Morgellons Disease

[Ninja Realist]

Holy shit this is terrifying. It's some kind of new disease appearing all over the US and Jesus is it freaky. The prospect of getting something like this is more frightening than just about any kind of disease I could imagine.

Be afraid, be very afraid! (http://www.mysanantonio.com/global-includes/printstory.jsp?path=/news/metro/stories/MYSA051106.morgellans.KENS.32030524.html)

[Scoot]

...and there goes my night's sleep.

[Rove]

The article says that some of the pacients have this disease for more than 12 years, how come only now the medical community is paying attention to this?

At the end of the article there's a link to the Morgellons Research Foundation (http://www.morgellons.org/index.html)
(Don't look at the images section if you're squeamish)

[Akuhei]

That is quite possibly the creepiest disease I've ever heard of o_o.

[Ninja Realist]

Tasty New Pictures (http://www.morgellonsusa.com/morgellonsusa.html)

[GWS923]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/medicine/1662162.html?page=1&c=y

The last paragraph is particularly enlightening.

[Saya-biki]

thats...astounding

a very interesting condition

the connection to Lymes disease is definately there
I would say it's some sort of mutation

However on the Case Definition (http://www.morgellons.org/casedef.html) page it points out its linked to a few other diseases

Mutation is still an option though, or like HIV the other sicknesses could lead to it. From the pain that is claimed to be produced by pulling out one of the fibers they sounds like i could connect to nerve cells sometimes.

just a thought (I don't know if this was brought up...I read the links but don't remember seeing anything like this. I dunno I think they make sense...)

[CGBShadowchild]

I call shenanigans. There's no way this is real, especially considering they have no pictures of the actual infection on a human. The only one is an extreme close-up of what may or may not be a lip, with what may or may not be cysts. Personally, I think it looks like an overly-chapped set of lips that has split.

[GWS923]

I call shenanigans. There's no way this is real, especially considering they have no pictures of the actual infection on a human. The only one is an extreme close-up of what may or may not be a lip, with what may or may not be cysts. Personally, I think it looks like an overly-chapped set of lips that has split.

It's not real, ya'll should read the article that I linked to in the last post.

[Emeraldas]

This reeks of hoax.

[CGBShadowchild]

Members of the Morgellons online community say that, like those who suffer from breast cancer and AIDS, they merely want appropriate resources devoted to their illness. A letter-writing campaign recently netted a modicum of high-profile attention when U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), asking whether the organization had investigated the illness. The answer was no. "Our laboratories are available," says CDC spokeswoman Jennifer Morcone. "But we need a clinically appropriate sample." So far, she says, they've only received samples sent in by patients.

There's a reason for that. Lynch and a number of other doctors say they have sent samples to hospital pathologists, medical labs and state health boards, which have uniformly failed to find any sign of an infection. If there's nothing tangible to investigate, there's no reason to call in the big guns at CDC headquarters.
Well, look, they've sent in samples, but noone in the hospitals can find an infection. SHENANIGANS.

[Ninja Realist]

I don't think it's a hoax. I think these cases are very real. But I aslso think that it's very likely that they are simply unrelated bacterial infections that happen to have one symptom in common. The whole relation does not necesitate causality thing. But I think to call it a hoax would be going too far.

[Ritalin]

Yeah, the photos are not a hoax.

Like I said in IRC, the photos are real, but the "Morgellons Disease" part is less likely to be true. Unrelated bacteria/virus infections, and some common symptoms (most people who suffer from this misfortune have the fibers/sweat) that look related.

And blah blah.

It was in the media a few years back then people stopped caring. There just isn't any evidence it's a disease on its own. Much more likely to be a bad string of infections. What horrible luck.

[CGBShadowchild]

I don't think it's a hoax. I think these cases are very real. But I aslso think that it's very likely that they are simply unrelated bacterial infections that happen to have one symptom in common. The whole relation does not necesitate causality thing. But I think to call it a hoax would be going too far.
If it's unrelated bacterial infections that have one sympton in common, then it's not a single disease. Even if this was being caused by a single entity, be it bacteriological or viral, the lack of physical evidence being recorded by the medical community is astounding. It's either gross incompetence within the establishment, or the far simpler explanation of there being nothing to record.

