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Think Your Body Is Infested With Insects? You're Not Alone. (nationalgeographic.com)
Erika Engelhaupt, National Geographic: A few years ago, a man began telling his family members a horrifying tale: There are bugs living inside him. [...] He shows the classic signs of what scientists call delusory parasitosis, or Ekbom syndrome, an unwavering but incorrect belief that the patient's body has been infested with something. For years, entomologists have insisted that these delusions aren't as rare as psychiatrists and the public may think. And now, a study by the Mayo Clinic suggests they're right. The first population-based study of the condition's prevalence suggests that about 27 out of a hundred thousand Americans a year have delusions of an infestation. That would mean around 89,000 people in the U.S. right now are plagued by the condition.
For many sufferers of such delusions, the infestation takes the form of insects or mites, usually tiny and often described as biting or crawling on the skin. Others report feeling worms or leeches or some kind of unknown parasite. Many of the afflicted turn up, eventually, in an entomologist's office. And as the entomologists tell them, only two kinds of arthropods actually infest humans: lice and a mite that causes scabies. Both are easy to identify and cause characteristic symptoms. Bedbugs or fleas might infest a house, but they don't actually live on or inside the human body; they just feed on us and leave. Likewise, there are mites that live on our skin, especially the face, but they're a normal part of everyone's body, much like the bacteria living in our guts.
For many sufferers of such delusions, the infestation takes the form of insects or mites, usually tiny and often described as biting or crawling on the skin. Others report feeling worms or leeches or some kind of unknown parasite. Many of the afflicted turn up, eventually, in an entomologist's office. And as the entomologists tell them, only two kinds of arthropods actually infest humans: lice and a mite that causes scabies. Both are easy to identify and cause characteristic symptoms. Bedbugs or fleas might infest a house, but they don't actually live on or inside the human body; they just feed on us and leave. Likewise, there are mites that live on our skin, especially the face, but they're a normal part of everyone's body, much like the bacteria living in our guts.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/l...
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
But I swear all my programs have bugs.
I love the direction this new Slashdot is taking.
Well, when I'm dealing with code that is infested with bugs all day . . . I sometimes dream about them at night. So I guess that means I'm infested with bugs in my sleep.
Quite bizarrely, I sometime figure out the problems while I'm dreaming.
But I also have nightmares, where I am furiously debugging problems in code that doesn't exist . . . a waste of prime dreaming time.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I have a, er, uh, ah, a friend, who has this. It is a very persistent and realistic sensory illusion. But if you examine the skin, while the sensation is going on, nothing is there. There are no mites, no spiders, no insects, nada.
It can be a symptom of an oncoming migraine. Some forms of migraines are depression of activity in some parts of the brain. Some types of migraines are like electrical storms in the brain, like seizures in parts of the brain. I think the spiders on the skin sensation is part of the second, the brain storms.
With a lot of training you can learn to ignore the sensations, just as in the military you get trained to ignore an itch. But the sensation is still there and very real to the person experiencing it.
There are medications that help with migraines, such as Valproic acid, which appear to reduce the sensation or at least make it less realistic and more tolerable.
This minor news item reminds me of the classic phenomenon of eyelash mites. A great many of us are infested with tiny, arguably disgusting but really, really small buggy-wuggies that live on our eyelashes. Few of us are any the wiser for it. Unsurprisingly, "The Beeb" has a reasonable statement about the scuttling insects that probably live on your face and have regular mite-pizza parties:
http://bbc.com/earth/story/201...
A truly excellent pizza parlor is a delight unto the heavens. Treasure the sauce and the toppings!
They're not insects. They're called Midicholrians.
Psychological problems now belong on slashdot?
In the comments section, definitely.
They're not insects. They're called Body Thetans.
"Likewise, there are mites that live on our skin, especially the face, but they're a normal part of everyone's body"
Exactly what I would tell myself to cope with a rare and horrifying face infestation.
the human body is in fact infested with insects and the cousins of spiders (to say nothing of the fungi, bacteria, worms, etc.)
you're just not supposed to *worry* about it, heh
On Slasdot today: https://m.slashdot.org/story/3...
That depends. Are you from Indonesia?
Ezekiel 23:20
That's it -- THAT'S the ticket! I've been invaded by chocolate-loving fat mites. That's why I can't lose weight no matter how much chocolate I eat.
... but you first. I'll take notes for Darwin.
But really? I understand (wanting to) believe something, even without evidence or even anti-evidence. THAT'S called faith. (Re the joke: My mind is made up, don't confuse me with the facts.) That's great and all, but actual evidence is better. And sometimes you can explain away the differences (they're only watching me when I'm asleep) but then there's still usually a way to generate some testable results. Occasionally though you realize you're just too stupid (or not smart enough) to understand the evidence pro- or con-, and just make up your mind. In most cases it's not really important although it might seem that way to you. In a few cases, though: "Nature Finds a Way." You're infested by dragonflies and so you can fly? Cool -- me too!
For bugs though? In this case, as long as it's not your torso or eyes, start lightly stabbing random limbs or buy an X-Ray machine. The more you look and don't see anything, the more chance is it's not really there. You can only prove that they're actually THERE though, but eventually you'll get tired of stabbing yourself. I know that once I've scratched mosquito bites so much that they bled, but I wasn't looking for mosquitoes, just relief.
