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:
Comments
Carbonated water...did you miss that?
You also obviously missed that scientists have identified the stenotrophomonas maltophilia bacteria as the cause of Morgellons.
Also... Boiled? So what? Is boiled tap water better than boiled bottled water? Should they not be the same? If you're going to boil your water (by the way, boiling does NOT kill all of the harmful bacteria in water, you also need to run it through a biological contaminant filter) then what does it matter what the source is? You can distill and drink urine, too, and it would be just as safe.
Rod!!!!!!!
You've impressed me!!!
You believe in Fibromyalgia!!!
About 3 years ago I could not go wee...(best way I know to post that). A doctor in our local E.R. checked me out. He found NOTHING. 3 days later I still couldn't go. I called his office and made an appointment.
I told him I still couldn't go and that I was beginning to have the "hot spots" that my mom had with her Fib.
He said, and I quote, "I do not believe in Fibromyalgia."
I asked him if Fib. wasn't a disease, what was wrong with my mother. He had NEVER seen my mother; didn't even know her name.
He said, and I quote, "I don't believe that Fibr. is a REAL disease. I don't know what's wrong with you and your mother. Maybe you should consider "psychiatric care" because I cannot find anything wrong with you."
Hmmmm....
I left, went home, made an appt. with a gyn. who saw me the next day.
Turns out my urethra was nearly closed and had to be dialated, a simple office procedure that took 2 minutes.
This was in 2001.
What do YOU think about that?????????
PARASITE
that is felt, Rod. Not the bacteria.
You are right. Bacteria cannot be "felt".
Please tell all!!!
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."
Galileo Galilei
Theory...do you ever one day we might all know the truth?
Or, have you no belief in God at all? Or a higher power?
What is your God? Chaos? Mass Delusion? Hysteria?
Do you have "faith" in anything?
Do you have "hope" in anything?
Do you live by Law or by chance?
Do you obey laws man has set upon you?
Speed limit, no illegal drugs, seatbelt, pay your taxes and don't cheat, no stealing, no murder, no rape, no abuse, etc.?
Okay... If the parasites are too small to be seen by the naked eye, they cannot be felt. Otherwise the dust mites that are all over you would drive you (ha ha) buggy. Walkerton relates to the water thing and my point that the harmful stuff does not all disappear with boiling. Google it if you're interested (I think it was e coli in the water... many dead).
Nope. No belief in any gods at all. The only "higher power" is that which we choose to give that power to, basically the "system", meaning Police, Givt, Etc.
Yes. I have faith that when I get up in the middle of the night, I'll have to take a leak. I have faith that my family loves me. I have NO faith that some invisible guy is sitting up in the sky waiting to listen to my 32 seconds of self serving bullshit every night, or every second if I so chose.
Hope? Sure. I hope I get nailed this weekend. I hope I get nailed every night. Lotsa hope. And I'm not even being sarcastic.
Like every human on the planet, both law and chance (even the Pope, you can't tell me he's never been laid in his whole life and at the same time convince me he's never polished the bishop).
As for obeying the law...
Speed Limit - Usually. I see no point in getting to the next light faster just to wait longer. However, I live in a part of the country where the towns are 30-45 miles apart. Lotsa farmland, no trees, flat, see forever. As long as the tires are speed rated and nobody's comin, I travel about 130 (Kph, by the way, about 75 mph).
Illegal drugs - Sometimes. Legal ones too.
Seatbelt - ALWAYS. People give me crap cause I put it on before I start the car.
Pay Taxes - Yup. No cheating, either.
Stealing - Like Michael Jackson says "It's only a crime if you get caught."
Murder - Of ?
Rape - Nope.
Abuse - ? Self? Spousal? Satanic Ritual? Animal? Internet? Email Privelage?
I will go back and look for the other info.
Stenotrophomonas (Pseudomonas) maltophilia is an aerobic gram-negative bacillus that is an infrequent pathogen in humans and is found in a variety of aquatic environments.
http://www.sanbi.co.jp/capj/45/abs/450801.pdf
Hope this link works!
http://www.nih.go.jp/JJID/57/37.pdf - This is a "scientific study".
