Yeah, so don't be jumping to any conclusions, got that?
Posted on 01/25/2012 2:36:09 PM PST by Dysart
A long-awaited government study on a mysterious skin condition known as Morgellons disease concludes that it isn’t infectious or caused by something in the environment. It also is very rare, affecting fewer than 4 in 100,000 people surveyed.
(The study appears in PLoS ONE.)
However, it isn’t possible to say from the data whether the mysterious skin condition — “unexplained dermopathy,” as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention calls it — is a new ailment or part of an existing condition like delusional infestation, according to the researchers from the CDC, Kaiser Permanente Northern California and several academic institutions.
“We believe that these people have something and their quality of life [has] in some instances been very seriously impacted,” says Mark Eberhard, the CDC’s director of the division of parasitic diseases and malaria and a study author. “We’re not saying this is made up. There could be a constellation of factors.”
Much of the fascination with the condition has stemmed from reports that these individuals have fibers or material coming out from their skin. They also have skin lesions and often describe itching or stinging sensations.
In the new 115-patient study — believed to be the largest to date and eagerly anticipated by the Morgellons community — analyses showed that the fibers came from clothing or the environment, not any biologic material. There is “no evidence” that the fibers cause skin lesions or sensations, according to Eberhard.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
later
It’s a delusional disorder, plain and simple.
Wrong.
I know. But dissuading someone from a delusion isn't easy. (See Liberals.)
I was one of the first few hundred diagnosed. I may have delusions, but not about this.
How are you doing now?
Wow, do you think the fibers come from clothes, or do they actually come from within your skin? Is your condition under control?
I still can’t work. But surviving. Thank you for the question. There is at least one other FReeper in the patient population.
The quasi-diagnosis of delusional parasitosis is typically dropped quickly once a clinician evaluates an afflicted patient or two, and particularly after reviewing tissue specimens.
That’s all I have to say right now.
Funny thing we asked our family psychiatrist if he thought it could be delusional parasitosis and he said the fact that we were willing to consider that possibility meant it wasn't delusional parasitosis. That is the way delusions work.
Study concludes it’s an “unexplained dermopathy.” Well, that certainly clears it up (no pun intended).
Pingaling!
Thanks for ringing him up...
There wasn’t any question the fibers — and I was one of the first to use that term — are embedded deeply within the skin, probably extending into subcutaneous tissue. Everyone knows you can pick up bits of fabric, specks of lint, etc., on the skin - that’s no revelation to us and we can find those too on occasion. The Morgellons fibers are remarkably uniform from patient to patient and show unusual characteristics including idiosyncratic photoluminescence and a physical makeup similar to cellulose. I have not actually seen the fibers for about 10 years and believe my skin is in a drawn-out “struggling to heal” process. I guess my psychotic delusions ended ten years ago LOL.
And if the fibers are incidental/environmental in nature — why do you not find the same fibers in a control group? Huh, CDC?
My granddaughter, who isn’t a hypochondriac, showed me a place on her arm where she pulls out blue fibers every once in a while. She says it starts itching and then she pulls them out.
She knows nothing about Morgellon’s and I didn’t tell her anything. She’s a teenager and actually thinks it is kind of cool.
AFAIK, she has no other symptoms.
Yeah, so don't be jumping to any conclusions, got that?
That is absolutely amazing — and I deeply appreciate your allowing us to invade your privacy. I’m sure there are others like me here on FR who have seen TV reports or read articles on your condition, and naturally we are intrigued.
I’m thrilled to hear that your fiber invasion seems to be in some sort of remission. And, no, I do not believe you are delusional. “There are more things under heaven than we have dreamt of in our philosophies.”
...a mysterious skin condition known as Morgellons disease concludes that it isn't infectious or caused by something in the environment.
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