Post by crystalriver on Nov 15, 2009 20:24:54 GMT -5
Dear RM Agents and Readers,
Rather than just post the article--I am going to post with my comments of that which I know needs to be brought out. This helps with defining things even when they refuse to --or can't.
I will post the whole article first and than the article with my comment to make it an easier read.
I have nothing but postive for the morgie that was involved in this article--Valerie. It takes a lot to put yourself out there involving this condition.
Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver
----------------------------------------------
Mysterious ailment plagues city woman
By Tony Burchyns/
Posted: 11/15/2009 12:00:47 AM PST
Valerie Swanson remembers it all started with a rash. Then loss of energy. Then blisters covering her whole body.
Then it got weird.
Strange fibers appeared to be growing out of her hands. And tiny black specks resembling seeds, she said, began appearing mysteriously on her wrists and fingers as she was washing dishes one day at her Vallejo home.
"It was terrifying," said Swanson, 60, adding she felt as though a plant had taken hold of her body and wouldn't let go.
That was a little more than a year ago, shortly before Swanson became convinced she had Morgellons disease after reading about a condition similar to hers on the Internet.
Problem is, the disease may not even exist. It could all be in her head.
Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, think Morgellons -- the name given in 2002 to the proposed condition -- is a purely psychological disorder. They insist sufferers are imagining the symptoms and scratching lesions into their own skin, similar to patients with delusions of bugs crawling on them.
Some experts believe the disease is a delusion that's become more prominent in recent years due to information spread through the Internet.
But some researchers -- and the federal government -- are keeping an open mind about Morgellons, currently referred to by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "unexplained dermopathy."
Results from a CDC investigation launched in 2006 are still pending.
That's left Swanson and other self-diagnosed Morgellons sufferers with little relief, often wondering if they're insane or suffering from an infectious disease that hasn't been confirmed.
"They can't help you if they don't know what it is," said Swanson, whose symptoms have puzzled a string of doctors since April 2008. "Most doctors just think you're crazy, because that's the closest thing."
Real or imagined, the disease has affected Swanson's life in ways all too real. She said she's stopped working, gone on disability, drained her savings, declared bankruptcy, lost her social life and is losing her home to foreclosure.
She used to be a real estate agent, selling homes in Napa while also working at a furniture store in Emeryville.
"I've lost everything," Swanson said. "I have to go somewhere, but I don't know where I am going. Plus I have no money."
She said her family has offered to help her buy a home in Sacramento.
She's afraid to let people in her home, fearing she may have a contagious disease.
"I can't have any social life. I don't want to be around anyone," said Swanson, who agreed to be interviewed at a Vallejo restaurant. "I don't want anybody to come over to my house."
Her family doctor initially thought she had a skin condition known as scabies. But when treatments didn't work, he told her she had a mysterious skin disease, and prescribed a tranquilizer to minimize her scratching.
Swanson then sought second opinions from doctors at University of California medical centers in San Francisco and Davis.
Dr. Sepideh Bagheri of the U.C. Davis Medical Center said she was unable to come up with a diagnosis after examining Swanson in July. A previous battery of tests at U.C. San Francisco could not find the cause of Swanson's symptoms.
Reached by phone, Bagheri said Swanson's skin lesions might go away "if she would stop picking at it."
Swanson, however, insists she hasn't been excessively scratching herself.
Is she going crazy? Are doctors taking her seriously? Swanson wonders.
One doctor who's not convinced she's crazy is her brother, Philip Swanson, a Dallas surgeon.
"You have something wrong with your body, you go see an expert, and they say you have a psychological condition," he said. "You go see another and get the same answer. And pretty soon, you begin to think nothing can be done and you must be crazy.
"There are lots and lots of people who describe the same physical findings," her brother added. "If you have people describing the same things, how could they be imagining it?"
That's the question that motivates the work of Dr. Randy Wymore, director of the Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
"Very little is known about the disease," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, we are the only academic institution working on Morgellons."
Wymore's team is working on the first Morgellons case study for publication in a medical journal, which could help doctors diagnose or rule out Morgellons.