"The adhesive surface
factors involved in adherence of these bacteria are largely unknown, and their flagella have not yet been
characterized biochemically and antigenically."
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol8no9/pdf/01-0535.pdf courtesy of the CDC
http://lib.med.tottori-u.ac.jp/yam/yam46-4/yam46_091-102.html "Recent papers argue that major increases in the isolation of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria have been of some concern in clinical practice. Among these bacteria, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is an intrinsic producer of β-lactamases, and has been recognized as a nosocomial pathogen. But few reports are available on the impact of the potential risk of mixed infections." "...The last section elaborates on the idea that S. maltophilia can assist in the survival of other imipenem-susceptible bacteria such as Serratia..." Remember Serratia from the article about bacteria being released over Oahu??? That's what it's got to do with this, but it's my OPINION.
they work...
take a look at some "research"...
"Stenotrophomonas (formerly Xanthomonas), a gramnegative bacillus is noted for its high degree of antibiotic resistance and pathogenic potential. It can be isolated from water sources including rivers, wells, a hypertrophic lake, bottled water, sewage, sink traps, factory residues and a variety of soil, plant and food materials. It is known to cause life-threatening infections in selected patients associated with immunosuppression, admission to the..."
http://www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/223_224/01-216.pdf
CASE REPORT
checked both of
the above links and
they both work. You will find these
studies interesting I'm sure.
Could we correspond through email or some other means???
Well, it seems the first article I posted here actually did mention the boiling and carbonated water at the very end. ("Brain fog" - one of the symptoms of this disease.)
Thanks jaleenasmom for all the great links above - I will go check them out too. This is becoming so interesting as each new discovery takes us closer to a proper diagnosis.
I would like to ask Rod - Can you SEE Alzheimer's Disease? No. Do you see the effects of the disease? Yes. Diagnosis is based on clinical histology and most research and diagnosis is done post mortem.
Due to me being out of it with a fever of 103 and feeling a slight bit crappy over the past few days I have NOT gone into the research I have done on my own. In my OPINION, someone who has delusional parasitosis would not have the presence of mind to do such.
I purchased my own microscope because I wanted to see for MYSELF if samples taken from my sores looked like the pictures I was seeing or if they could have been enhanced or self-fabricated. My husband was right beside me as we conducted these experiments. First we did dry mounts...and sure enough...there were the fibers mixed among what you would see (I have learned) in a normal scab, which is sort of spidery vein looking marks! Then we did wet mounts. Once the scab was in wet mount, the spidery veins disappeared and the tissue takes on a golden yellow color and the fibers become highly visible. We must have tested at least 20 samples. All fiber masses were unique in design. On several samples I took notes. One of the samples had a fiber that protruded barely beyond the border of tissue. Upon examining the same slide the next day, the length of the fiber had grown beyond the border considerably. Under the microscope and to the eye it looked like about an inch, but microscopically I could not tell you the measurement. My husband and I both also plucked hairs from our heads, his arm, my arm, and a little "peach fuzz" hair from the back of my neck to see if these fibers could just possibly be hair. Laying the hairs next to the scab sample on the slide proved to be a negative. The hairs looked like giant trees compared to the fibers.
Another interesting discovery. For over a year now I had been telling my husband about a strange thing going on in our bathroom. Until all of this illness thing started I really had not been too concerned about it - just puzzled.
We have an "S" shaped bathroom situation with two half-baths on each end with the "shower and tub" portion in the middle. This can be closed off from both sides.
When I remembered the fibers in the bathroom I ran to collect a sample of them to look at under the microscope. THEY WERE IDENTICAL TO WHAT I WAS SEEING IMBEDDED IN MY SCABS!!!!!
I have gone on the investigate other rooms in the house. They are not present. (Which leads me to believe it has something to do with the moisture and water in the bathroom - which is what I have been saying all along - that our well water was not right. We should have had it tested right when we moved into this house like I wanted to do. But we didn't and I regret that now. We ARE having it tested next week, but they will have to go down into the well, because we are now on city water as of 3 weeks ago.
