# Delusional parasitosis **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 12, 2005, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154 "2005-07-12T11:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ever\_Hopeful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a183cd/32.png) [@Ever\_Hopeful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ever_Hopeful)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/101 "2005-07-21T02:07:44Z")
> [@Ever Hopeful](#): > > “Alternative cellular energy pigments mistaken for parasitic skin infestations” by W. John Martin, Center for Complex Infectious Diseases Doesn’t look too good. Another “yeast is the source of all illness” type of things? (substitute zinc deficiency, dental sealants, negative frequencies, imbalanced chi, bad karma, or your favorit fad for “yeast”). The “Center” has already set up a support web site for people with stealth virus diseases. Wonder what they’ll charge to cure me? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/102 "2005-07-21T14:23:08Z")
> [@Ever Hopeful](#): > > Doesn’t look too good. Another “yeast is the source of all illness” type of things? But…but…they sell yeast at health food stores and tell us it’s good for us! It’s all part of a vast conspiracy to keep us shopping at GNC. > [@](#): > > (substitute zinc deficiency, dental sealants, negative frequencies, imbalanced chi, bad karma, or your favorit fad for “yeast”). I go with the classics. My humours are unbalanced. > [@](#): > > Wonder what they’ll charge to cure me? Probably a lot more than that menthol gel and with worse results. I’m glad you are keeping your sense of humor and a permanent suspicion of possible treatments. Many people with bugs have neither. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/103 "2005-07-21T18:42:55Z")
> [@Ever Hopeful](#): > > How kind of you to extend such a invitation to a delusional person. Oh, and I cannot believe I missed this opportunity: When you read the membership agreement did you see the sanity clause? No, of course not, because\*\* there ain’t no sanity clause!\*\* (a bow in the direction of Chico Marx’s grave) ---
**Author:** ![Ever\_Hopeful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a183cd/32.png) [@Ever\_Hopeful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ever_Hopeful)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/104 "2005-07-21T21:27:11Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Oh, and I cannot believe I missed this opportunity: > When you read the membership agreement did you see the sanity clause? No, of course not, because\*\* there ain’t no sanity clause!\*\* > (a bow in the direction of Chico Marx’s grave) You mean he’s just another delusion? Ohhh, nooooo, say it ain’t soooo. ---
**Author:** ![xbuckeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9e8a1a/32.png) [@xbuckeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xbuckeye)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/105 "2005-07-22T00:24:25Z")
Here’s my obervation set: 1. **EH** has a problem, I don’ think anyone is denying that. I am concerned that what seems by the description he(?) has presented us that he is obsessed with finding _something_ physical wrong with him. 2. some of the things **EH** does may actually contribute to the problem. A seven year long dermatological condition sounds to me like an allergy or chemical sensitivity. There are very few perfect parasites. They either get worse or get better. I would be concerned that H2O2 washes and menthol treatments might actually be causing a problem more than treating one. 3. The medical profession, as a whole, is not as completely irresponsible as **EH** would like to believe. The thing is, they know more than we do about medical things. They work on statistics and studies and knowledge. They take an oath to first do no harm. If a doctor does not see a reason to treat for a disease because they truly don’t believe that disease is present, they are doing what they are sworn to do. Furthermore, if a doctor does treat for a disease that there is no reason to believe is present, and the treatment goes awry and causes damage, the doctor can lose his license to practice. By asking a doctor to treat you for something they cannot make a case that you actually have, you are asking them to risk their career and livelihood. 4. There are things that we don’t know about parasitic lifeforms. However, a few somewhat strange things on a microscope slide that someone with no background in microscopy thinks are parasites does not make a good case for a new parasitic disease. 4a) The whole spectrum of symptoms and observations presented by **EH** makes his story less believable, rather than more believable. 4b) The spectrum of symptoms and observations presented by **EH** provides a convienent pedistal for an arguement. Someone points out that one group of pictures looks like normal skin structures, **EH** says yeah but that doesn’t explain the video. Then someone says the video looks like normal microscopic vibrations and **EH** says yes, but there are fibers. Someone else says these fibers look like lint and **EH** says but they stick up when I put H2O2 on them. Lather, rinse, repeat. 5. This has been fun and informative, if not occasionally frustrating. I know this post slants really anti- **EH** and there isn’t a way for me to write around that. Whether or not you believe in DP, I can’t imagine the irritation and frustration with a chronic skin condition. I’ve had an itchy, burning allergic reaction on my legs since Monday and I am pissed about it 'cause it is driving me nuts. It is also responding to medication and slowly going away. **EH** , my best suggestion to you is to start from square one. Look into allergies, change your soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc. Cut down or quit topical treatments that might be contributing to general skin irritation. These things are much more likely than a mystery parasite. Also, hang out on the SDMB and let the information wash away your symptoms. I am truly sorry to sound so negative about your condition, I just don’t have the ability to believe you in the light of the science presented so far. Also, my humours are all out of whack, too. Evil humor, where people get hurt in cruel ways are way too funny for me to be considered ‘normal.’ I get no thrill from Champaign. ---
