I just watched an incredible documentary called Skin Deep: The Battle Over Morgellons. I've seen first hand how debilitating Morgellons can be for my patients. Morgellons sufferers experience severely uncomfortable symptoms such as skin lesions with fiber production and sensations of crawling. Without so much as a blood test, these individuals are often diagnosed with a mental disorder: delusions of parasitosis, because of the problematic attitude of emerging illnesses in the medical community. This results in patients being written off by many practitioners, family members, friends and prevents them from getting proper support or treatment.
This documentary exposes this harmful attitude in mainstream medicine and shows first hand how severe the consequences can be for patients.
Conventional medicine forgets the many diseases that were originally categorized as psychiatric in nature, such as peptic ulcers and multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis had previously been referred to as "hysterical paralysis" until MRIs/CAT scans were widely available to visualize the brain lesions seen in this condition. This was also true for stomach ulcers. Originally, the accepted stance in medicine was that ulcers were solely caused by stress, because it was believed that the stomach was too acidic for bacteria such as h. pylori to survive. This prevented any type of investigation into other causative factors for the illness. Scientists and doctors who showed any interest in investigating other explanations were labeled as quacks, bashed and often had their careers destroyed by mainstream critics. In the case of peptic ulcers, it took Barry Marshall infecting HIMSELF with h. pylori and developing a stomach ulcer for mainstream medicine to consider that this bacteria may be the cause of ulcers. Help stop this pattern by bringing awareness to suffering and desperation patients are experiencing with Morgellons and Lyme. If you are a practitioner, keep an open mind about emerging illnesses so sufficient research and effective treatments can be found and funded.
Check out the trailer for the film at morgellonsmovie.org.
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