About 13,000 people -- from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia -- have registered on a Web site for self-reporting the disease. But since most of them have not been diagnosed, there is no way of knowing how many may actually have Morgellons.
"It could be a small percentage, or nearly 100 percent of those registered," Wymore said. "Again, keep in mind that these are all self-reported registrations."
The symptoms often include itching, burning sensations, slow-healing skin lesions and the presence of small fibers, black specks and sand-like granules. Neurological signs include muscle weakness, pins-and-needles, difficulty focusing thoughts, memory lapses and sometimes changes in behavior.
"There also seems to be a component of extreme fatigue," Wymore said.
Swanson said she has exhibited all these symptoms.
What might cause Morgellons remains a mystery. Theories have included environmental toxins, bacterial and fungal infections or worms or other parasites. But there has been little evidence to suspect any of those ideas over others.
Confusing things even more is the idea that the disease may have neurological side effects, perhaps causing some patients to hallucinate, some researchers say. That could lend credence to Morgellons being viewed as psychosis.
Swanson has her own theory: An unknown plant has attached itself to her body, and is spreading around her house. She said the plants resemble tiny tumbleweeds.
But when she submitted a sample to a U.C. Davis lab in July, the results raised more questions than they answered.
"(The lab) did find plant material in the specimens she had submitted, but there is nothing to say what the source of that is," Bagheri said. "It could be cotton."
So far, no doctor has suggested she see a psychiatrist, Swanson said. If they did, she said, she'd go.
She acknowledges the plant theory sounds like "science fiction." She said she knows she may be wrong.
"The frustrating thing is not knowing what's wrong with me," Swanson said.
Given the right circumstances, that could be enough to drive anyone crazy.
---------------------------------------------------
Article below with my comments--------------------
Mysterious ailment plagues city woman
By Tony Burchyns/
Posted: 11/15/2009 12:00:47 AM PST
Valerie Swanson remembers it all started with a rash. Then loss of energy. Then blisters covering her whole body.
Then it got weird.
Strange fibers appeared to be growing out of her hands. And tiny black specks resembling seeds, she said, began appearing mysteriously on her wrists and fingers as she was washing dishes one day at her Vallejo home.
"It was terrifying," said Swanson, 60, adding she felt as though a plant had taken hold of her body and wouldn't let go.
-----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Plant genetics seem to be involved with Morgellons--my thoughts are that the genetic modification of plants has left them open to becoming a part of us--I don't think this was accidental--Monsanto knew just what would happen. Agrobacterium is often used in the genetic modification process as it has a way of lifting DNA from one organism and pulling it into another.
The modification of the world has begun--not just plants and animals but humans as well. They create the illnesses and than the way to fix them with the use of other life forms be they plant or animal.
----------------------------------------------------------
That was a little more than a year ago, shortly before Swanson became convinced she had Morgellons disease after reading about a condition similar to hers on the Internet.
Problem is, the disease may not even exist. It could all be in her head.
------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: That is convienent and partially true as this condition is about interfacing--those with Morgellons are not accepting the new technology. It does follow the path of the endocrine system which includes the pineal gland. So yes it is in your head but in a very REAL WAY!!!
The body at the DNA level knows that this is an invader and attempts to push it out. It seems certain genetics are involved. That of the Saami people and the mtDNA U5 which is the oldest on the planet from my research.
--------------------------------------------------------
Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, think Morgellons -- the name given in 2002 to the proposed condition -- is a purely psychological disorder. They insist sufferers are imagining the symptoms and scratching lesions into their own skin, similar to patients with delusions of bugs crawling on them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: How many intelligent people do you know that live in a society that is based on the visual appearance are going to cut into their skin---this is a crock --it isn't even logical.
Point of fact is that the lesions are spontaneous--the affected may or may not scratch but it doesn't matter as they are being pushed from the inside---what it feels like is hot glass cutting through from the inside out! Tell me, once you imagine that and you realize they have felt it--do you think your fingers would want to help pull it out the rest of the way? Unless you really have no feeling in your skin of course you would!
Regardless of touching, scratching, picking or not the lesions will be produced.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Some experts believe the disease is a delusion that's become more prominent in recent years due to information spread through the Internet.