[Jan]

This is real.... I just figured out that I have it. After months of thinking I had lice or scaboes and going to 5 doctors, who said they couldnt do anything for me, I went and googled my symptons and found out about morgellons.
I have brought samples of fibers that came off of me after bathing, only to be told they are fibers.....duh... of course they are...but they came off of me.
I also had white oozy stuff on my eyelids... thats not normal....
I have crusty patches on my skin that eventually erupts with tiny tiny specks like granules of sand roaming all over my body.
Last time it happened I was driving home, so I jumped into the tub and took a glass of vinegar/water and poured it down my back... and sure enough at the bottom of the top were tons of tiny reddish like tiny granules of sand.... and yet no doctor can help.... I am not delusional and this is real... It is driving me crazy... I feel like the alien from the movie.
Please look up morgellons for more info... people need to become aware of this so maybe a cure can happen. I spent over $1000 of my own money on doctors, prescriptions and over the counter products that did not help.
The government has money to send overseas but doesnt have the money for research on this disease. I have had this condition for 6 months now and I cant take it.

[Illjwamh]

For the love of god, don't try to diagnose yourself with stuff you find on the internet. As soon as you hear about something to look for you start seeing it everywhere.


I'd say all the reported cases are a combination of unrelated infections and psychosomatic symptoms. I'm no doctor obviously, but that's what it's sounding like to me.

[laborpilot86]

I've heard of this diesease before, but it's a bit of an enigma. My guess is it might be some sort of brain infection.

[PsychoSaiya-jin]

I still have nightmares from the story+pic of the Japanese man who used to catch his own fish for sushi. Unfortunately, his fish were lake fish that had parasidic worm eggs and after years of headaches they opened up his scalp to find it infested. I really don't want to see stuff like that ever again :S

[ProfessorWashu]

Inconceivable. Now people are capable of growing FIBERS from their bodies?!
I'm really sorry you've contracted this illness. My deepest sympathies. I pray you get better.

I noticed that antibiotics seemed to relieve symptoms, at least temporarily if not permanently. That gives me hope, and calms me. We should (and are) delve into research and see what we can do to help and eliminate this problem.

With the advent of antibiotic-resistent bacteria and now this, I'm getting slightly unnerved, but only slightly. I'm not going to panic. If this is viral, we just need to find its vector. If it's bacterial or fungal, we just need to find its weak spot. And they ALWAYS have one, folks. Only viruses are incapable of dying by medicine, and that is only because they change so quickly. But their symptoms can usually be relieved. It's looking bacterial, based on the medical results thus far, and that is good news. Bacteria can be slain with the right combination of chemicals.

As for psychological induction of the disease, well, you can will yourself into a lot of things. A heart attack, death, the flu, but THIS? I don't think the human body is capable of randomly creating fibers, no matter how a person wills it to or thinks it can. Though I would admit you could THINK you were, even when you weren't. Unfortunately, this person's tests showed that the growths actually were fibers. I'm very sorry.

I tell you guys what I'm gonna do. I'll peruse the primary literature and see what I can find. True, the illness isn't recognized yet, but that doesn't imply that tests haven't been conducted. And where a test is conducted, there are results. I'll post back with what I find.

[ProfessorWashu]

Well, the primary literature at my disposal is extremely limited. Apparently, and I'm sorry to say it, tests have found no conclusive cause or even speculations beyond what we've already mentioned: it's bacterial, fungal, or psychological. I'm sorry there wasn't a better answer.

I know the artical given in this forum made it clear that we didn't have a conclusive answer, but I was hoping there was at least one study that showed something besides "We don't really have any idea."

The literature, by the way, was an article in the scientific journal "American Journal of Clinical Dermatology" in 2006, volume 7, issue 1. The title was The Mystery of Morgellons Disease: Infection or Delusion? if you wanna see it.

[isolatedotaku]

I still have nightmares from the story+pic of the Japanese man who used to catch his own fish for sushi. Unfortunately, his fish were lake fish that had parasidic worm eggs and after years of headaches they opened up his scalp to find it infested. I really don't want to see stuff like that ever again :S

Thank you for bringing that up. Thank you very much.

Anyhow. Self-diagnosis is bad.

[ProfessorWashu]

Yes. Self-diagnosis is very dangerous, because it can lead one to believe that symptoms that aren't there really are. Still, I think its a tad hard to trick yourself into growing fibers. However, it is pretty easy to convince yourself of related symptoms, leading to fear and anticipation of growing fibers. (Don't try this at home!)

Is that thing about the guy eating infected fish really true? Well, that turned me off of sushi. I don't self-diagnose, but I also don't take chances in such things. I like to play it safe. Ah, well. There's still okonomiyaki and tempura! ^_^