**Author:** ![Ever\_Hopeful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a183cd/32.png) [@Ever\_Hopeful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ever_Hopeful)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/106 "2005-07-22T00:42:25Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Many people with bugs have neither. Thanks for this sentence. You could have said delusions, but didn’t. Much appreciated. Hope you get your humours balanced soon. (I can refer you to some folks who’ll sell you a zapper–cures everything!) I really have learned a lot from the posts on this thread, although not all of it is what some of the posters wanted to teach me. I will be away from the net while traveling for a little while, and just wanted to express my appreciation before I temporarily disappear. It looks like I will have to personally find and collect every single article on DOP that’s ever been published. Most of them won’t be worth much for my purposes. A lot will feature single cases of secondary DOP, undistinguished or imprecisely described mixes of primary and secondary DOP, statements without details to back them up or explain how they were arrived at, etc. And, of course, a lot of broadly descriptive pieces with no actual cases described. DOP seems to fascinate a certain segment of the medical community, and has generated a large amount of literature given its supposed rarity. Trabert’s literature search of 100 years of describing the illness turned up 1,223 cases total (including all the secondary and poorly described ones). I think he found a couple hundred articles–that’s about an average of one article for every six cases or so. I’m not certain, but that seems like a pretty high ratio. And some of them don’t even report cases actually seen by the authors, just ones they’ve heard about. (I think one of the reasons, at least in earlier decades, was that the subject was relatively easy to publish on–authors could pretty much say anything they wanted, since nobody really had (or has) a good handle on it. “Hey, I had a delusional patient (or maybe two) and she/they did (or did not) get better when I tried this.” And for this they got a citation to add to their CV. Wowie.) But locating carefully written studies of _primary_ DOP really is very difficult. If anybody knows of any articles that focus on _primary_ DOP and offer reasonably good descriptions of how they ruled out underlying physical or mental illnesses, I would very much appreciate a heads-up. Or even ones that give separate data for the primary vs. the secondary cases. I will be sure to pull those first. Thanks once again to all who have taken the time to offer opinions, info, etc. I’ll drop back in after my little vaca to see if anything happened here in my absence. And if not, then I’ll drop back in when I have any significant news. In the meantime, good health to all. Delusionally yours, EH ---
**Author:** ![Ever\_Hopeful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a183cd/32.png) [@Ever\_Hopeful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ever_Hopeful)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/107 "2005-07-22T00:55:30Z")
Didn’t see this before my last post. It’s too long for me to respond to in detail (and besides, I gotta pack), but I do want to answer a couple of things. > [@xbuckeye](#): > > The medical profession, as a whole, is not as completely irresponsible as **EH** would like to believe. The thing is, they know more than we do about medical things. They work on statistics and studies and knowledge. They take an oath to first do no harm. If a doctor does not see a reason to treat for a disease because they truly don’t believe that disease is present, they are doing what they are sworn to do. Furthermore, if a doctor does treat for a disease that there is no reason to believe is present, and the treatment goes awry and causes damage, the doctor can lose his license to practice. By asking a doctor to treat you for something they cannot make a case that you actually have, you are asking them to risk their career and livelihood. I agree, and I haven’t seen a doctor about this in four years. I know they don’t know what it is and can’t treat it and I know that that is not their fault. My main concern is to get some research done. > [@](#): > > Whether or not you believe in DP, I can’t imagine the irritation and frustration with a chronic skin condition. I’ve had an itchy, burning allergic reaction on my legs since Monday and I am pissed about it 'cause it is driving me nuts. It is also responding to medication and slowly going away. I’m sorry for you and hope that it clears up quickly and completely. Your comment about a chronic skin condition is appreciated. I keep mine pretty well under control now that I’ve learned a few tricks, but when I had disfiguring lesions on my face, it was extremely depressing. > [@](#): > > Also, my humours are all out of whack, too. Evil humor, where people get hurt in cruel ways are way too funny for me to be considered ‘normal.’ I get no thrill from Champaign. There are no thrills to be had in Champaign. (But I had fun in Chicago once.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/108 "2005-07-22T14:03:08Z")