-----------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Just who are these experts--Noah Schienfield? Expert in what exactly--
---------------------------------------------------
But some researchers -- and the federal government -- are keeping an open mind about Morgellons, currently referred to by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "unexplained dermopathy."
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Don't hold your breath for the truth from the CDC--unexplained dermopathy is already a terminology problem as Morgellons is systemic. The skin symptoms are just those that come from the body doing its job --recognizing an invader and pushing it out. Why some and not others? It is something to do with genetics and those that are not pushing it out are assimilating this technology.
-------------------------------------------------
Results from a CDC investigation launched in 2006 are still pending.
That's left Swanson and other self-diagnosed Morgellons sufferers with little relief, often wondering if they're insane or suffering from an infectious disease that hasn't been confirmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I have to say I wondered about this myself in the begining but when I saw the others speaking of the same symptoms
that I spoke of long before the internet--I knew there was more to this story. I also knew there was more to this story because if there wasn't than so many people wouldn't have been put into play to take the information I had gained in the first two years!
------------------------------------------------------
"They can't help you if they don't know what it is," said Swanson, whose symptoms have puzzled a string of doctors since April 2008. "Most doctors just think you're crazy, because that's the closest thing."
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I have more respect for a doctor that says he doesn't know than one that points the finger back at the patient.
Than there are the doctors that cover the lesions--oh yea that works until the body itself figures out it needs to find another way to eliminate the invader.
----------------------------------------------------------
Real or imagined, the disease has affected Swanson's life in ways all too real. She said she's stopped working, gone on disability, drained her savings, declared bankruptcy, lost her social life and is losing her home to foreclosure.
She used to be a real estate agent, selling homes in Napa while also working at a furniture store in Emeryville.
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Many of the people that present Morgellons were thriving members of the communities in which they lived until the symptoms of this "invasion" became self evident.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"I've lost everything," Swanson said. "I have to go somewhere, but I don't know where I am going. Plus I have no money."
She said her family has offered to help her buy a home in Sacramento.
She's afraid to let people in her home, fearing she may have a contagious disease.
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I understand this completely and hold my breath whenever anyone walks through my door; it is something that I would have a great difficulty dealing with--that I knew and they became ill from my home. Albeit, I do think it has something to do with genetics--if only those associated with the Saami people become affected by this. Than one must also consider the black plague--the Saami people seemed to skate by this one as well but why---was it just a matter of location?
Than if one considers that many Morgies often self quarantine would that not seem to be a protective measure from other ills as well?
--------------------------------------------------
"I can't have any social life. I don't want to be around anyone," said Swanson, who agreed to be interviewed at a Vallejo restaurant. "I don't want anybody to come over to my house."
Her family doctor initially thought she had a skin condition known as scabies. But when treatments didn't work, he told her she had a mysterious skin disease, and prescribed a tranquilizer to minimize her scratching.
--------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I do know that many articles are being written to suggest that we scratch and that is why we have lesions. I know of several articles that stated the person with Morgellons used this terminology when it was a bonafide lie!
-------------------------------------------------------
Swanson then sought second opinions from doctors at University of California medical centers in San Francisco and Davis.
Dr. Sepideh Bagheri of the U.C. Davis Medical Center said she was unable to come up with a diagnosis after examining Swanson in July. A previous battery of tests at U.C. San Francisco could not find the cause of Swanson's symptoms.
----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: The tests are compiled to find what they know and in point of fact; the tests are designed not to see certain things.
----------------------------------------------------------
Reached by phone, Bagheri said Swanson's skin lesions might go away "if she would stop picking at it."
-----------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Yes, absolutely right--they may go away in a couple years---I personally had a face that looked like someone took a meat tenderizer to it--yea it went away--left a bunch of scars that I later had burned off! The lesions were spontaneous--nothing I did from the outside produced them--it was my body pushing them out--not my hands but my DNA knowing it didn't belong!!!
---------------------------------------------------
Swanson, however, insists she hasn't been excessively scratching herself.
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: This is always the way the article looks--blame the one that is experiencing the symptoms--What about the scientists that created this monster. Or are things so compartmentalized that even they are unaware?
