It was not too long ago that patients who visited their doctor claiming numbness , changing pain and exhaustion and insisted to their doctor that they were suffering from an illness that they had heard about on the media or read in the Reader’s Digest magazine in the doctor’s waiting room – that disease being Lyme Disease spread by insect ticks , were relegated by most medical practitioner’s to the nutcase or malingerer classification in the doctor’s personal notes and records. At the best Lyme Disease patients could get referred to a Psychiatrist for psychiatric assessment. At the worst they and their various neurological symptoms were just plain ignored. Not so today in 2009 /2010. Lyme Disease is a disease well recognized by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and the Mayo Clinic. There are titers ( specific tests) available. On top of that the focus on the treatment of Lyme Disease is early detection and relatively simple pharmacological treatment with simple and standard antibiotics. Enter Morgellons , Morgellons Disease or Morgelons Syndrome our current mystery “Lyme Disease” of 2009 / 2010.
The signs and symptoms of Morgellons Disease and Syndrome are many and varied . Not all people and patients and people who claim to have the disorder seem to suffer in the same way or manner. On top of that add in exhaustion and mental fatigue. On top of that when they tell their medical providers and even families that they feel something always moving around under their skin , that they have even seen insects fly out of rashes on epidermis of their skin along with fibers that seem to grow on a regular and irregular basis from their skin – no one seems to believe them. To many these people are nothing but malingerers out to scam the medical and insurance systems. The problem is basically , that unlike Lyme Disease , Morgellons is not a recognized disease by majority of the medical community and as well , unlike Lyme Disease there is no simple test to diagnose the illness and malady accurately as well as quickly. Many of those who believe that they do have this illness , and it is a real illness , find that after a time , they may give up on the conventional medical community and seek “alternative medicine”.
Morgellons disease can really drive people around the bend. After being told for years that there “is nothing wrong with you” “smarten up ” “get on with your life” “you are schizophrenic and imagining this all”, actual suicide seems a way out for many , if not simply a call for real help and understanding.
There are also instances where individuals will be suffering from a lot of tiredness or cognitive dysfunction. This is often referred to as being brain fog. This symptom can cause individuals to have problems with their memory as well as problems with their concentration. It could make it impossible to pay attention to anything at all.
Many of those who are tormented by this ailment and potential infirmity find that after either being ignored or being treated in what might be considered either a sub-maximal or substandard way go on to seek help and therapy in the less conventional , though innovative arena of “Alternative Medicine”. Then again they may be easy pickings for those who prey on the apparent and real sufferings of others less fortunate than themselves. It can be said that although Western Trained Medicine and its practitioners are somewhat conservative and claim to be fact based , at least they are self policing within their own communities and keep oddballs and incompetent members of their apparent communities in check.
What a life to have been given the sentence of Morgellons Disease. If only there was a test – or titer – for Morgellons . No one used to believe those who had M.S. in its early stages. Neurological symptoms along with tiredness , pain and exhaustion came and went out of the blue with no apparent cause. Its only when the Muscular Sclerosis went along its progressive disease development and path in patients was the disorder recognized in the patient and care given. Now however with modern medicine high tech scans can easily rule out or identify M.S. as the culprit dealing with the patient’s health and apparent health-wise decline. M.S. sufferers in early stage disease states are not taken seriously and therapy initiated promptly. You would hope that the same scenario and scenarios would come to pass in the lives and medical treatment of those afflicted with Morgellons in its various forms and stages.