Being sick with this bronchial infection has produced a lot of phlegm in my chest. The first night I coughed up some bloody phlegm. Yesterday I coughed up a nice "loogie" and looked at it under the microscope...guess what...fibers were in it.
NOW I DO realize these fibers may be air born BUT we have also taken some scab samples from my husbands body from a couple of places where he cut himself on the job. Guess what? No fibers. If these things are present in my body, why NOT his. We spent equal time at home and equal time taking showers in the bathroom.
Another experiment - I took a cotton ball and soaked it with rubbing alcohol. I rubbed it back and forth across my arms and legs. The cotton ball ended up being coated with the blue and red fibers. I DID carefully examine the STERILE cotton ball (which I send my husband to the store yesterday for) and before I wiped my arms and legs with it, it was clean.
I did the same thing to my husband's body - NO FIBERS.
SO - does this mean my body is producing these things and giving them off, or do I have some kind of lowered immune function which allows them to invade my body and not his?
This is what I WANT TO KNOW.
And I am sorry, but I DO feel the itchy, crawly feelings all over my face, sometimes my legs, arms and back. It is real - I do feel it.
SO - that is my own personnal research so far.
Anyway, here I go again.
Link 1.) If you don't have CF, how does any of this apply? Again, internal infection to your external.
Link 2.) Okay, this link again shows no external infection. All along you've been saying this is a new, rare bacteria. To quote "S.M., a bacteria that is commonly found almost everywhere in nature..."
Link 3.) Ah, the CDC. First place I looked before my very first post here. A good portion of the reason I think Morgellons is psychological (admitted bias, but no final decision, yet). To quote "...associated with opportunistic infections in patients with cystic fibrosis, cancer, and HIV." And the best quote, "S.M. can cause septicemia, endocarditis, conjunctivitis, mastoiditis, meningitis, post-operative wounds, abcesses, urinary tract infections, and pneumonia." Funny, your symptoms are not listed.
Also pertaining to link 3, google XANTHOMOMAS MALTOPHILIA. This bacteria and its effects, as well as drug resistance, have been well known and documented for a long time. Why is this important? Changing the name of X.M. to S.M., which is what they did, does not give this bacteria new properties or capabilities.
Oh, and yes, I get the idea that bacterium with a tail tend to be pathogenic. Mobility matters.
Link 4.) These people do not say S.M. is the cause. They say it MAY open up the body for a known type of infection by other types of bacteria. If it is a known type, then how can it be Morgellons?
Link 5.) WOW. Here they say flat out that they have a drug of choice to kill this bacteria. Meaning they know about it and can kill it. Is it some kind of conspiracy to not let YOU get your hands on it?
Link 6.) Meningitis fits your symptoms how?
"Only by focusing on anything that we can fit to our belief and ignoring everything that doesn't fit can we make these coincidences seem meaningful." - From Robert Todd Carroll, Skeptics Dictionary
You have not proven your case. Come up with something more interesting than things which do not relate.
Also in light of your non-response to my pointing out the facts in the links you posted, I feel it is entirely unneccesary for you to get my email address just so you can ask me questions about your god. Or did you not think I knew that was what "private correspondence" was about?
Let's keep it public, so I can keep shooting you down as you try to make a case for something WITHOUT ANY PROOF.
Rod -
You DO realize you are coversing with two entirely different people here don't you? I am Victoria and live in North Carolina. The other person jaleenasmom lives in an entirely different state. We just happened to meet up on this web site after already connecting through another web site, but I posted here before I ever realized she posted here. You keep talking like you are addressing one and the same person. You are not.
I never referred to having meningitis. Nor have I asked for your private email address. From Victoria's point of view, let's DO keep it public.
I have even tried to politely present you with my own observations, not saying I have come to any conclusions, other than the fact that the other Morgellons sites are NOT fabricating or doctoring up photos.
Here are my symtoms, all documented through my family care physician, opthamologist, doctor of internal medicine, emergency room physician. YOU make a diagnosis based on these symptoms please.