----------------------------------------------------------
Is she going crazy? Are doctors taking her seriously? Swanson wonders.
One doctor who's not convinced she's crazy is her brother, Philip Swanson, a Dallas surgeon.
--------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: This is something I see over and over--the folks affected with Morgellons often have a higher IQ, often have Rh negative blood or close proximity in the family--parent or grandparent. Morgellons folks are often strong willed--could be why they recognize the invader.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"You have something wrong with your body, you go see an expert, and they say you have a psychological condition," he said. "You go see another and get the same answer. And pretty soon, you begin to think nothing can be done and you must be crazy.
"There are lots and lots of people who describe the same physical findings," her brother added. "If you have people describing the same things, how could they be imagining it?"
-------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Thank God for smart brothers--I have a couple myself!!!
----------------------------------------------------
That's the question that motivates the work of Dr. Randy Wymore, director of the Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
"Very little is known about the disease," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, we are the only academic institution working on Morgellons."
Wymore's team is working on the first Morgellons case study for publication in a medical journal, which could help doctors diagnose or rule out Morgellons.
About 13,000 people -- from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia -- have registered on a Web site for self-reporting the disease. But since most of them have not been diagnosed, there is no way of knowing how many may actually have Morgellons.
"It could be a small percentage, or nearly 100 percent of those registered," Wymore said. "Again, keep in mind that these are all self-reported registrations."
-------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I find it interesting that the tally never seems to go up--even after I've heard of others registering--what is up with that?
The symptoms often include itching, burning sensations, slow-healing skin lesions and the presence of small fibers, black specks and sand-like granules. Neurological signs include muscle weakness, pins-and-needles, difficulty focusing thoughts, memory lapses and sometimes changes in behavior.
"There also seems to be a component of extreme fatigue," Wymore said.
----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: When a body is attempting to push out an invading element on an ongoing basis--yea it feels fatigue!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------
Swanson said she has exhibited all these symptoms.
What might cause Morgellons remains a mystery. Theories have included environmental toxins, bacterial and fungal infections or worms or other parasites. But there has been little evidence to suspect any of those ideas over others.
----------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Lets not mention nanotechnology--to much money would be lost and besides it might even point to the human/machine interface.
-------------------------------------------------------
Confusing things even more is the idea that the disease may have neurological side effects, perhaps causing some patients to hallucinate, some researchers say. That could lend credence to Morgellons being viewed as psychosis.
----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: The pineal gland gets hit in the onset and this does occur but some of the things I personally experienced were noted by others--thickening nails that turned and looked more claw like. The seperation under my nose left at one point and became extreme at another--looking more cat like. The seperation in my nose that allows for two nostrils also left. My nose became smaller--go figure. My eyelashes surrounded my entire eye--the hair on my head thinned out and I grew fluff every where!
This was viewed by others and noted!!!! So yes, nothing to see--go back to sleep!
-----------------------------------------------------
Swanson has her own theory: An unknown plant has attached itself to her body, and is spreading around her house. She said the plants resemble tiny tumbleweeds.
But when she submitted a sample to a U.C. Davis lab in July, the results raised more questions than they answered.
-------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I can only guess--are you sure this came from someones body?
------------------------------------------------
"(The lab) did find plant material in the specimens she had submitted, but there is nothing to say what the source of that is," Bagheri said. "It could be cotton."
-------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Lets go back to the genetically modified cotton getting into humans--sure it could be part of it but far from the whole story!
------------------------------------------------------
So far, no doctor has suggested she see a psychiatrist, Swanson said. If they did, she said, she'd go.
----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Maybe this is how and why we are now seeing so many pschiatrists coming up with this condition!
----------------------------------------------------
She acknowledges the plant theory sounds like "science fiction." She said she knows she may be wrong.
"The frustrating thing is not knowing what's wrong with me," Swanson said.
Given the right circumstances, that could be enough to drive anyone crazy.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Not knowing enough to drive someone crazy--I doubt it--not knowing and the symptoms that are produced by your body attempting to fight this invader--a little more likely.
