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Parasitic Infection Flummoxes Victims and Doctors
Toxictoy writes "Imagine having a disease that is so controversial that doctors refuse to treat you. Individuals with this disease report disturbing crawling, stinging, and biting sensations, as well as non-healing skin lesions, which are associated with highly unusual structures. These structures can be described as fiber-like or filamentous, and are the most striking feature of this disease. In addition, patients report the presence of seed-like granules and black speck-like material associated with their skin. Sound like a bad plot for a Sci-Fi channel movie? Think again - it could be Morgellon's Syndrome."
This is referred to as "delusions of parasitosis".
http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic939.htm
The *sensation* they have is "real", not to sound like Morpheus: feels like bugs in skin. The sensation goes away quickly when Pimozide is prescribed.
It's not all that uncommon.
It's very hard to convince patients that they need Pimozide, and not a can of "Raid" to spray on themselves.
There's another web site that has been around longer relating to the same issue:
http://www.skinparasites.com/
They misinterpret lint, fibers, dust, and other debris as parasites; sort of a variant of hearing voices/OCD/other disorders where sensations are spurious or can't be correctly decoded.
Sounds very similar to what I did to cure mine. Avoid all shampoos with parfum/perfume, same with soaps and the like. I use a dead sea mud soap which my skin loves and it kills my fungal psoriasis dead. I also use Pears transparent soap on my face and let myself dry in a towelled dressing gown. As a result my skin is in the best state its been in, in years. My dermatologist hadn't the time to be arsed, so I did this all myself with trial and error like the above poster.
Doctors and medical researchers, like those in any other scientific field, have been taught a certain paradigm for understanding health and disease.
Yes, and that paradigm is: Examine the evidence.
Anything not explainable within that framework tends to be overlooked or ignored
Yep. When there's no evidence, doctors and medical researchers tend to ignore you, as do scientists and indeed all sane people.
just look at the battles the homeopathic community has to fight; some of them are wackos perhaps
And the remainder are frauds.
but many of them have treatments superior to those of "modern" medicine.
No. Modern medicine can provide sugar pills and distilled water just as well as any homeopath.