It's your body, do what you think best. The second you start trying to do it to MY body though, we've got a discussion to have, and I bet my bugs are bigger than yours.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
Not necessarily. Formication is the sensation that feels like something small is crawling on your skin. People with it (I have it occasionally; cancer's a bitch) may initially think that insects are causing it, understandably. However, once you're looking at the part of your skin where it feels like something is walking on you but you see there's nothing there, then you understand that it's a sensation of your nerves.
Delusory parasitosis means you still think the insects are on/in you even when you have evidence that there's nothing there.
The second paragraph of the SlashDot article states there are only two arthropods (insects and their relatives) that actually infest humans. In addition to the follicle mites cited as eyelash mites in other replies, botfly larvae are another. And botflies are actual insects. Rare but not unknown are also human infestations by blowflies and screwflies. Search Wikipedia for "Myiasis".
We do have mites on our skin but, as the article states, there is only one kind that has any sort of effect that you could feel.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
And it's Scientology. I dunno if they can help you with imaginary parasitic bugs, but they say they can help with imaginary parasitic volcano-nuked alien ghosts. They're kind of the same thing, right?
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Bugs Bugs Bugs Bug sBugs Bugs Bugs
only two kinds of arthropods actually infest humans: lice and a mite that causes scabies.
What about worms and leech-like creatures?
I know someone who had a large calcified structure discovered in their body near a major organ at first thought to be a tumor or aneurysm, that could have been life-threatening; now believed to be the remnants of a past dog tapeworm infection.
With many thanks to Philip K. Dick...
Well, when I'm dealing with code that is infested with bugs all day . . . I sometimes dream about them at night. So I guess that means I'm infested with bugs in my sleep.
Quite bizarrely, I sometime figure out the problems while I'm dreaming.
But I also have nightmares, where I am furiously debugging problems in code that doesn't exist . . . a waste of prime dreaming time.
You seriously need some hobbies that don't involve computers.
I had about 40 of these little fuckers living on me after walking down through the bush at the back of our house.
They were tiny. I thought I had some itchy pimples with tiny black heads on me. I was a bit suspicious and my microscope was right on the table so I pulled one of these blackheads off and put it under and saw what it was. Took me a while to classify it as there are all kinds of nasty creepy crawlies that live on humans I discovered when looking into it.
This article is totally laughable.
That phrasing is kind of weasily, isn't it? Botflies, hundreds of species of worms from eyebrow to foot, flukes, toxoplasma, vampire bats... from the very small to the very large this world is filled with creatures that like to eat people. If someone believes they're infested they need to be taken seriously and given a battery of tests. To do otherwise is foolish in a non-doctor and could well be malpractice for a real doctor. This article does no one good.
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
You will always have the imaginary bugs to keep you company
People are stranger. Watch your back.
We are not descended from apes, we are apes.
Nah. Mostly idiots.
bickerdyke
These people might have heightened sensory responses to normal stimuli, and that can lead to sensations of near constant itching all over, in the instance of tactile nerve response. That's not an invasion of parasites under their skin, it's their own damned brain reacting excessively to nerve signals.
But it's not always delusory, and I'm quite surprised that a so-called entomologist would say that "only two kinds of arthropods actually infest humans: lice and a mite that causes scabies".
I guess botflies and screwflies aren't arthropods then?
Right own up, whose bright idea was it to come down out of the trees?
We never should have left the oceans.
And has anyone noticed that it's not the little printed pieces of paper who feel unhappy?
bickerdyke
Yes I also have those coding dreams. Sometimes I also solve coding problems in my sleep, but worst are the coding nightmares. I will have a statement like x=2+2 and when I debug x in my dream it will have a a value of 5. That is nightmare hell :)
The idea, I think, is that no other arthropods reproduce in humans. Botfies and screwflies can grow inside humans as a result of adults laying eggs from outside. But once they are grown up, they just leave.
I used to go out with a girl who for about 6 months had this problem. Would wake her up at night extremely upset and paranoid.
The cause was eventually identified, iron deficiency. A few iron IV's later and lots of clams and the feeling went away completely.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
Somewhere (likely one of the original two Smalltalk books) there is a cartoon from the development of Smalltalk where the transcript on the screen shows something like "2 + 2" resulting in "3" with the programmer exclaiming something like "It works!". And the implicit notion is that the entire development environment and parser/compiler and Bitblit graphics and class hierarchy and so on is up and running, so what is a little minor (likely easily fixable) math error between friends?
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
I'll bet that at least a significant few of these sufferers have some level of diabetes causing issues.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
When I was young, ten maybe, I laid beneath an apple tree among high uncut grass in the dark to hide during flashlight tag. When I left, I was covered with hundreds of black spots. The doctor told me hundreds of mites had burrowed into my skin, there was nothing that could be done, but don't worry they will eventually surface in about a week and go away. They itched... a lot. And I was told to not scratch. Other than the creepy factor, all I remember is they really, really itched. So I guess I once had the dubious distinction of actually being infested at one point. Did I mention how they itched?
--Dave
"...only two kinds of arthropods actually infest humans: lice and a mite that causes scabies." *conspiracy theory tingles* That doc's obviously working for the other creepy crawlies. "These aren't the bugs you're looking for. Move along. Move along."
Its only a 4th dimensional creature who has latched itself onto your soul. Simple as that.
Some people are uncomfortable with the idea that in the shit in their bowels there are more bacteria than there are human cells in their bodies. And if there weren't you'd be a very unwell person.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"