That is why I strongly suggest to engage in humor as much as possible.
Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver
Rather than just post the article--I am going to post with my comments of that which I know needs to be brought out. This helps with defining things even when they refuse to --or can't.
I will post the whole article first and than the article with my comment to make it an easier read.
I have nothing but postive for the morgie that was involved in this article--Valerie. It takes a lot to put yourself out there involving this condition.
Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver
----------------------------------------------
Mysterious ailment plagues city woman
By Tony Burchyns/
Posted: 11/15/2009 12:00:47 AM PST
Valerie Swanson remembers it all started with a rash. Then loss of energy. Then blisters covering her whole body.
Then it got weird.
Strange fibers appeared to be growing out of her hands. And tiny black specks resembling seeds, she said, began appearing mysteriously on her wrists and fingers as she was washing dishes one day at her Vallejo home.
"It was terrifying," said Swanson, 60, adding she felt as though a plant had taken hold of her body and wouldn't let go.
That was a little more than a year ago, shortly before Swanson became convinced she had Morgellons disease after reading about a condition similar to hers on the Internet.
Problem is, the disease may not even exist. It could all be in her head.
Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, think Morgellons -- the name given in 2002 to the proposed condition -- is a purely psychological disorder. They insist sufferers are imagining the symptoms and scratching lesions into their own skin, similar to patients with delusions of bugs crawling on them.
Some experts believe the disease is a delusion that's become more prominent in recent years due to information spread through the Internet.
But some researchers -- and the federal government -- are keeping an open mind about Morgellons, currently referred to by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "unexplained dermopathy."
Results from a CDC investigation launched in 2006 are still pending.
That's left Swanson and other self-diagnosed Morgellons sufferers with little relief, often wondering if they're insane or suffering from an infectious disease that hasn't been confirmed.
"They can't help you if they don't know what it is," said Swanson, whose symptoms have puzzled a string of doctors since April 2008. "Most doctors just think you're crazy, because that's the closest thing."
Real or imagined, the disease has affected Swanson's life in ways all too real. She said she's stopped working, gone on disability, drained her savings, declared bankruptcy, lost her social life and is losing her home to foreclosure.
She used to be a real estate agent, selling homes in Napa while also working at a furniture store in Emeryville.
"I've lost everything," Swanson said. "I have to go somewhere, but I don't know where I am going. Plus I have no money."
She said her family has offered to help her buy a home in Sacramento.
She's afraid to let people in her home, fearing she may have a contagious disease.
"I can't have any social life. I don't want to be around anyone," said Swanson, who agreed to be interviewed at a Vallejo restaurant. "I don't want anybody to come over to my house."
Her family doctor initially thought she had a skin condition known as scabies. But when treatments didn't work, he told her she had a mysterious skin disease, and prescribed a tranquilizer to minimize her scratching.
Swanson then sought second opinions from doctors at University of California medical centers in San Francisco and Davis.
Dr. Sepideh Bagheri of the U.C. Davis Medical Center said she was unable to come up with a diagnosis after examining Swanson in July. A previous battery of tests at U.C. San Francisco could not find the cause of Swanson's symptoms.
Reached by phone, Bagheri said Swanson's skin lesions might go away "if she would stop picking at it."
Swanson, however, insists she hasn't been excessively scratching herself.
Is she going crazy? Are doctors taking her seriously? Swanson wonders.
One doctor who's not convinced she's crazy is her brother, Philip Swanson, a Dallas surgeon.
"You have something wrong with your body, you go see an expert, and they say you have a psychological condition," he said. "You go see another and get the same answer. And pretty soon, you begin to think nothing can be done and you must be crazy.
"There are lots and lots of people who describe the same physical findings," her brother added. "If you have people describing the same things, how could they be imagining it?"
That's the question that motivates the work of Dr. Randy Wymore, director of the Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
"Very little is known about the disease," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, we are the only academic institution working on Morgellons."
Wymore's team is working on the first Morgellons case study for publication in a medical journal, which could help doctors diagnose or rule out Morgellons.
About 13,000 people -- from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia -- have registered on a Web site for self-reporting the disease. But since most of them have not been diagnosed, there is no way of knowing how many may actually have Morgellons.
