The Gaming Den

So, my dad is suffering from this. I've kind of been avoiding reading up on it because I was afraid of what I would find; I didn't really expect to find what I did, though. I'm not really sure why I'm posting this, I'm maybe just wondering if anybody else knows anything about this.

About a year ago, my dad was doing some yardwork. He was clearing away some plants (weeds) of Chinese origin that grow about as fast as bamboo. I do not have the name of this plant right now. His arms were unprotected. A few days to a week later (I do know the exact amount of time right now), lesions broke out over his arms. He thinks, or thought, they were from the plants.

He would pick at the legions and found a small, engorged fiber that he described as a "fishhook". He would remove it and it would loss its engorged size and become extremely, extremely tiny -- sometimes dropping back on the skin because he couldn't hold onto it with tweezers, and creating another lesion.

This stuck with him for a while. He didn't go to a hospital or doctor, because he's as fucking stubborn as a mule. But about a month ago, he started having trouble breathing -- the lesions had moved up to his nose and his ear. So he went to a hospital, and they gave him (after him begging) some sort of antibiotic. I do not know its name, but they were reluctant to give it to him because it has a 100% chance of causing kidney damage (which it did). It pretty much entirely cleared up the lesions, and he was able to breathe again. But about a week ago he had to stop the medication -- they wouldn't prescribe him any more because of the kidney damage. The sores on his arms stayed away, but they started coming back in his respiratory system and on one of his ears.

So I'd been putting off looking up this disease which he finally identified to me as "Morgellons" because I was kind of afraid of what I would find. What I found was...not good -- many doctors thinking its a psychiatric issue and not a physiological one. But I also read a news article talking about how the Tulsa police department forensics lab ran a gas chromatograph test on the fibers from a biopsy of a Morgellons legion and couldn't identify it (it wouldn't sublimate at 1440 degrees).

That's where I'm at now. I'm a scientist (that's what my shiny new college degree even says: computer science), so what I'm going to try to do is get some samples of that plant from our yard and see if I can get to use the gas chromatograph at Bard and see if I find anything. I've used it before, in organic chemistry class, so hopefully my organic chemistry professor will be willing to help me out here. The news article in question that mentioned the gas chromatograph tests is here.

I don't think anything will come of using the gas chromatograph or any other tools of analytical chemistry. It's mostly just me making myself feel useful -- I'm aware it's unlikely that any of the fibers that are claimed to grow on patients are the same thing as infectious materials. I'm also aware that it's really fucking difficult (read: impossible) to find peer-reviewed information on this at all. Which makes it difficult for me to even find a place to start.

And to be honest, I wouldn't put it past my dad to have the psychiatric problems described under both common symptoms and causes.

edit: I grant that the antibiotics could have really just been the placebo effect, but I have to wonder what caused him to request medicine that would give him kidney damage. A good friend of mine posited that he read all the quackery sites on the internet, freaked out, and requested the most severe counter-measure he could think of. Possible. Argh. I don't like possible psychiatric issues.

Surgo wrote:many doctors thinking its a psychiatric issue and not a physiological one

'I don't know how to fix it, so it's not my problem.'
-> By doctors do you mean psychiatrists?

Anyway, good luck.

Actually, I'm familiar with this one. A significant number of people who have "Morgellons" suffer from "acute scratching." That is, they think something is wrong so they scratch themselves, which damages the skin. Which gives them skin lesions, which makes them think something is wrong, which makes them scratch. For these people, some skin cream and a placebo makes the symptoms go away. Most of the "fibers" that people bring in from "Morgellons" outbreaks are in fact fibers from like clothes or carpets.

There are people who have real skin diseases. Lots of people. But it's unclear that people who have Morgellons have a unique one. They have real lesions, but there are lots of real ways to get real lesions. And a good proportion of the people who claim that they have it are crazy.

-Username17

I can't argue with statistics. I just want to find out what's causing him to not be able to breathe.

I honestly don't know if my dad is crazy or not. He's done a lot to make me think he is. But it also really scares me to think about what's going on with him. When he went to the hospital about a month ago, he was convinced that he was at the end of his rope and was going to suffocate and die.

I'm sorry, Surgo. I wish I could find a way to help.

FrankTrollman wrote:Actually, I'm familiar with this one. A significant number of people who have "Morgellons" suffer from "acute scratching." That is, they think something is wrong so they scratch themselves, which damages the skin. Which gives them skin lesions, which makes them think something is wrong, which makes them scratch. For these people, some skin cream and a placebo makes the symptoms go away. Most of the "fibers" that people bring in from "Morgellons" outbreaks are in fact fibers from like clothes or carpets.

There are people who have real skin diseases. Lots of people. But it's unclear that people who have Morgellons have a unique one. They have real lesions, but there are lots of real ways to get real lesions. And a good proportion of the people who claim that they have it are crazy.

-Username17

Hmm, maybe a good way to treat it would be to infect them with Guinea worms.

I am totally not a doctor, but after a little bit of thought, I recommend using Head and Shoulders (or generic equivalent) to wash the affected skin daily and use an an itch creme substitute during any flare-ups. Have him do that for a couple weeks and seeing if that has any effect.

Since we don't know what Morgellens is, some of the possibilities are:

1. Entirely psychosomatic - in which case the cure is for to take it seriously and give a placebo.

2. Fungal infection - in which case the cure is to use an antifungal

3. Bacterial infection - in which case the cure is to use antibiotics

4. Autoimuune disorder (similar to Psoriasis)

5. Hormonal Disorder (similar to some types of Eczema)

6. Combination of factors (similar to Seborrhoeic dermatitis)

In cases 1,2 and 3 pyrithione zinc is likely to be of real benfit. In cases 4-6 it should at least mitigate the symptoms

wikipedia. It's cheap, commonly available over the counter, and doesn't have much risk of side effects (unless he starts drinking it or applying it to the inside of his lungs)