Guest guest Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 I had a patient with the symptoms of Morgellans quite some time ago. no joint problems...... she was convinced she had scabies and was putting tea tree on the skin which seemed to be worsening the condition. Her diet was dreadful, eating a lot of cheese, and no vegetables because she was afraid of pesticides. I hadn't heard of Morgellans at the time, but my impression was that she had mild eczema, worsened by poor diet and stress. My treatment strategy was to try and persuade her top improve her diet, and to reassure her that she didn't have scabies and herbally to support nervous system and skin and to detox.. It wasn't particularly successful as she was convinced she had scabies and was disappointed that I wouldn't engage with this idea, further than providing her with herbs (marigold flowers and tansy) to wash her skin with) Sally Owen > Has anyone come across Morgellons disease? I have a client F55 who > has a set of symptoms that seem to match this - crawling sensation > and heat in the skin and white grains coming out the skin. She also > has pain and creaking in all her joints and muscles. Doctors see it > as psychotic. She has been on all sorts of psychiatric drugs and is > now on SSNRI antidepressants and wanting to get off them. > > If you do know of this, what would you recommend for treatment? > > Thanks > > Lloyd > > > > ------------------------------------ > > List Owner: Graham White, MNIMH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 Morgellons has been coined fairly recently -but parisitosis -fear/sense of being infested has been around allot longer. Interestingly many of the early anthelmintic studies were done in psychiatric hospitals - because it was taken for granted that everyone had high parasite loads because of the institutional environment. Then someone suggested folk may have had the high parasite loads before they went in.. Either way, if you are treating for worms and restoring gut ecology - or treating liver for long term effects of taking long term anti-psychotics -or treating the skin - or treating mood -all strategies will be fairly similar. Short term problem is to do with how ready she is to begin to reduce anti-depressants, as all that liver support will be bound to increase clearance. p.s. some intestinal worms metabolise serotonin for their motility - need to look up referneces for this , as haven't revisited for a while - but possibility may be that a high parasite load is mopping up supplies - of course it could also mean, it stimulates them.. son BSc(hones) MINIM@...www.herbalbarge.co.ukwww.herbalsnuff.co.uk07736966197 Morgellons disease Has anyone come across Morgellons disease? I have a client F55 who has a set of symptoms that seem to match this - crawling sensation and heat in the skin and white grains coming out the skin. She also has pain and creaking in all her joints and muscles. Doctors see it as psychotic. She has been on all sorts of psychiatric drugs and is now on SSNRI antidepressants and wanting to get off them. If you do know of this, what would you recommend for treatment?ThanksLloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 With Morgellons the parasites are believed to be in the skin rather than in the gut. The actual existence of any parasite hasn't been shown, although sufferers are generally convinced of the presence of parasites in their skin, due to a crawling sensation under the skin. Sufferers often pick fibres out of their skin which usually turn out to be clothing fibres or even peripheral nerve endings. This has lead to it being medically classed as a psychiatric disorder - delusional parasitosis.My own view (from the couple of cases I have seen) is that there does seems to be an obsessive compulsive element, but there may well also be some pathological process going on which causes the crawling sensation, even if it's not a parasite in the skin. Abnormal reactions to normal skin microflora is one possibility. I believe there is also a possible link to Borrelia infection (the causative microbe for Lymes disease) so this might be worth investigating further.Best wishes,AnneMarie Morgellons has been coined fairly recently -but parisitosis -fear/sense of being infested has been around allot longer. Interestingly many of the early anthelmintic studies were done in psychiatric hospitals - because it was taken for granted that everyone had high parasite loads because of the institutional environment. Then someone suggested folk may have had the high parasite loads before they went in.. Either way, if you are treating for worms and restoring gut ecology - or treating liver for long term effects of taking long term anti-psychotics -or treating the skin - or treating mood -all strategies will be fairly similar. Short term problem is to do with how ready she is to begin to reduce anti-depressants, as all that liver support will be bound to increase clearance. p.s. some intestinal worms metabolise serotonin for their motility - need to look up referneces for this , as haven't revisited for a while - but possibility may be that a high parasite load is mopping up supplies - of course it could also mean, it stimulates them.. son BSc(hones) MINIM@...www.herbalbarge.co.ukwww.herbalsnuff.co.uk07736966197 Morgellons disease Has anyone come across Morgellons disease? I have a client F55 who has a set of symptoms that seem to match this - crawling sensation and heat in the skin and white grains coming out the skin. She also has pain and creaking in all her joints and muscles. Doctors see it as psychotic. She has been on all sorts of psychiatric drugs and is now on SSNRI antidepressants and wanting to get off them. If you do know of this, what would you recommend for treatment?ThanksLloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 One doc recently came to the conclusion that all " Morgellons " that he'd seen were in fact silicon poisonings, from breast implants. Another said that it looks like a co-infection with Borrelia with one or the other soil bacterium. (I have no clue myself, because I haven't seen any client with this so far.) H. -- Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.henriettesherbal.com New book: http://www.henriettesherbal.com/articles/pract-herbs.html Now also on Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/9526757505 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I have had one pt with similar sx. She even brought the grains in for me to see, stuck to paper. There were definitely tiny holes in her skin. We used all sorts of anti-parasitics to no avail. She was scrupulously clean and careful with her diet. As a foster mother she had been exposed to scabies ( which initially was a