"It could be a small percentage, or nearly 100 percent of those registered," Wymore said. "Again, keep in mind that these are all self-reported registrations."
The symptoms often include itching, burning sensations, slow-healing skin lesions and the presence of small fibers, black specks and sand-like granules. Neurological signs include muscle weakness, pins-and-needles, difficulty focusing thoughts, memory lapses and sometimes changes in behavior.
"There also seems to be a component of extreme fatigue," Wymore said.
Swanson said she has exhibited all these symptoms.
What might cause Morgellons remains a mystery. Theories have included environmental toxins, bacterial and fungal infections or worms or other parasites. But there has been little evidence to suspect any of those ideas over others.
Confusing things even more is the idea that the disease may have neurological side effects, perhaps causing some patients to hallucinate, some researchers say. That could lend credence to Morgellons being viewed as psychosis.
Swanson has her own theory: An unknown plant has attached itself to her body, and is spreading around her house. She said the plants resemble tiny tumbleweeds.
But when she submitted a sample to a U.C. Davis lab in July, the results raised more questions than they answered.
"(The lab) did find plant material in the specimens she had submitted, but there is nothing to say what the source of that is," Bagheri said. "It could be cotton."
So far, no doctor has suggested she see a psychiatrist, Swanson said. If they did, she said, she'd go.
She acknowledges the plant theory sounds like "science fiction." She said she knows she may be wrong.
"The frustrating thing is not knowing what's wrong with me," Swanson said.
Given the right circumstances, that could be enough to drive anyone crazy.
---------------------------------------------------
Article below with my comments--------------------
Mysterious ailment plagues city woman
By Tony Burchyns/
Posted: 11/15/2009 12:00:47 AM PST
Valerie Swanson remembers it all started with a rash. Then loss of energy. Then blisters covering her whole body.
Then it got weird.
Strange fibers appeared to be growing out of her hands. And tiny black specks resembling seeds, she said, began appearing mysteriously on her wrists and fingers as she was washing dishes one day at her Vallejo home.
"It was terrifying," said Swanson, 60, adding she felt as though a plant had taken hold of her body and wouldn't let go.
-----------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Plant genetics seem to be involved with Morgellons--my thoughts are that the genetic modification of plants has left them open to becoming a part of us--I don't think this was accidental--Monsanto knew just what would happen. Agrobacterium is often used in the genetic modification process as it has a way of lifting DNA from one organism and pulling it into another.
The modification of the world has begun--not just plants and animals but humans as well. They create the illnesses and than the way to fix them with the use of other life forms be they plant or animal.
----------------------------------------------------------
That was a little more than a year ago, shortly before Swanson became convinced she had Morgellons disease after reading about a condition similar to hers on the Internet.
Problem is, the disease may not even exist. It could all be in her head.
------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: That is convienent and partially true as this condition is about interfacing--those with Morgellons are not accepting the new technology. It does follow the path of the endocrine system which includes the pineal gland. So yes it is in your head but in a very REAL WAY!!!
The body at the DNA level knows that this is an invader and attempts to push it out. It seems certain genetics are involved. That of the Saami people and the mtDNA U5 which is the oldest on the planet from my research.
--------------------------------------------------------
Most doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, think Morgellons -- the name given in 2002 to the proposed condition -- is a purely psychological disorder. They insist sufferers are imagining the symptoms and scratching lesions into their own skin, similar to patients with delusions of bugs crawling on them.
-------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: How many intelligent people do you know that live in a society that is based on the visual appearance are going to cut into their skin---this is a crock --it isn't even logical.
Point of fact is that the lesions are spontaneous--the affected may or may not scratch but it doesn't matter as they are being pushed from the inside---what it feels like is hot glass cutting through from the inside out! Tell me, once you imagine that and you realize they have felt it--do you think your fingers would want to help pull it out the rest of the way? Unless you really have no feeling in your skin of course you would!
Regardless of touching, scratching, picking or not the lesions will be produced.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Some experts believe the disease is a delusion that's become more prominent in recent years due to information spread through the Internet.
