the hairs on its surface were easily removed with a cotton-tip swab. The surrounding conjunctiva was erythematous, and follicles were present. With gentle manipulation, the lesion was peeled from the underlying conjunctiva. It appeared to contain synthetic fibers.
From the Departments of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (Drs Lueder, Matsumoto, and Smith), Pediatrics (Dr Lueder), and Pathology (Dr Smith), Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis Children’s Hospital, St Louis, Mo.
Synthetic fiber granuloma (“teddy bear granuloma”) of the conjunctiva was first described by Weinberg et al1 in 1984. The lesion results from an inflammatory reaction to synthetic fibers that become implanted in the conjunctival fornices (the space between the inner eyelid and the globe). In young children, these commonly result from close exposure to stuffed animals or blankets made of synthetic material. Affected patients present with ocular irritation secondary to the inflammation. The lesions are unilateral, and they are almost always found inferiorly. Eyelash hairs commonly adhere to the lesions.
Weinberg et al1 described several histologic features of synthetic fiber granulomas, which are used in their diagnosis. Gross examination reveals the presence of compressed, tangled fibers. Under the dissecting microscope, the ends of the fibers may demonstrate a light-pipe phenomenon. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of the fibers reveals a granulomatous inflammatory infiltrate, usually with foreign-body giant cells. The synthetic fibers do not have central cores, which are commonly seen in cilia and natural fibers. Scattered black granules may be seen within the synthetic material, resulting from titanium, barium, and zinc used in processing. Scanning electron microscopic examination of the fibers reveals an underlying smooth surface with longitudinal grooves. When the lesion is clinically suspected, the simplest method to confirm the diagnosis is the demonstration of marked birefringence when examined with polarized light.
The clinical differential diagnosis for this lesion includes an inflammatory reaction to other foreign bodies, such as hairs from the adjacent eyelashes or caterpillar hairs (conjunctivitis nodosa). The presence of a white lesion with hairs on the surface arising from the conjunctiva also suggests the diagnosis of a dermolipoma.
Removal of the lesion is required for successful treatment. Surgical excision is usually employed, although successful removal at the slitlamp with topical anesthesia has been reported in a 5-year-old child. If the lesion is recognized early, it is less likely to be encased in granulomatous tissue and adherent to the underlying conjunctiva. This would allow for removal in the office if the patient is able to cooperate during gentle manipulation at a slitlamp.
After the nature of our patient’s lesion was discussed with her mother, she reported that the child frequently slept with a large stuffed animal that shed fibers onto the surrounding bedding material. Contact with the teddy bear was eliminated, and the patient was treated with topical neomycin sulfate, polymyxin B sulfate, and dexamethasone ointment for 2 weeks. Three weeks after removal of the foreign body, the left inferior conjunctiva appeared to be normal.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Selected from Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1996;150:327-328. Pathological Case of the Month.
REFERENCES
1. Weinberg JC, Eagle RC, Font RL, Streeten BW, Hidayat A, Morris DA. Conjunctival synthetic fiber granuloma: a lesion that resembles conjunctivitis nodosa. Ophthalmology. 1984;91:867-872. ISI | PUBMED
2. Ferry AP. Synthetic fiber granuloma: ‘teddy bear’ granuloma of the conjunctiva. Arch Ophthalmol. 1994;112:1339-1341. ABSTRACT
3. Shields JA, Augsburger JJ, Stechschulte J, Repka M. Synthetic fiber granuloma of the conjunctiva. Am J Ophthalmol. 1985;99:598-600.
4. Resnick SC, Schainker BA, Ortiz JM. Conjunctival synthetic and nonsynthetic fiber granulomas. Cornea. 1991;10:59-62. ISI | PUBMED
5. Lueder GT, Matsumoto B. Synthetic fiber granuloma. Arch Ophthalmol. 1995;113:848-849. FULL TEXT | ISI | PUBMED
© 1998 American Medical Association.
Smileykins said:
So does that mean that the letter from Hiliary Clinton is invalid too??
Job well done Smiley and TC, it appears that you have achieved what you set out to accomplish, to misinform our doctors here in Australia.
Do I celebrate tonight, since I have now been labelled as DOP, from across the desk of course, thanks to the big mouths that continuely say “Morgellons is synonymous with DOP”.
Thanks for nothing, and you know who I am talking too as well.
I know and many others around me with similar symptoms know we are not DOP, and we have Morgellons.
You people know what you have done to discredit and hurt me, why do you go to such lengths to debunk hey??
Because you were god damn wrong and made a big mistake that is why!
