Morgellon’s disease (also known as Morgellons and/or Morgellon’s syndrome) was once thought to be very rare and was often misdiagnosed as a multitude of other diseases or disorders within the same person instead of just one disease that fit all of the known symptoms. It is know known that Morgellons is very unusual, but not as rare as was once thought. The biggest problem associated with Morgellons is that there is so little actually known about it, its causes, its symptoms, cures, or even how it is contracted or if it can be spread.
The most common misdiagnosis of Morgellons is delusional parasitosis. Other common diagnoses of symptoms include chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Lyme disease, and others. Some of the medications that work for these disorders help (at least somewhat) these patients, but other patients see little or no difference in symptoms or the management thereof.
The term “Morgellons” actually came from a letter written by Sir Thomas Browne in the late 17th century wherein he referred to a malady suffered by children in the area. He described the children as “the Morgellons” and Mary Leitao coined the name for the ailment suffered by her young son. Although she was a biologist before her son was born, Leitao was labeled as suffering from Munchausen’s by proxy, with doctors believing the suffering by her child was in fact inflicted upon him by his mother.
Typically, Morgellon’s disease is characterized by skin lesions with fibers sticking out of them. However, there are a host of symptoms associated with the syndrome that have not been officially linked to the disease itself since so little is known about it. Among symptoms reported by sufferers are: the feeling of “bugs” crawling on, biting, or burrowing under the skin, unhealed skin rashes, joint, muscle, or tissue pain (also symptoms of fibromyalgia), depression, debilitating tiredness/fatigue, difficulty concentrating, short-term memory loss, and/or attention problems.
The FDA and many other medical research facilities are working hard to prove (or disprove) that Morgellons is a real disease. While many are extremely skeptical, those that claim to suffer from Morgellons are hopeful that a cure or at least a treatment that works can be found, and soon. Those that suffer have banded together to raise awareness and funds for research and make up an organization collectively called the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF).
Other doctors (especially dermatologists) claim that there are too many diseases that Morgellons seems to mimic for it to be a real disease in and of itself. The symptoms are vague in some cases, not all seem to affect sufferers, and there is a general air of mystery that surrounds the patients that claim Morgellons. Until more research is done, little can be done to help these people. Additional information about Morgellons can be found in this Morgellons Guide.