-----------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Just who are these experts--Noah Schienfield? Expert in what exactly--
---------------------------------------------------
But some researchers -- and the federal government -- are keeping an open mind about Morgellons, currently referred to by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as "unexplained dermopathy."
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Don't hold your breath for the truth from the CDC--unexplained dermopathy is already a terminology problem as Morgellons is systemic. The skin symptoms are just those that come from the body doing its job --recognizing an invader and pushing it out. Why some and not others? It is something to do with genetics and those that are not pushing it out are assimilating this technology.
-------------------------------------------------
Results from a CDC investigation launched in 2006 are still pending.
That's left Swanson and other self-diagnosed Morgellons sufferers with little relief, often wondering if they're insane or suffering from an infectious disease that hasn't been confirmed.
--------------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I have to say I wondered about this myself in the begining but when I saw the others speaking of the same symptoms
that I spoke of long before the internet--I knew there was more to this story. I also knew there was more to this story because if there wasn't than so many people wouldn't have been put into play to take the information I had gained in the first two years!
------------------------------------------------------
"They can't help you if they don't know what it is," said Swanson, whose symptoms have puzzled a string of doctors since April 2008. "Most doctors just think you're crazy, because that's the closest thing."
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I have more respect for a doctor that says he doesn't know than one that points the finger back at the patient.
Than there are the doctors that cover the lesions--oh yea that works until the body itself figures out it needs to find another way to eliminate the invader.
----------------------------------------------------------
Real or imagined, the disease has affected Swanson's life in ways all too real. She said she's stopped working, gone on disability, drained her savings, declared bankruptcy, lost her social life and is losing her home to foreclosure.
She used to be a real estate agent, selling homes in Napa while also working at a furniture store in Emeryville.
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: Many of the people that present Morgellons were thriving members of the communities in which they lived until the symptoms of this "invasion" became self evident.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"I've lost everything," Swanson said. "I have to go somewhere, but I don't know where I am going. Plus I have no money."
She said her family has offered to help her buy a home in Sacramento.
She's afraid to let people in her home, fearing she may have a contagious disease.
---------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I understand this completely and hold my breath whenever anyone walks through my door; it is something that I would have a great difficulty dealing with--that I knew and they became ill from my home. Albeit, I do think it has something to do with genetics--if only those associated with the Saami people become affected by this. Than one must also consider the black plague--the Saami people seemed to skate by this one as well but why---was it just a matter of location?
Than if one considers that many Morgies often self quarantine would that not seem to be a protective measure from other ills as well?
--------------------------------------------------
"I can't have any social life. I don't want to be around anyone," said Swanson, who agreed to be interviewed at a Vallejo restaurant. "I don't want anybody to come over to my house."
Her family doctor initially thought she had a skin condition known as scabies. But when treatments didn't work, he told her she had a mysterious skin disease, and prescribed a tranquilizer to minimize her scratching.
--------------------------------------------------------
My Reply: I do know that many articles are being written to suggest that we scratch and that is why we have lesions. I know of several articles that stated the person with Morgellons used this terminology when it was a bonafide lie!
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Swanson then sought second opinions from doctors at University of California medical centers in San Francisco and Davis.
Dr. Sepideh Bagheri of the U.C. Davis Medical Center said she was unable to come up with a diagnosis after examining Swanson in July. A previous battery of tests at U.C. San Francisco could not find the cause of Swanson's symptoms.
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My Reply: The tests are compiled to find what they know and in point of fact; the tests are designed not to see certain things.
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Reached by phone, Bagheri said Swanson's skin lesions might go away "if she would stop picking at it."
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My Reply: Yes, absolutely right--they may go away in a couple years---I personally had a face that looked like someone took a meat tenderizer to it--yea it went away--left a bunch of scars that I later had burned off! The lesions were spontaneous--nothing I did from the outside produced them--it was my body pushing them out--not my hands but my DNA knowing it didn't belong!!!
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Swanson, however, insists she hasn't been excessively scratching herself.
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My Reply: This is always the way the article looks--blame the one that is experiencing the symptoms--What about the scientists that created this monster. Or are things so compartmentalized that even they are unaware?