Hypochondriasis
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Pronunciations
hypochondriasis
serotonin
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Hypochondriasis is a disorder in which a person is preoccupied with the fear of having a serious disease.
Hypochondriasis occurs most commonly between the ages of 20 and 30 and appears to affect both sexes equally. Some people with hypochondriasis also have depression or anxiety.
In hypochondriasis, the person’s concerns about having a serious disease are often based on a misinterpretation of normal bodily functions. Examination and reassurance by a doctor do not relieve their concerns; people with hypochondriasis tend to believe that the doctor has somehow failed to find the underlying disease.
Symptoms and Diagnosis
Hypochondriasis is suspected when a healthy person with minor symptoms is preoccupied with the significance of those symptoms and does not respond to reassurance after thorough evaluation. Personal relationships and work performance often suffer as the person becomes increasingly concerned with health issues. The diagnosis of hypochondriasis is confirmed when the situation persists for at least 6 months and the person’s symptoms cannot be attributed to depression or another mental health disorder.
Treatment
Treatment is difficult, because a person with hypochondriasis is convinced that something inside the body is seriously wrong. Reassurance does not relieve these concerns. However, a trusting relationship with a caring doctor is beneficial, especially if regular visits are scheduled. If the person’s symptoms are not adequately relieved, the person may benefit from referral to a therapist for further evaluation and treatment, along with continuation of the primary doctor’s care. Treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitors, a class of antidepressants, may be effective. Cognitive-behavior therapy may also relieve symptoms.
Interesting post Tallcotton. I get it now, I am a hyochondriac and Southcity is the Schziophrenic, huh you are way too predictable now. Your posts continue to stink of nothing more than psychobabble and arrogance.
I didn’t make my previous post to come here and cause an argument, it was merely to get my message out there.
G.
“Morgellons disease” patients are adamant in their belief that have been seen by doctors who, they say, have wronged them with “a label” of DOP.
A-diagnosis-isn’t-a-label. Because of what they have, and the root cause of why it’s developed, they can’t think on those terms, at all.
When we want to be sure of a diagnosis, (although it’s most common when a medical procedure has been deemed necessary), we often seek a second opinion. I don’t consider a third opinion as going completely overboard when it’s a really grave matter.
People go to doctors when they’re ill, so they can get better. If doctors are used as revolving doors, and the same diagnosis (not “label”) happens every time, yes, like “morgellons disease” patients say, their disease is draining their resources, and ruining their lives.
Incidentally, a photo of a morgellons-thingy, resembling the old-timey 17th century version, and our modern-day version, can be seen by clicking onto the link in Tall Cotton’s comment # 53
http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070227-000003.xml
Excerpt:
It may be me, being technical, but when facts are excluded from an equation, I, personally, don’t feel it’s worthy of calling something a “debate”.
“…some clinicians who are frustrated and not sure what to do with these folks.”? That’s a thought provoking statement.
Since these patients had all received letters from the CDC, directing them to seek assistance from their local health care providers, and most of them announced on their message boards, “Nope. Been there, done that”, I’d felt that something else had forced the CDC’s decision to investigate.
I’d really thought there was a chance they’d had to take action due to last year’s network television broadcasts possibly evoking a degree of fear. I know, though, that a lot of the patients have never eased up on the CDC, as well as continuing their various campaigns to get their plight heard. A terrible plight it is, without question.
After forcing this, I wish we could expect these patients to comply with the final word. Such a large amount of them speak of having their minds made up that the CDC is against them, though. I hope that someone — anyone — who thinks they have “morgellons disease”, can receive assistance for it from somebody…somewhere…somehow…someday.
Maybe I’m being all technical, again, but I fail seeing anything worthy of being called a “mystery” when so many key facts are excluded.
Morgies think they have a disease with many manifestations, but within the Morgellons community there are many diseases. There are also many delusions, and no one has all of the symptoms that it’s said that Morgellons causes, neither real, nor imagined. They think that Morgellons is the cause of all of their problems, and although it isn’t responsible for any, their delusional beliefs are ruining their lives. They think they have a disease that they don’t, and they think it’s many things that it’s not. The problem is one of perception.
Many of the Morgies have real heath problems, but they are obsessed with what they believe comes out of their skin. The doctors don’t want to hear it. Do these objects really emerge? It doesn’t really matter when it’s real to you. You see, I had my own Morgellons experience, and to this very day, I don’t know what was real and what wasn’t. I’ll never know. I can’t know. But it’s something you don’t share with everyone, and if you don’t want to be diagnosed as delusional, you expecially don’t want to share the experience with a reputable doctor.