Beginning two years ago:
Flash of light (almost like a camera flash going off) behind my right eye. It was an "explosion" of light, followed within an hour with an intense migraine headache that put me to bed. Upon awakening I had gray foggy floaters and a pinpoint of a very black spot that I chased around, but it would not go away.
Called my doctor - she ordered a CAT scan to rule out possible stroke or anuerism. Negative, she sent me to the opthamologist to see if it might be a detached retina - Negative - He could actually see the floaters, but said it was just stress related and that if I would reduce my stress they would go away. Took a trip to the beach - totally relaxed and de-stressed. They are still with me today and it is like trying to look through a thin veil at times. Guess what - Lyme Disease Symptom.
Stiff neck - can hardly move my head in the mornings - sometimes have to literally pick my head up with my hands because it hurts so bad.
LYME DISEASE SYMPTOM
Strange cough at night for at least 3 months that never went away and was not connected to a cold at all. But also at the same time, a constant post nasal clear drip of fluid.
LYME DISEASE SYMPTOM
Go on to Part Two of this post.
To Rod (and anyone else who wants to read!)"Brain fog" and forgetfulness, trouble with speech. Had recently been jumbling my words up and having difficulty getting my words to come out right and in the middle of a sentence forgetting what I am talking about.
LYME DISEASE SYMPTOM
(I have ALWAYS had excellent memory skills and have received superior employee reviews and have been with the same employer for fifteen years.
High liver enzyme count
LYME DISEASE SYMPTOM
Decreased white blood cell count
LYME DISEASE SYMPTOM as well as Ehrlichia.
(A CBC shows decreased white blood cells (leukopenia), decreased platelets (thrombocytopenia); a granulocyte stain shows clumps of bacteria inside white blood cells; the platelet count shows decreased platelets (thrombocytopenia); liver enzymes show elevated transaminase; a fluorescent antibody test may turn positive for E. chaffeensis or granulocytic Ehrlichia (also comes from a tick bite.)
LINK:http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C352822.html
Here are the facts - Almost all Morgellons patients who are even BEING tested eventually test positive for Lyme Disease or related vector type infectious disease. Many receive false negative test results until the proper test is administered. There are two new tests that are more conclusive but they have not been approved by the FDA at this point for diagnostic purposes, so the labs can't even use them.
I did not finish with my symptoms, but my doctor has my medical history and I have 37 out of 50 symptoms for Lyme Disease - plus the physical evidence of sores which are not created with my mind...CAN you NOT get it THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL that the biopsies from two labs reported finding a bacteria, but one they were unable to identify - what that means I don't know - it DOES NOT necessarily mean the bacteria they FOUND is S.Maltophilia. IF and I say IF Morgellons is caused by S.Maltophilia could it PERHAPS morph into another new bacteria. THAT has happened throughout medical history.
I am on a mission to find out what is wrong with me and I am sick, but I will DAMNED if I let anybody tell me this illness is delusional. I only wish I could be around the day the discovery is made to see the look on your face.
Victoria, if you go back and read all of this totally pointless dissertation (I mean all of it, not just mine, yours too) you will see in my posts that I reply mainly to jaleelasmom. When I refer to you, I use YOUR name. See? Two names? See how that works? Basically I fire off a one-liner to you, who are showing absolutely no proof of any kind, and spend the bulk of my time with someone else. This is because all it takes to refute your posts is one line. I spend so much time with jaleelasmom because she, apparently, although I believe she is probably deluding herself, is actually looking for a cause for her symptoms and not just saying "This is it. It's true." Although she HAS, a few times, said that I should prove her wrong and she doesn't HAVE to prove her case; this is faulty reasoning.
So what you are telling me is to keep an open mind? That anything is possible? Well, if that is the way you feel, type those words out and send them to me. Go for it!
Triple Dog Dare ya.
Keep an open mind please and also keep in mind anything IS possible.
And I do apologize for making the comment about "voodoo". I am certainly NOT into that kind of thing. I would NEVER in all honesty wish this illness on anyone else.
It just hurts me to know there are so many other people out there who have the same thing I do and so far nobody really knows exactly WHAT it is or what EXACTLY causes it. I am trying to do everything within my own extremely limited capabilities to do some of my own research.