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Is she going crazy? Are doctors taking her seriously? Swanson wonders.
One doctor who's not convinced she's crazy is her brother, Philip Swanson, a Dallas surgeon.
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My Reply: This is something I see over and over--the folks affected with Morgellons often have a higher IQ, often have Rh negative blood or close proximity in the family--parent or grandparent. Morgellons folks are often strong willed--could be why they recognize the invader.
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"You have something wrong with your body, you go see an expert, and they say you have a psychological condition," he said. "You go see another and get the same answer. And pretty soon, you begin to think nothing can be done and you must be crazy.
"There are lots and lots of people who describe the same physical findings," her brother added. "If you have people describing the same things, how could they be imagining it?"
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My Reply: Thank God for smart brothers--I have a couple myself!!!
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That's the question that motivates the work of Dr. Randy Wymore, director of the Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
"Very little is known about the disease," he said. "To the best of my knowledge, we are the only academic institution working on Morgellons."
Wymore's team is working on the first Morgellons case study for publication in a medical journal, which could help doctors diagnose or rule out Morgellons.
About 13,000 people -- from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia -- have registered on a Web site for self-reporting the disease. But since most of them have not been diagnosed, there is no way of knowing how many may actually have Morgellons.
"It could be a small percentage, or nearly 100 percent of those registered," Wymore said. "Again, keep in mind that these are all self-reported registrations."
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My Reply: I find it interesting that the tally never seems to go up--even after I've heard of others registering--what is up with that?
The symptoms often include itching, burning sensations, slow-healing skin lesions and the presence of small fibers, black specks and sand-like granules. Neurological signs include muscle weakness, pins-and-needles, difficulty focusing thoughts, memory lapses and sometimes changes in behavior.
"There also seems to be a component of extreme fatigue," Wymore said.
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My Reply: When a body is attempting to push out an invading element on an ongoing basis--yea it feels fatigue!!!!
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Swanson said she has exhibited all these symptoms.
What might cause Morgellons remains a mystery. Theories have included environmental toxins, bacterial and fungal infections or worms or other parasites. But there has been little evidence to suspect any of those ideas over others.
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My Reply: Lets not mention nanotechnology--to much money would be lost and besides it might even point to the human/machine interface.
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Confusing things even more is the idea that the disease may have neurological side effects, perhaps causing some patients to hallucinate, some researchers say. That could lend credence to Morgellons being viewed as psychosis.
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My Reply: The pineal gland gets hit in the onset and this does occur but some of the things I personally experienced were noted by others--thickening nails that turned and looked more claw like. The seperation under my nose left at one point and became extreme at another--looking more cat like. The seperation in my nose that allows for two nostrils also left. My nose became smaller--go figure. My eyelashes surrounded my entire eye--the hair on my head thinned out and I grew fluff every where!
This was viewed by others and noted!!!! So yes, nothing to see--go back to sleep!
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Swanson has her own theory: An unknown plant has attached itself to her body, and is spreading around her house. She said the plants resemble tiny tumbleweeds.
But when she submitted a sample to a U.C. Davis lab in July, the results raised more questions than they answered.
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My Reply: I can only guess--are you sure this came from someones body?
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"(The lab) did find plant material in the specimens she had submitted, but there is nothing to say what the source of that is," Bagheri said. "It could be cotton."
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My Reply: Lets go back to the genetically modified cotton getting into humans--sure it could be part of it but far from the whole story!
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So far, no doctor has suggested she see a psychiatrist, Swanson said. If they did, she said, she'd go.
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My Reply: Maybe this is how and why we are now seeing so many pschiatrists coming up with this condition!
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She acknowledges the plant theory sounds like "science fiction." She said she knows she may be wrong.
"The frustrating thing is not knowing what's wrong with me," Swanson said.
Given the right circumstances, that could be enough to drive anyone crazy.
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My Reply: Not knowing enough to drive someone crazy--I doubt it--not knowing and the symptoms that are produced by your body attempting to fight this invader--a little more likely.
That is why I strongly suggest to engage in humor as much as possible.
Many Blessings,
CrystalRiver