It’s hard to find a Morgellons-friendly doctor, and most of those that diagnose Morgellons are thieves. That also applies to a couple of nurses I know. You know them too. One of them works with a San Francisco doctor, and the other one posts on lymebusters. They came to exploit you. They came to exploit every Morgie they can. It’s a lucrative business when 10, 000 Morgies will pay everything they’ve got to hear a doctor or nurse say, “I believe you”. Morgies are vulnerable, wanting a cure, or thinking they do, but also wanting to be believed.
Why do I say, “thinking” they want to be cured? It’s because of the things the belief in Morgellons promises to those who aren’t emotionally sound. To the Morgellons believer, everyone is either sane or insane, with no gray area in between. To them, being wrong means that they are crazy. Of course, this isn’t true. It’s all gray, and everyone is in there somewhere. It also promises that they will get even with the doctors that diagnosed them as delusional, once the truth is known. It also promises to educate the medical community. It offers validation and vendication to every Morgellons believer. It promises restitution. Their message boards offer comraderie. It’s there that they find approval and sympathy. “Morgellons” even makes them feel special. They think they are “chosen”, but they don’t stop and ask themselves, “Who really did the choosing?”
There’s a way out, but you have to let go of Morgellons.
Tall Cotton.
I think lots of morgie people hallucinate, but they just don’t feel comfortable talking about it. I’ve never known why, given all the things they DO mention, which are worse. If not for hallucinating, I think, maybe, some of them might not be nearly as convinced that they have a new and weird disease.
I know that when I was real ill, all of the things that happened to me, and all around me, were totally real. That’s how hallucinations are, to the person having them. I’d had no one to assist me in getting my butt to a doctor, and conveying what had happened, and I wanted to get well and remain among the living. In the end, I had to challenge those hallucinations, in order to stay alive, and, then, they came to a screeching halt. That’s when I knew that it had all been inside my mind. I sort of knew it the whole time, yet, I was way too sick to know it, too. It was a painful state that I never want to get into again.
Some morgies are currently, finally, sharing their hallucinations with each other. As can be expected, they don’t know they’ve hallucinated, thinking, rather, that it’s that damned new pathogen at play, taking on more of its many forms. Due to the state they’re in, they just can’t understand what psychosis is, or even care to learn that all sorts of physical and mental conditions bring it about. They can’t grasp what delusional thought are, either.
“Thoughts”, I’d meant to say. And, I’m not quite finished. I see morgies reporting nearly identical things to what I’d experienced. Some of them know that, many of them don’t, but what gets me is, that they prefer holding onto that, and staying sick, and saying, “Oh, well, yeah, but she and TC were crazy and we’re not”. (Hehe) And, yet, there is an equal amount of morgies who have said that we had, and that we still have, “morgellons disease”, and that we have no symptoms, now, due to it going inward and/or lying in a state of dormancy!
That is just how bad this particular illness is on them, though. I think many of them are poisoned, and probably couldn’t help themselves at this point, no matter what.
“ENDOCRINOLOGY”
This is a real puzzle, and I’ve noticed it before, quite a few times. I just recently ran across another morgie mentioning that their doctor told them to see an endocrinologist.
Just like so many of the others who’d been told that, they didn’t go, and, instead, they asked if any of the other morgies knew what an endocrinologist was for. They all went on with talking about other things, concerning their “morgellons disease”, even the one who’d asked, and the topic of endocrinology was not brought up again.
Quite astonishing, to say the very least!!!
More manipulation of these patients’ fragile states of mind, from another one of the Morgellons Research Foundation quacks….
http://www.personalconsult.com/articles/morgellonscynics.html
Please, make sure to read that link, above!!! If he didn’t have such an agenda, I’d only say he’s in serious need of a mental evaluation himself, in saying all of those ridiculous things. They’re all like that, though. Fraudulent as hell.
Seriously, these “doctors” gear that nonsensical talk directly towards sucking morgies right in, not caring about anyone else reading it.
The patients’ families sure need to do something, and get their loved ones to treat their real conditions, like thyroid trouble, diabetes, or any one of the hundreds of endocrine diseases that some of them, no doubt, have, that’s caused them to go off into the way beyond. The ones with diabetes are so far gone, that they can’t even get a clue, when eating sugar flares their morgies up.
I know they all have many, various, untreated conditions, that’s caused them to develop the state they’re in — this “multifaceted new disease” — the one that makes them do so many of the same things, see the same things, and act the same ways — the state that they’ve all developed as a result of those REAL conditions — and caused them to so easily fall under the spell of believing in “morgellons disease”.
They all have serious health problems, triggering the states they’re in. Plenty of young mothers are suffering from postpartum depression, you can clearly tell, from reading their accounts.
