Post #3 - The end of my horror

May 20, 2012

This is the follow-up e-mail I sent to my pastors on May 14th:

I have read over and over the diagnosis of 'Delusional Parasitosis " &

Formication and am trying to figure out how this could be. It is amazing and

almost humorous because my symptoms were so classic right down to the last

detail.

I am a healthy person, in that I have no diseases and am on no maintenance meds.

I have never used or even tried drugs of any kind and in recent years I have

refrained from using pharmeuticals however, I have a feeling I brought this on

with " drugs " . A combination of things that I thought were healthy.

Over the last couple of years I have been to two acupuncturists, at different

times, mostly for pain in my feet, diagnosed as Arthritis & a knee injury I had.

My office chair tipped over and my leg twisted. My primary care physician

referred me to an Orthopedic and he wanted to do knee replacement the moment he

walked in the room and looked at me. I SO did not/do not need knee replacement!!

That's why I sought Acupuncture. Each acupuncturist gave me several things to

take. All Chinese meds - some for the same thing and quite a few of them were

still sitting on my counter. Being the " not-wasteful " person that I am, I began

to take them together with my daily vitamins until they were all gone. Some were

" 6 " 3x a day, others were " 10 " 4x a day, etc, etc. One Chinese med was to stop

bleeding because I had a reaction of nose bleeds to a Calcium I had been taking

on orders of my Gynecologist, others were for different kinds of pain, others

were for varicose veins.

I had forgotten about this because shortly after the " mites " made an appearance

I quit taking everything. On only 2 hours sleep a night I stopped doing

everything I routinely did. I have a 7 day vitamin case in which I dole out my

vitamins and when I opened it to get my vitamin regimen going again I saw them

in it. OHMYGOSH!! I'll just bet that's what set this off. I remember being a

little concerned when I was taking all those things but I thought they were all

" natural " things so they had to be safe. I would never, ever do that with

pharmaceuticals but I didn't think of them as medicine.

I have been " crawley " free for several days. I don't know if it is from what the

exterminator said " I've been doing this for over 30 years and I know if you

can't see them they aren't there " or the fact that I couldn't see anything

moving while using the black light or taking St 's Wort or that the Chinese

meds combinations have worn out of my system or all of these things. My life is

returning to normal and I'm sleeping in my wonderful bed again, waking up with

excitement to go out and work in my yard.

I will see my new primary care physician for the first time next week and will

discuss all this with him and decide what, if any further treatment is needed.

Thanks for everything,

Sharon

May 22, 2012

Sharon -

I rarely read messages on this site anymore, and even less often do I respond.

I became interested in your thread because of your bird lover name (mine is

brrdie). I had birds for many years and was a breeder. At the time I became

afflicted I had over 50 birds but had to give them all up within a few months of

this horror - not because of mites, but because I became too physically ill, in

part because of the things I did to myself to get rid of them.

Did you have birds in your house at any time? I didn't read all of your

messages.

I wanted to say that I do think that on rare occasions people actually do suffer

from delusions of parasitosis. It may well be true in your case. But after 5

years since my sensations began, and meeting many, many people - in person, in

groups, over the phone - I have to say that the vast majority of people who

suffer this way have an actual physical affliction with something that could be

viewed at least under magnification and the right circumstances. I know for

sure in my case I did, though I really wished that I was delusional instead.

I can say that I have been virtually symptom-free for over 4 years, with just

enough remaining to remind me that this is probably permanent. I cannot say for

sure what did it - I did hundreds of things and spent thousands of dollars. I

know that some things actually hurt me instead of helping (like spraying Raid in

my car and inhaling deeply - some of this stuff was in my lungs).

I pray for healing for everyone, regardless of the details of their suffering.

I have no advice, really, except to stay away from toxins. Try whatever you can

afford but do not harm yourself in the process.

Bessie

>

> This is the follow-up e-mail I sent to my pastors on May 14th:

>

> I have read over and over the diagnosis of 'Delusional Parasitosis " &

Formication and am trying to figure out how this could be. It is amazing and

almost humorous because my symptoms were so classic right down to the last

detail.

>

> I am a healthy person, in that I have no diseases and am on no maintenance

meds. I have never used or even tried drugs of any kind and in recent years I

have refrained from using pharmeuticals however, I have a feeling I brought this

on with " drugs " . A combination of things that I thought were healthy.

>

> Over the last couple of years I have been to two acupuncturists, at different