Morgellons Disease: Is It Real?
Sufferers of Morgellons disease complain of invisible parasites biting their skin. And they get skin lesions from which sprout strange fibers. And mysterious black spore-like specks appear on their skin. Cases of this strange disease seem to be spreading, especially in the Bay area. One theory is that it has something to do with Lyme disease. Or it may be a case of mass delusion. The medical community seems to think it's mass delusion. Most people who show up complaining of these symptoms get diagnosed with 'delusional parasitosis', which is a psychological problem in which people imagine that they're infested by parasites. Not having any medical qualifications at all, I won't weigh in on whether this is a real disease or mass delusion, but some of the behavior of the patients does sound suspiciously bizarre. Take the case of Theresa Blodgett:She gathers up the black specks, the mysterious fibers and the small, fuzzy 'cocoons' she finds on her skin and around her home. She tapes the macabre samples to typing paper, but she said no doctor will analyze the collection. Physicians who glance at the specimens dismiss the lot as stray hairs, clothing fibers, scabs and other common household debris, she said.
So either she really is suffering from something and is desperately but unsuccessfully trying to get doctors to pay attention to her, or she's obsessively collecting house dust and stray flecks of dirt and convincing herself that these things are parasites attacking her. (Thanks to 'K' for the links)
Posted By: Alex | Date: Thu Feb 10, 2005 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 586
Category: Health/Medicine, Psychology
Category: Health/Medicine, Psychology
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
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OOPS! Sorry ROD - part of the "brain fog". It probably doesn't help that I am running a fever right now of 102 F.
Posted by Victoria Moore in Charlotte, NC on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 04:34 PM
Oh, Ron! Oh, I mean RoD, you're such a kidder! I bet you are a very handsome man. Probably about 6', 170, muscular, luscious, thick blonde or sandy hair and big beautiful blue or green eyes!
OR you are ugly, have bad teeth, 5'5", fat, dark brown, thinning hair and eyes the color of poo.
Silly Rod, putting us on like that! You should be ashamed! If you google Morgellons you will find more information than you ever wanted to know, especially if you reach
http://www.morgellons.org
There you will be able to see pictures, see all the doctors who are involved with Morgellons Research Foundation, and learn about what was found in the 17th century. Set your med books aside and take the time to find out WHY it is called Morgellons. It does involve bacterias, possibly fungus and definately parasites.
What constitutes actual proof? What is scientific proof to you?
Look up this word: stenotrophomonasmaltophilia.
Dr. George Schwartz states on his web site
http://www.healingresearch.org/news.html
"This has been a baffling condition characterized by pustules, the feeling of skin crawling, and the presence of strange fibers within the lesion, the fibers may be blue black or even red. I have finally cultured the bacteria causing this disease it is termed stenotrophomonasmaltophilia this organism is extremely resistant to most antibiotics..." , you can read the rest there.
Technically, I am a lab tech and I will be happy whether you change your mind or not, as I know Victoria will agree. You see, we have nothing to prove to you, after all. We only debate on forum boards! You have to find "convincing material" somewhere besides here. We only have opinion here, right?
We only need to prove to doctors we are in fact, infected by something, and like Vick's doctor, they won't know what their seeing and we'll have to show them what you don't accept as proof now. At least that's the way it's turning out with my mother's doctor and for everyone I know who has Morgellons so far.
Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
Poor Rod! What's good enough for a doctor isn't good enough for him!
I have to admit that I do admire Boo's weighing of facts before finding them fiction, as you would do the same, of course.
When would you accept Morgellons as a real disease? (I hope you NEVER get it!!!)
If it's on the news would you believe it?
If it's in USA Today? Washington Post? New York Times? AMA Journal?
Psychology Today?
You may never tell me your answer to these questions because it's none of my business. (I feel that you might be that type of person. NPD) Then again, you may tell me because I've stated that you probably won't.
Or, you may avoid this topic altogether...