And just where are the people in their lives, who care about them? Surely everyone hasn’t had to emotionally shut down, be run off, or join along in the madness. All any morgie needs is just one strong person to step in and help them see a real doctor for their real condition.
Instead, people are going downhill at a rapid pace, and some are taking the people who SHOULD BE the voice of reason, right along with them!!! The really bad thing is, that their loved ones (and they, themselves, quite often), even know-what-they-have, but they just let that delusional thinking completely take them over.
It is just so pitiful, I really can’t hardly even believe this mess. And like I have said, I believe in complementary medicine, but that isn’t even close to what we have here.
Who are you? a microbiologist, a genetic scholar? A public health official?
Co-infections can exist, this could be a myriad of fungi/bacteria/parasites that are exerting their will to survive against immune systems that have been weekened. Do you think our food is any safer than the pet foods?
Who am I? Who are you? I’m Smileykins, if you’re talking to me. Am I any of those things you’ve asked? No, but since you don’t know, a lot of “morgellons disease” patients spread lies that some of us, here, are all sorts of things that we’re not. They apparently make things up about us, I guess, out of anger, as well as out of fear, but they definitely can’t be talked out of it, or any other false belief.
“Morgellons disease” is not a “co-infection”, or a “myriad of fungi/bacteria/parasites”, doing what you’re speculating, but the original condition known as DOP, (before “morgellons disease” was introduced), is sort of what you could think of as something like a “secondary” state, if you’d want to, since it is triggered by various underlying conditions. Not everyone who thinks they have “morgellons disease” started out with DOP, but, by believing in it, they developed it. It’s all encompassing, the way the MRF made it up.
I’m very comfortable with our food supply, feeling safe with the foods I eat, as well as with the foods that I feed to my pets.
Who Am I ?
I Am the flea.
Said the cat to the pea.
See the wonders of our genetically modified future unfold.
The cat sat on the mat, or is the cat the mat?
With fibres these questions become less existentiall, and far more pressing, I’m sure.
Global warming with lemon, any-one?
I just want to regress to a simple coconut fibre and live on a palm tree in tahiti.
Just as an aside google tasmanian devil facial tumour, and tell those poor devils they are delusional.
Excellent news to share.
Morgellons Disease — Bransfield 42 (11): 24 — Psychiatric News
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/42/11/24-b?etoc
Psychiatr News June 1, 2007
Volume 42, Number 11, page 24
© 2007 American Psychiatric Association
Letters to the Editor
Morgellons Disease
Robert C. Bransfield, M.D.
Red Bank, N.J.
I am pleased to see that in the December 15, 2006, issue, Psychiatric News drew attention to Morgellons disease and that the excellent article gave sound advice on communicating with delusional parasitosis patients. However, I would like to add comments about the distinction between Morgellons disease and delusional parasitosis.
I’ve evaluated and treated Morgellons patients, spoken with researchers and other clinicians who work with these patients, read the limited literature on the subject, and reviewed a database of 3,000 Morgellons patients. The Morgellons patients I have seen had surprisingly similar symptoms, with an abrupt onset, often following a toxic exposure. Before the onset of their illness, these patients’ mental status appeared to be quite representative of the general population, and some (including physicians) were high-functioning professionals. The condition appears more common in nurses, teachers, and in family members in the same household, which suggests a contagious component.
After the onset of the illness, these patients report surprisingly similar symptoms. They have a combination of bizarre dermatological sy mptoms, cognit ive impairments, mood disturbances, and sometimes paranoia and suicide attempts in later stages of the illness.
Their symptoms are not compatible with schizophrenia, bipolar illness, substance abuse, or other recognized causes of delusions. When patients complain of fibers protruding from their skin, examination with a low-power digital microscope can visualize and photograph the presence or absence of these fibers. In addition, many Morgellons patients test positive for Lyme disease. The mental symptoms seen in Morgellons are similar to those of other chronic general medical illnesses with psychiatric manifestations, since the mental symptoms fluctuate in a pattern similar to that of the general medical symptoms; and this suggests that the mental symptoms are probably associated with immune and/or toxic effects upon the brain.
When these patients are treated with modest courses of antibiotics, their dermatological and psychiatric symptoms often show significant improvement. Without a thorough assessment, Morgellons patients are commonly given a diagnosis of delusional parasitosis, resulting in a delay in proper treatment. Whatever Morgellons is, it is something very different and unique and should be considered as a condition needing further study and possibly listed in the next edition of the DSM.