differential) but this was different. We did not succeed. She has recently moved away. I have since found a homeopathic for Morgellon's and I woudl be inclined to use it if she were around. I don't think she was making it up, but crawling sensations will make you feel pretty obsessional! J Fidler, MCPP, (RH) AHGHerbalist To: ukherbal-list Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 4:10 AM Subject: Re: Morgellons disease Morgellons has been coined fairly recently -but parisitosis -fear/sense of being infested has been around allot longer. Interestingly many of the early anthelmintic studies were done in psychiatric hospitals - because it was taken for granted that everyone had high parasite loads because of the institutional environment. Then someone suggested folk may have had the high parasite loads before they went in.. Either way, if you are treating for worms and restoring gut ecology - or treating liver for long term effects of taking long term anti-psychotics -or treating the skin - or treating mood -all strategies will be fairly similar. Short term problem is to do with how ready she is to begin to reduce anti-depressants, as all that liver support will be bound to increase clearance. p.s. some intestinal worms metabolise serotonin for their motility - need to look up referneces for this , as haven't revisited for a while - but possibility may be that a high parasite load is mopping up supplies - of course it could also mean, it stimulates them.. son BSc(hones) MINIM@...www.herbalbarge.co.ukwww.herbalsnuff.co.uk07736966197 Morgellons disease Has anyone come across Morgellons disease? I have a client F55 who has a set of symptoms that seem to match this - crawling sensation and heat in the skin and white grains coming out the skin. She also has pain and creaking in all her joints and muscles. Doctors see it as psychotic. She has been on all sorts of psychiatric drugs and is now on SSNRI antidepressants and wanting to get off them. If you do know of this, what would you recommend for treatment?ThanksLloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 1, 2012 Report Share Posted May 1, 2012 I agree that patients generally don't make things up or imagine things, and I'm sure that with Morgellon's, the crawling sensation is very real, even though the cause is not known, and indeed, that sort of symptom is likely to make a person obsessional! However, in the couple of cases I have seen, the obsessional tendency was apparent in other areas. In those cases, the patients did seem to experience very real sensations of itching, crawling or stinging under the skin. However, since frank parasites have never been found in the skin of Morgellon's patients, I suspect the cause is irritation due to some other reason, such as abnormal reaction to normal skin flora, Borrelia infection, abnormal functioning of the peripheral nerves, or as Henriette points out, reaction to foreign bodies such as breast implants.The 'grains' that I have seen seemed to be sebum plugs, which will leave enlarged pores in the skin. I have read that other Morgellan's sufferers have presented grains or fibres which have turned out to be peripheral nerve endings, and in other cases, fibres of cotton wool, clothing etc. which probably get innoculated into the skin when the patient is picking at the lesions.The obsessional tendency comes in where the person becomes obsessed with finding and removing what are considered to be foreign objects from the skin, either with fingernails or other objects such as tweezers, needles etc., perhaps not realising these may be normal structures. In some cases secondary infection and quite extensive skin damage can result from these attempts.Obviously it is important to look for the possible cause of the sensation and treat/rectify that if possible. It may also be helpful to encourage proper functioning of the skin to avoid lesions which may become targets for excoriation. I would consider B vitamins to fairly essential for this condition, particularly sufficient quantities of Vitamin B1 and B12 to encourage normal functioning of the nerves which are transmitting the crawling sensation; pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) which helps with normal metabolism of fatty acids in the skin; and inisitol which helps with obsessional compulsive tendencies. I have had one pt with similar sx. She even brought the grains in for me to see, stuck to paper. There were definitely tiny holes in her skin. We used all sorts of anti-parasitics to no avail. She was scrupulously clean and careful with her diet. As a foster mother she had been exposed to scabies ( which initially was a differential) but this was different. We did not succeed. She has recently moved away. I have since found a homeopathic for Morgellon's and I woudl be inclined to use it if she were around. I don't think she was making it up, but crawling sensations will make you feel pretty obsessional! J Fidler, MCPP, (RH) AHGHerbalist To: ukherbal-list Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 4:10 AM Subject: Re: Morgellons disease Morgellons has been coined fairly recently -but parisitosis -fear/sense of being infested has been around allot longer. Interestingly many of the early anthelmintic studies were done in psychiatric hospitals - because it was taken for granted that everyone had high parasite loads because of the institutional environment. Then someone suggested folk may have had the high parasite loads before they went in.. Either way, if you are treating for worms and restoring gut ecology - or treating liver for long term effects of taking long term anti-psychotics -or treating the skin - or treating mood -all strategies will be fairly similar. Short term problem is to do with how ready she is to begin to reduce anti-depressants, as all that liver support will be bound to increase clearance. p.s. some intestinal worms metabolise serotonin for their motility - need to look up referneces for this , as haven't revisited for a while - but possibility may be that a high parasite load is mopping up supplies - of course it could also mean, it stimulates them.. son BSc(hones) MINIM@...www.herbalbarge.co.ukwww.herbalsnuff.co.uk07736966197 Morgellons disease Has anyone come across Morgellons disease? I have a client F55 who has a set of symptoms that seem to match this - crawling sensation and heat in the skin and white grains coming out the skin. She also has pain and creaking in all her joints and muscles. Doctors see it as psychotic. She has been on all sorts of psychiatric drugs and is now on SSNRI antidepressants and wanting to get off them. If you do know of this, what would you recommend for treatment?ThanksLloyd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.