Morgellons

[Duty]

Morgellons (/mɔːrˈɡɛlənz/) is the informal name of a self-diagnosed, scientifically unsubstantiated skin condition. Individuals claiming to have Morgellons typically exhibit sores, which they believe “contain” some sort of fibrous material.[1][2] Morgellons is poorly characterized, but the general medical consensus is that it is a form of . The sores are typically the result of compulsive scratching, and the fibers, when analysed, were consistently found to have originated from clothings and other textiles.

This might well be in the wrong subforum so move at will of course mods.

I found out today that a friend of the family thinks she has this after self diagnosing and reading a site espousing the illnesses existence online. My theory is the (US) site's managers are astroturfing (neat term, Gae Bolga), despicably enough. She also plans to visit a German "expert" ("quack" IMO) in the disorder when he visits London later this month. He charges an arm and a leg, unsurprisingly enough. If she does I'm going too and will "spoil his day" - put it that way, is how I feel right now. My mother, her primary friend, is on the fence as to the illnesses existence. The friend has been bereaved of both parents in the space of two month and I believe her to be experiencing a form of stress induced psychosis. One of her symptoms is that she feels she has bugs crawling all over her, and has described it as being a living nightmare. I like her a lot and just want her to get well, but I only have contact with her through my mother. I sent my mum this text just now. Anybody got any thoughts on how I should proceed from here? Thanks in advance.

Please remember that stress induced psychosis is definitely a thing. I trust the NHS fully...some do not, granted, and think it plausible threads, which look exactly like cotton, could serve an evolved purpose for a blood parasite and be pushed out of sweat glands after migrating there through the blood stream. XXXs wellbeing is the only reason I'm being strong on the :pleasantries:

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OK, so in a way this topic/post sounds very "personal" but really that's just the framing/accompanying story as far as the advice asked for goes. Basically I'm asking for ways to smote this "threads outa my skin" nonsense upon the ruin, enabling me to avoid filling in said German quack.

[Mister Agenda]

I had such a bump back in the nineties. It didn't itch but it did contain cotton-like fibers. Not sure what it actually was or was caused by, but it went away a long time ago, though I had it at least for several months. Just sharing an anecdotal data point.

[brewer]

This is a new one on me.

Do you know the name of the expert, his education, credentials, case histories, publications?

Apparently a vet in Canada, MJ Middelveen, is suppose to be some kind of expert. 

Then there is this: https://morgellonsdisease.org

[Duty]

You ask very accurate questions brewer, thank you. I recieved a reply from my mother to the effect I have convinced her that it's stress induced psychosis, so hopefully that's a step along the road to the friend being well again. Good news then : )