Lots of Love to you, Victoria. I know you feel bad. Brain fog does suck like a tornado as well as does a fever.Poor Rod! Do we need to start a new topic for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Is it Real!? I mean, my goodness! He ignores so much of what you've had to say and only pounces on the one fragment of information that he thinks he can use to prove HIS point!
NPD is hell to live with. But it is fun when you can debate with them like this!
You just never know what they will say next...or won't say next, because they feel like they are giving you too much information about themselves for you to use against them.
WOW! Way to go jaleenasmom! Tell it like it is girl! I would love to challenge ROD some more, but I just feel like "poo" tonight and will have to save it for another night!
Posted by Victoria Moore in Charlotte, NC on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 06:35 PM
I spelled your name wrong? Surely you don't mean the time when I used a capital letter to start it?
Other than that I spelled it the same way you did. Go back and look.
Oh, and like i keep insisting.... Show me some freakin proof. PROOF. You know, actual empirical evidence.
Sorry, but just saying something is true doesn't make me believe it.
...And by the way, just because one doctor believes something does not make it real. An anthropologist from WSU went to his grave less than ten years ago totally convinced people were crazy because they DIDN'T believe bigfoot exists.
Irrational belief in the face of proof is one thing. But if you just believe the claims of every person on the planet without researching them at all, hell, you end up with stuff like Heaven's Gate.
Rational belief in the face of absolutely no proof if what all humans should strive for. This, and the quest for truth. Like i keep saying...
PROVE IT.
Posted by Rod in the land of smarties. on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 06:44 PM
Other than that I spelled it the same way you did. Go back and look.
Oh, and like i keep insisting.... Show me some freakin proof. PROOF. You know, actual empirical evidence.
Sorry, but just saying something is true doesn't make me believe it.
...And by the way, just because one doctor believes something does not make it real. An anthropologist from WSU went to his grave less than ten years ago totally convinced people were crazy because they DIDN'T believe bigfoot exists.
Irrational belief in the face of proof is one thing. But if you just believe the claims of every person on the planet without researching them at all, hell, you end up with stuff like Heaven's Gate.
Rational belief in the face of absolutely no proof if what all humans should strive for. This, and the quest for truth. Like i keep saying...
PROVE IT.
Huh??????
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 06:53 PM
Double huh???????????? What a narrow-minded fool. I am telling you, he is not worth the effort to try to convince. But I do have my voodoo doll over in the corner and perhaps we could cook up a spell to cast Morgellons on him, then he can walk around and try to convince people that HE'S not delusional. UGH!!!!!! 
Posted by Victoria Moore in Charlotte, NC on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:01 PM
Maybe I am totally wrong about you, Rod. Maybe you are not NPD but perhaps just unbalanced...
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:03 PM
Yes, when all else failed, play dumb.
Also, if this is what you mean by no longer responding to me, I wonder just which one of us is hanging around demending attention (NPD anyone?) (the DSM IV defines this as one of the symptoms).
I myself could not have cared less if you ever responded to my post. Still don't. But it's fun to watch you act like a tool in defense of something you CAN NOT prove.
I keep saying it, you keep ignoring it...
PROVE YOUR POSITION
All ya gotta do is show some empirical scientific data and, like I said, I would consider this proof. If it was proof, I would be proven wrong. I would admit it. Now get off your hiney and frickin prove it, don't just sit around scraping crap into jars and pickin it up with tape. ANALYZE IT. Or get a CREDIBLE source to do so. (the neighbor's dog's personal trainer's canary just won't do, sorry)
PROOF - Merriam-Webster
Main Entry: proof
Pronunciation: 'prüf
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of preove, from Old French preuve, from Late Latin proba, from Latin probare to prove -- more at PROVE
1 a : the cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or a fact
Posted by Rod in the land of smarties. on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:17 PM
Also, if this is what you mean by no longer responding to me, I wonder just which one of us is hanging around demending attention (NPD anyone?) (the DSM IV defines this as one of the symptoms).
I myself could not have cared less if you ever responded to my post. Still don't. But it's fun to watch you act like a tool in defense of something you CAN NOT prove.
I keep saying it, you keep ignoring it...
