Morgellons Disease

Morgellons disease is the name for a new unexplained skin disorder that seems to be effecting more people all of the time. I have seen 5 cases of this in the last few years but I have an observation that may shed some light on this strange disease.

Morgellons disease is characterised by sores and lesions on the skin that itch intensely. This is accompanied by a crawling sensation on and under the skin. Often this is described as like a worm or a bug. The most recent case described it like a particular starfish with many tentacles extending all around the body. Every person has also claimed there are worm like threads or fibers that come out of the lesion. They each brought these fibers to the appointment for inspection. Each of them looked like a human hair.

Other symptoms include confusion and lack of concentration. It effects short-term memory, but interestingly the patient can remember intimate details of the disease. Often there is severe fatigue.

The CDC has researched the disease and found no evidence of infectious agents. Samples have been determined to be fibre from clothing and hair.  Half of the hair samples collected from patients tested positive for drugs such as marijuana, anti-anxiety medications or painkillers containing codeine derivatives. Skin lesions most resemble and insect or spider bite that have been aggravated by scratching. No parasites were detected. So it remains inconclusive if Morgellons disease is a new disease or another form of delusional parasitosis.

Every client I have seen has been to the doctor and all of them have said that the condition is a mental illness. This is particularly frustrating for the client because every one of them emphatically swears that this is not in their mind but a very real condition that they have no control over.  In each case that I have seen I have observed no lesions. Each of the people said that just a day before it was there and that I should be able to see it. The most recent person pointed to her skin and said, "There can't you see that line? That's it."  After careful inspection she agreed that I might not see the same line she was able to see but she could feel the "worm" in there and knew right where it was.

Now here is where it gets interesting; each person was a drug abuser and each of these people had used heroin recently. So my scientific mind goes to work and asks the question, what are the chances of this? I believe there is a very close connection. This is where homeopathy can really help explain many things about the substance.

The two rubrics I chose that were common to all of the cases were;

• Mind; DELUSIONS, imaginations; worms (15) : alum., am-c., 2ars., atro., bov., c-di-o., cann-i., cocain., herin., kali-c., mur-ac., nux-v., phos., ran-s., sil.
• Mind; DRUG addiction, morphinism (67) : agar., androc., 3Apom., arg-m., ars., 3Aur., 4AVEN., bar-s., bell., 3Bos-s., bufo, 3Buth-aust., calc., cann-i., cer-i., 3Cham., chin., chrysan., cic., cimic., coff., des-ac., diox., dysp-o., erb., excr-can., falco-p., herin., holm., hyos., ip., kali-ma., 3Kola., lac-dr., lac-f., 3Lach., lant-o., lob., lsd, lute-o., 3Macrin., mand., merc., mur-ac., nat-p., nux-v., onc-t., op., ox-ac., 3Passi., peg-h., phasc-c., phos., 3Pisc., plat., posit., puls., sep., stram., tab., taosc., thal., thul., thul-o., tub., vip., zinc.

Remedies that cover both rubrics are Ars, Cann-I, Herin, Mur Ac, Nux V, and Phos. I would also include Cocain. as even though this does not appear under the rubric Morphinism it is an addictive drug and should be there.

Other common ideas shared by some of the clients were that this was some kind of conspiracy. The disease was created by some mad scientist and deliberately released. They could not share any details of this but that it was the most logical explanation for them. This may tie in with the fact that every medical doctor dismissed the disease and told them it was all in their head. They were suffering from delusional parasitosis.

The remedies that I have given have been Lachesis, Hyoscyamus, Cocainum, and Heroinum. In the course of receiving the case I also asked about their life in general. So different remedies were applicable to different clients even though they all suffered from the same disease.

The Lachesis case had jealousy as a very strong symptom in addition to the disease. when they shared stories it was never really very direct. I had the feeling that I was getting a modified version of the story. All in all it felt very snake like and manipulative.

The Hyoscyamus case had great suspicion and believed the conspiracy theory. This was so strong in the case that I could not ignore it. There were stories describing sexual incidents and it became clear it was a Hyos. case even though the delusions worms was not there.

The Cocainum case was characterised by very strong adherence to the physical symptoms and the crawling sensations. The person had a very hard time deviating from this subject. There was an intensity to them that supported Cocainum as the remedy.

The other two cases I gave the remedy Heroinum. The classic drug abuse and in love with it. Neither of them expressed any interest in stopping their use of heroin. Both of them claimed that their memory was being effected by the disease but could remember intimate details of different attacks they had of the disease. This symptom showed up in Materia Medica in an article written by Dr. G.M. Callender in 1927 and published in Homeopathic World. Another interesting parallel to the article was that the sufferer had delusions of people in the room that would appear and disappear ghost-like. This client of mine was passionately into ghost-hunting and had taken classes in clairvoyance.

Now here is another interesting observation of these clients. None of them returned for their follow-up appointment. I have no idea how any of the remedies worked for them. I have very good compliance and  rarely does the client not return. Each of these clients were desperate to have me help them. One would think by their pleas for help they would follow through with treatment. I call all my clients to remind them of their appointments, but if they do not show up it is not my policy to chase after them.

So my conclusion to the question of what is this strange disease, is that it is a delusion that is induced by drugs, particularly heroin. Heroin produces a euphoric state of mind but I believe also has a very marked effect on the sensory nervous system as well. When a person is in withdrawal from heroin addiction they experience many flu-like symptoms. One client described it as three days of hell. The most awful pain like the flu but 100 times stronger. So if a substance can produce this kind of sensation when the drug is stopped imagine what it could create in every other realm like the mind and body and the delusions of worm or bugs crawling all over them. They can see the worms coming out of their skin. And all of the sensations are either painful or very disturbing with each insisting that something very alive was in them and out to get them.

So if you have a client that reports there are these worms in them that are trying to come out of the skin the first thought might be Morgellons disease. After each of these cases having drug abuse as part of the case my conclusion is that this disease is another name for delusional parasitosis. It is rare but my experience is that it is linked to the heroin abuse.