In summary, Morgellons disease and delusional parasitosis are two distinct clinical entities. Morgellons does not appear to be an imaginary or delusional illness and merits the research effort that we see with any other emerging and serious illness. ###
Thanks Junebook you beat me to it.
I was just about to bring that link to show Michael.
After all proof of the existence of a newly emerging illness is what he said he wanted.
I just pray we can all get well.
The truth is missing from that, Junebook, but a “morgellons patient” won’t notice it.
MY HEART IS TO ALL AFFLICTED: I know what you are going through. we need to have some kind of protest or rally to get our message to the world. Research needs to be done by our government to solve this epidemic
That poem is fucking stupid Al. you have no idea what you are talking about. I know justice will come say day whether it be years from now if a cure is found or you burn in hell for says shit about people who are in pain and shamed from the world for their scars all over their body. how can this many people all of a sudden turn crazy when these skin lesions all look the same and physical symtoms are all the same. There is no way this big of a hoax could be orchastrated. I am drunk as fuck right now so i am surely tellin the truth.
I am hurt by people who say I am crazy. My parents have told me to my face that I am crazy. That is how deep this goes to the individual out there that has no one to talk to about this. I am alone and lonely enough on this matter to talk to people I have never met on a post site. We have one thing in common and that is what we are experiencing so I have someone to talk to. I am in tears right now because I am pouring my heart out. I am not crazy and I wish something will be done about this strange disease. Good night.
Chris, the government IS working on this. I have some things to say to you. YOU, CHRIS…and not a group of “we” or “us”. There’s no way that total strangers on the internet can know the dynamics of what’s going on in your life. If what you’re saying is true, and your parents call you “crazy”, that’s so sad, and so wrong. Forgive me, because I surely don’t know the situation, but can you consider whether you’re impulsively reacting to something, or doing anything to give off the appearance that you’re “that way”? For instance, is it possible, for whatever reason, that some things happen, some very negative things, and you’re just absolutely feeling that you’re powerless over being able to do anything, except to react with an outward appearance that gives a signal, or a message, that you’re not meaning to send? You’ve said that your parents have taken you to doctors, and that they have all said that you’re “crazy”. Doctors don’t do that. I hate, so much, that your parents are saying it.
Chris, the last thing I think you should be considering, is joining up to form a protest with a lot of others, many of them, probably, older than you, who react with particular behaviors that convince others in their lives that they are less than stable.
This blog is on the topic of “morgellons disease”, and it isn’t a support message board for it, (if you read the heading), but you’re obviously hurting so badly, that I have to say these things. If you know the “actual” diagnoses of the doctors that your parents have taken you to (the ones you refer to as having said that you’re “crazy”), look that diagnosis (or diagnoses) up, and see what insights you can gather from reading about the conditions.
If you don’t wish to do that, an alternative is to look for message boards on the condition(s), and read how patients with the same thing support each other, and then tell the situation your life is in to someone who can really lend support to you.
Please, Chris. You owe this to yourself. You’re young, you’ve gotten this far in life, and you have hidden strengths that you’ve never tapped into, just waiting to be discovered. I know that you are persuaded to identify with the group of patients who think that they have “morgellons disease”, and, given the circumstances, it is entirely understandable. It is a bad situation, and they’re rendered unable to know how to do anything except to stay ill, pretending to have power over things that they have no control over. It’s just awful to see fellow humans suffering in so many ways, too, and we wouldn’t be seeing it, if not for the introduction of “morgellons disease”.
I don’t expect you to know what I mean by that, Chris. The patients who think they have this thing can’t give you the support that you need to get better. In their own way, they try, and maybe somehow, they feel it works, but it isn’t working. You can find the right place to get support. Please, think hard on my words. I care about you, a whole lot. You can be victorious, and go on to live a wonderful life. Try to not dwell on all the bad things, and please do something positive for yourself like I’m suggesting.
thanks for the support smileykins, finally you say something that sounds supportive and not making fun of us and i do say “us” because “we” know who we are and what we have. We are intelligent enough to see the symtoms on the web site and know what we are experiencing.
I know I do not have any other diseases becasue i have been checked for every std and i have none. I am just really frustrated. It is a hard fact knowing that your symtoms are only going to get worse as time goes on.
Obviously the GMO doctor wants the morgellons research money to go to study GMO instead of morgellons and anyone who argues that point I would label disinfo.
Is it bad enough that GMO has killed all the bees. Or the fact that GMO is poison. Now these nazi death dealers are stealing money from the sick to reinvent thier poison.
It seems not only are we doomed but the majority of Americans are either fools or so prideful they are blind.
Morgellons comes from nano-technology developed by darpa as a electrostimulus transceiver, look it up on darpa’s site. End of story.