PROVE YOUR POSITION
All ya gotta do is show some empirical scientific data and, like I said, I would consider this proof. If it was proof, I would be proven wrong. I would admit it. Now get off your hiney and frickin prove it, don't just sit around scraping crap into jars and pickin it up with tape. ANALYZE IT. Or get a CREDIBLE source to do so. (the neighbor's dog's personal trainer's canary just won't do, sorry)
PROOF - Merriam-Webster
Main Entry: proof
Pronunciation: 'prüf
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, alteration of preove, from Old French preuve, from Late Latin proba, from Latin probare to prove -- more at PROVE
1 a : the cogency of evidence that compels acceptance by the mind of a truth or a fact
Oh, Victoria! You slay me! Could we actually do that you think? My step-son lived in New Orleans for 4 years while in the Marines. He can probably turn us on to a good person to help us with that...heheheheheheYou are sooooooo right! Narrow-minded and how. I mean for someone to COMPLETELY IGNORE the web sites listed, and all the information that is available and then say "prove it". I mean really. He's totally ignored virtually everything we've said.
I think if he ever contracts Morgellons he could never convince anyone he isn't delusional!
Huh????
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:27 PM
Ahem...at the risk of topping 2000 words I will repeat my earlier post to you...
Maybe I am totally wrong about you, Rod. Maybe you are not NPD but perhaps just unbalanced...
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:03 PM
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:29 PM
Maybe I am totally wrong about you, Rod. Maybe you are not NPD but perhaps just unbalanced...
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:03 PM
I am not the one here demanding PROOF...you are
That means YOU want someone's attention...and to be right. You finally had to drag out the DSM didn't you Of course, you would have to try to wound me somehow, personally, to prove my point
I may PLAY dumb, but I am by no means dumb...unless of course you are also a misogynist, then I will be dumb only to you
You miss the point, Rod! I do not have to convince you of anything. You have to convince me!
I don't have to get anyone CREDIBLE to analyze it.
Someone CREDIBLE already is
Dr. William Harvey, just for starters...but remember, you'll pay $300 an hour to talk to him!
YOU WANT THE NUMBER???? ROFLOL!!!!!
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:43 PM
That means YOU want someone's attention...and to be right. You finally had to drag out the DSM didn't you
Of course, you would have to try to wound me somehow, personally, to prove my point I may PLAY dumb, but I am by no means dumb...unless of course you are also a misogynist, then I will be dumb only to you
You miss the point, Rod! I do not have to convince you of anything. You have to convince me!
I don't have to get anyone CREDIBLE to analyze it.
Someone CREDIBLE already is
Dr. William Harvey, just for starters...but remember, you'll pay $300 an hour to talk to him!
YOU WANT THE NUMBER???? ROFLOL!!!!!
You go to a website devoted to hoaxes and then complain when people there do not believe you without proof?
Yes, and I'm 100% sure that your "lab-tech" skills quite allow you to diagnose any psychiatric problems in anyone who disagrees with you, based on a few hundred words on a computer screen and no face to face.
I will repeat it again...
PROOF.
PROVE me wrong. Not only for yourself, but for all sufferers of this disease. Go to school and learn how to research it properly, then research it properly, then PROVE what it is. Is it too much to ask for some freakin PROOF instead of BS personal attacks? I guess maybe with you it might be.
I would break off this inane and pointless crap, but I'm having WAY too much fun repeatedly asking for PROOF and repeatedly not getting ANY.
(And you'll notice that I, unlike some other people out there, do not automatically leap to the personal attacks as soon as someone disagrees with me.)
Posted by Rod in the land of smarties. on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:45 PM
Yes, and I'm 100% sure that your "lab-tech" skills quite allow you to diagnose any psychiatric problems in anyone who disagrees with you, based on a few hundred words on a computer screen and no face to face.
I will repeat it again...
PROOF.
PROVE me wrong. Not only for yourself, but for all sufferers of this disease. Go to school and learn how to research it properly, then research it properly, then PROVE what it is. Is it too much to ask for some freakin PROOF instead of BS personal attacks? I guess maybe with you it might be.