> [@Ever Hopeful](#): > > Thanks for this sentence. You could have said delusions, but didn’t. Much appreciated. You might not be as appreciative had I left the sentence in it’s original form, ‘Many people with, um, “bugs” have neither,’ where you could add in the quotation marks with your fingers as a visual aid. Please do not take my supportiveness and eagerness to learn more about the beasties that can live on us as signs that I believe you are infested with anything the rest of us aren’t. That said, I also do not believe your delusions are a sign of any extreme mental illness; to use an old term that for clinicians is general and unscientific enough to be useless but is still handy for civilians you just sound a bit “neurotic.” I’m no shrink but I can pull a two-bit diagnosis out of my ass with the best of 'em and I’m thinking you are a normally edgy person who has read way too much about skin parasites. I’m not surprised that you have “delusions.” I get itchy reading about them, too, and become keenly aware of every place on my body where I have a mosquito bite, heat rash, or just some ill-defined itch. But you need a new hobby. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/109 "2011-05-17T10:17:45Z")
Sorry for dragging up something out of the past, but it’s relevant again, and better than an unconnected new thread. [The results of a study done on delusional parasitosis](http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/16/skin.infestation.delusion/index.html?hpt=C2). Not a surprise, really. The CDC is about to issue its own findings, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2011, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/110 "2011-05-20T01:41:20Z")
The CDC many months ago announced it had completed its investigation and an expert panel was reviewing findings preparatory to announcing them. Either they have confusing data, alarming revelations, or difficulty deciding how to announce that they found no evidence of bugs/parasites in “Morgellons” patients without provoking a firestorm of complaints from those convinced they are afflicted by mystery infectious agents. I suspect the CDC will announce there’s no evidence of strange bugs, while encouraging “additional research”. Anything short of discovery of a weird pathogen(s) will not satisfy the “Morgies”, who are busy ignoring the Archives of Dermatology report (based on online postings I’ve seen - see the article up on Respectful Insolence). ---
**Author:** ![chaitea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@chaitea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaitea)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/111 "2012-11-01T03:52:17Z")
Hello ever hopeful, I’ve just discovered this thread. I know you might not revisit this site after such a long time, but it’s been fascinating reading for me as I have identical “delusions” to you (like many thousands of others). I’d be interested to know how you’re doing and whether you have discovered anything else about these symptoms since 2005. (I’m guessing not, just because nobody has drawn any firm conclusions from what I can tell). I also wanted to say that yours is the most well-reasoned and most intelligently thought-out commentary on Morgellons-type symptoms that I have come across so far. (And I have read quite a lot - am still in the initial stage of this adventure. I’m hoping that my “obsessive” research on this subject will lessen with time). Anyway, thanks for this fascinating thread. It is really a very useful resource that you have created! I’m sure that it’s been (and will be), a very interesting read, and valuable for many others with these frustrating and baffling symptoms. I hope you are doing well. Best wishes, chaitea. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/112 "2012-11-01T04:04:31Z")
> [@chaitea](#): > > (I’m guessing not, just because nobody has drawn any firm conclusions from what I can tell). Sure they have. The CDC reported on cases over the course of 2006-2009, doing an intense, in-depth study - the largest to date - and [they came up with some interesting data](http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/qa.html). ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/113 "2012-11-01T11:57:55Z")
I know this is a necro and Ever Hopeful isn’t likely to return, but I felt I had to address these two points. > [@Ever\_Hopeful](#): > > Entomologists at the University of Georgia have suggested my delusions may be (caused by) a flagellate protozoa. This is anecdotal, but it serves to demonstrate an important point: people with delusions are difficult to work with. Their empirical data differ from those of others. That’s why it’s so important to collect data as rigorously as possible in order to reach a consensus on data. A family member of mine has schizophrenia. I’m studying psychology. My family member thinks I want to be a therapist and said I should volunteer with a local mental health provider. He went to a half hour session for several hundred pounds on Fleet Street and was diagnosed with autism. I was somewhat sympathetic: this family member is adept at disguising his symptoms if he thinks doing so would be advantageous to him (and thus demonstrates a theory of mind, debunking the possibility of autism). However, I’m somewhat sympathetic to the psychiatrist - I certainly couldn’t tell this family member that he was schizophrenic to his face. His GP was in the same bind, declining to give him a diagnosis of schizophrenia, possibly so as not to harm his employment prospects. Even professionals may sometimes take the expedient option in order to get rid of someone, if they think it causes less harm than not. > [@Ever\_Hopeful](#): > > My blood work at the time I began those permethrin treatments was abnormal and showed high levels of the antibodies (or whatever–some kind of white blood cells) typical in a scabies infection. There are psychological factors which’d cause white blood cell count to rise, namely [increased stress levels](http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003643.htm). Regardless of whether the cause were internal or external, one would expect stress to be the response to a persistent illness. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154/114 "2012-11-01T12:10:31Z")
Sorry for the double post (only tangentially related), but “What’s That Bug” has a [great section](http://www.whatsthatbug.com/category/diseases-real-and-imagined/) on Morgellon’s disease or real unidentified infestations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/delusional-parasitosis/312154.md?page=5)