All I want is answers, that's all.
I promise I will no longer argue my case with you. I may come back here from time to time to post any new developments...but no more debates. I promise it this time.
I go in peace.
Victoria
Keep an open mind please and also keep in mind anything IS possible."
YOU are telling ME to keep an open mind? Get real. Open your own to the possibility that YOU are wrong. I have an open mind, and anyone who reads back through all of this crap can plainly see it.
Also, if you read my previous posts, I gave you people the most sure-fire way to get someone to study it. If your research capabilities are limited, expand them. Go to school. Don't tell me it's not possible to go. I'm pretty freakin sure that if I had a disease that nobody believed me about, I would do everything in my power, EVERYTHING, to prove to someone that it was real, not just telling them that it is, and getting all pissy when they don't believe me. I would want to cure myself so badly that I would do whatever it took... Working cleaning dishes to get the knowledge I needed. If this problem is so real, why don't you PROVE it?
When I had migraines, my local doctor would not believe that they affected me the way that they do. Hence, no medication, extended suffering, etc. So, I spent several weeks digging through everythig from Gray's Anatomy (being the biggest) to pamphlets I found on the bus (being the smallest) in and out of a University library doing my research. Finally, I wrote it all down and gave it to the doctor. I even photocopied all of my sources so that he wouldn't have to go to his own bookshelf to look them up. End result? I proved my point, and now I get the medication that I needed.
My point? Do your research. Prove your point. If it is affecting you so badly, do something about it other than whining on the net and to a doctor who won't listen.
No more debates? Is that not what brings answers?
I also have a husband, and a MOTHER WHO HAS ROTTING HOLES ON HER NOSE AND NOW HER FACE AND DOESN'T WANT TO LEAVE HER HOUSE FOR FEAR OF SPREADING THIS TO OTHERS.
We went out of town today-about 200 miles away, one-way.
But "the bitch is back"!
I have read some of your other post here on the hoax, and I think you're brilliantly funny! :lol:
Moremellons!! :lol: :lol: :lol:
1. No, I am not saying s.m. is a new bacteria. Of course it isn't, however, NEW STRAINS of s.m. are appearing as stated by one of these studies.
2. One study of a hospital in Turkey in 2001 showed an EPIDEMIC break-out of s.m. When studied, 97.5% were found to have s.m. infection on the SKIN.
3. The mutating s.m., some develop flagella, you get that one! I am PROUD OF YOU!
4. CDC does not list our symptoms because they do not accept our symptoms...yet... 😜
5. It's not that Menengitis fits OUR symptoms. Look again at the article with the s.m. in mind NOT Menengitis.
6. More later...this night.
6. The INCREASING incidence of s.m. WORLDWIDE.
Are you Paranoid too???
Me ask YOU questions about MY GOD???
YOU do not KNOW my God. Why would I ask you questions about something you know nothing of???
I think you are a very intellectual person. An interesting person and a VERY GOOD debater.
I do not mind keeping things "public", my suggestion was that I would like to discuss other things that do not exactly pertain to Morgellons besides here on this thread ABOUT Morgellons.
In my opinion, you are not "shooting me down". You are proving what is simply the case throughout ALMOST the entire medical community.
"I am smarter to believe in nothing, or delusional parasitosis, than in Morgellons. I will NOT accept what patients say they feel, no matter how many become "delusional".
I tell her about these posts. I read them to her actually. Nothing much for her today all day except talk on the phone and watch t.v. Her eyes aren't that great anymore. Her flesh on her legs are necroting so badly! She tries to stay off of them as much as she can.
The only getting out she does is to the nursing home where my step-father is. He can't walk anymore, or talk much, and talk about brain-fog!!!!
She loves this stuff!
I am going to try to get her a web t.v. or something.
She justs loves your posts!
2. Okay, so you missed the part in the study (which I directly quoted, by the way) where they said that "S.M., a bacteria that is commonly found almost everywhere in nature..."