I would break off this inane and pointless crap, but I'm having WAY too much fun repeatedly asking for PROOF and repeatedly not getting ANY.
(And you'll notice that I, unlike some other people out there, do not automatically leap to the personal attacks as soon as someone disagrees with me.)
(the neighbor's dog's personal trainer's canary just won't do, sorry)
HUH?????????
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:46 PM
HUH?????????
Sure, send me the number of your "doctor". If he is in legitimate public practice, he will not care that you have given out a published phone number.
If he truly believes that this is a problem then he will have no qualms talking to someone in another country at his own expense to get the truth out there.
And yes, just like in court, the burden of proof is on the claimant (that is to say plaintiff) to prove his case, not the defense to refute it.
Try going to court and telling the judge "I don't have to prove he was screwing my 4 year old, he has to prove did not." See how that works out for you.
Posted by Rod in the land of smarties. on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 07:51 PM
If he truly believes that this is a problem then he will have no qualms talking to someone in another country at his own expense to get the truth out there.
And yes, just like in court, the burden of proof is on the claimant (that is to say plaintiff) to prove his case, not the defense to refute it.
Try going to court and telling the judge "I don't have to prove he was screwing my 4 year old, he has to prove did not." See how that works out for you.
You are right. I would LOVE to go back to school and get my master's degree, alas, my uh....personal ailments...hinder me.
"lab tech" skills in psychology??? Lab maybe...
I come to a hoax site not complaining...I am actually having fun
Maybe I am here for someone to prove me wrong. Prove that what I experience and what I have seen with my own two eyes cannot be so, because if it is...God help us all...
Have YOU thought about going to school to prove your opinion to yourself and to others?
I have to say, as far as for me, you have to DISPROVE what I experience and have SEEN.
Would you like to see pictures of my mom's lesions???
My step-dads scabs?
So...you're on the defensive???
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 08:27 PM
Are you in a different country or is this some new requirement you have?
DR. WILLIAM HARVEY
FAMILY CARE CLINIC
119 E ACADEMY
DEL RIO TX 78840
You ever seen the "eye witness" get their stored ripped to shreds on the witness stand by the defense attorney? It ain't pretty...
http://ypng.webcrawler.com/info.wbcrwl/ypv3/list.htm?&kcfg=ypus&ypinsp=0&searchtype=all&qhqn=family+care+clinic&qn=family+care+clinic&qc=del+rio&qs=tx&qk=15&xmlurl=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.superpages.com%2Fxml%2Fsearch?SRC=Infospace&search=Find%2BIt&PG=L&CS=L&T=del%2Brio&PB=&S=TX&Z=&A=&X=&P=&CID=&K=&C=&N=family%252Bcare%252Bclinic&PI=&NA=&STYPE=&R=N&qsubcat=firstpage&ypfwd=1&21012
Follow that link to see it on public record at webcrawler.com
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 08:42 PM
DR. WILLIAM HARVEY
FAMILY CARE CLINIC
119 E ACADEMY
DEL RIO TX 78840
You ever seen the "eye witness" get their stored ripped to shreds on the witness stand by the defense attorney? It ain't pretty...
http://ypng.webcrawler.com/info.wbcrwl/ypv3/list.htm?&kcfg=ypus&ypinsp=0&searchtype=all&qhqn=family+care+clinic&qn=family+care+clinic&qc=del+rio&qs=tx&qk=15&xmlurl=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.superpages.com%2Fxml%2Fsearch?SRC=Infospace&search=Find%2BIt&PG=L&CS=L&T=del%2Brio&PB=&S=TX&Z=&A=&X=&P=&CID=&K=&C=&N=family%252Bcare%252Bclinic&PI=&NA=&STYPE=&R=N&qsubcat=firstpage&ypfwd=1&21012
Follow that link to see it on public record at webcrawler.com
Sorry, I just tried the link and it doesn't work 
Posted by jaleenasmom on Fri Mar 04, 2005 at 08:46 PM
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