3. Not so tough. Like I said, many bacteria have "tails". Basic cell structure.
4. When they list your symptoms, I will believe it. You have to remember that these are some of the topmost scientists and researchers in the entire field. Do you really think that nobody there has heard of this? They spend hours a day on the lookout for possible outbreaks. Whether they take it seriously is judged by them.
5. Okay, ya lost me. Here is what I posted for this link--->"Link 5.) WOW. Here they say flat out that they have a drug of choice to kill this bacteria. Meaning they know about it and can kill it. Is it some kind of conspiracy to not let YOU get your hands on it?"
6. Of course the incidence of this bacteria is rising. SO IS EVERYTHING ELSE ON THE PLANET DUE TO THE RISING POPULATION. Murders, Marriages, Births, Death, Cancer, Lymphoma, EVERYTHING, because there are so many more people that the number of cases goes up and up. But check it out, the percentages stay within the same range, because it is not spreading, just getting more reports made on it.
I said it before and I'll say it again. I'm biased (guess which way?) but I have never made a decision so firm that if I see actual PROOF I will not reconsider.
As for the private email thing, sorry if I misunderstood, but religion was the only other thing that you ever asked me about. What else would you want to talk about?
And where did the quote at the end come from? You know, this one: "I am smarter to believe in nothing, or delusional parasitosis, than in Morgellons. I will NOT accept what patients say they feel, no matter how many become "delusional".
A little stubborn, but just enough to make him a very intersting...I would say "soul"...would that offend????
I WOULD LOVE, I SAY, LOVE TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE TYPE OF FACILITY THAT I NEED!!!!
I WILL BE WORKING ON THAT PROBLEM TOMMOROW. In the mean time, I only have what I've got to work with and that is free-thought process.
2. COMMONLY found, 'tis true!!! Read this article again. S.M. bacteria are NOT supposed to be able to get past "host" defenses.
3. I CONCUR. Bacteria and viruses will mutate to MAKE SURE THEY LIVE. This is a WELL KNOWN, COMMONLY KNOWN MEDICAL FACT, as common as s.m. itself!!!
I have to PROVE to my daughter now that she MUST SLEEP.
BBL...
4. My congressman, John Tanner-D, TN, told me 4 days ago that the CDC basically does not recognize a "new" disease until "enough people are found to have it". He told me that at this point the only way to "make" the medical community listen is to gain more exposure on t.v., newspaper, basically main-stream media.
"Whether they take it seriously is judged by them." Are "they" the "god" of medicine? Judges by which the entire world must look to first in order to make something real that isn't?
5. No conspiracy here that I see. I DO see different microbiologists recommending 3 different drugs, all with limited success.
6. I AGREE.
The quote is what I hear doctors tell patients who have something wrong with them but they don't know what. Instead of 'fessing up and saying I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS, SO YOU MUST BE DELUSIONAL, is what I am seeing a lot of.
Or, they are choosing to say, I WOULD RATHER BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE NOTHING THAN SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT BECAUSE I'M SUPPOSED TO BE SMARTER THAN THAT. Remember my post about I couldn't unrinate??? Remember I told you that doctor told me to seek psychiatric care because HE COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG WITH ME? I wonder if doctor's egos are being "threatened"???
Hmmm...what if it's not a "delusional thing" but an "ego thing" with doctors. Although I do think the doctor that told me he didn't believe in Fibromyalgia is EXTREMELY egotistical. I saw him last night while I was out getting my mom some food. He saw me and he turned his head so fast I thought surely he had given himself whiplash!
:lol:
His wife noticed it too. She asked him what was wrong. He never looked back my way.
Apology accepted. :coolsmile: One thing I would like to know is what you think about this doctor telling me that I didn't have a PROVEN disease because he didn't believe in it. What would you have said to him if you had been in my shoes???
I am not sure if you live in the U.S. If not just say, don't have to tell me where you are.
I don't think that doctors are scientists in the true meaning of research.
Most all doctors that I know on a personal basis never do research; they read books written by researchers.
Ever take philosophy??
I am philisophical but I do believe in God.
Do you believe there are any government conspiracies, cover-ups?