ant's story on going

In all my life before it happend to me I never would of thought that that it was possible
for a insect or whatever to crawl into the skin and reproduce at a high rait and cause the havoc that it has caused me
I have never been phobic of insects or bugs on the contrary I always found them interesting

When I first came down with this almost four years ago I thought what I had was lice or scabes when the over the counter medications dident work I thought it was time to see the Doctor

I thought that if anyone could fix me the Doctor could' or so I thought

The Doctor Did all the test blood biopsy s he even sent some specamins that I had collected to the lab as per Ekbom's prodacal to rule out a true parasitic infection

I cant tell you enough how anxious I felt waiting for the test to come back with these things crawling all over me and getting worse all the time
In the back of my mind I thought the test will come back positive and I can get some anti-parasitic medications
One of the hallmark  clues to delusional parasitosis is what they call the matchbox  sign.

I guess in the older days people would take their samples  in little match boxes to their physician,"

At the time I dident know anything about the prodacal deusanal parasitosis or Ekbom's Syndrome  or even Parasites for that matter Little did I know it was about to wrap me up in a neat little box and bring my life as I once knew it to a nightmarish halt

And to think at one time the Doctor even said he saw the stuff he was really vary kind and seem to be understanding and sent me home with some topical scabeasides
 later I found out that even this was per Ekbom's podocal
1. Establish patient's trust
1. Listen
2. Communicate empathy and sensitivity
 3. Avoid offending or further isolating patient

I really thought that the Doctor believed me at the time

If I would of thought for a second that my Doctor was humoring me I would of dropped him and tried to find one that would believe me which I did seven Doctors later to no avail they all diagnosed me as Delusional and my savings that I had worked so hard to save so I could get ahead in this life gone for naut

It is in this instance that doctors are more of a hinderance than a help if the Doctor cant see it or test dosent pic up on a parasitic infection then oveously  it must be in your mind that is their reasoning

I dont think many Doctors picked up on the fact in med. school that listening  is there greatist tool

I have had most all the Doctors sone out like there were in their own little world when I was trieng to explane my symtpom's to them

   Treating this disease in the beginning stages is essential to a cure before the creatures get too embedded just like cancer or any disease

                  A LITTLE ON EKBOM"S

Delusional parasitosis or Ekbom's Syndrome  is named after a Swedish neurologist who published seminal accounts of the disease in 1937 and 1938.

It was an age when they were bearly learning what Pennacillin was about and Phyicatric community still practiced eugenics

The practice of taking people the the state deemed feeble minded and sterilize them so they could not pass on there bad genes to the next generation

It was also common place to perform electric shock treatment  labotamys and scientific experiments on these vary same people Believe it or not Hitler got his Ideas for his final solution from  the USA" only he took it one dreadful step farther the holocost'

Now that I have outlined the state of mind the Medical and the Phyicatric community was in 1937 and 1938 when the Ekbom  prodacal was first conceived I would think there would be and urgent need  to take a second third and forth look at a prodacal they still use today that seems to have every conceivable sinareo that a Patient could come up with explained away with Psychological and Medical jargon

I cant tell you how nightmarish it is to have these vary real things crawling over your body and to not have any one beleve you

Knowing all the time that if I could only find one Doctor that would believe me listen to me even pick up a magnifier and take a closer look  most of all work with me I might find a cure now I fear it is too late

Here is an outline of the prodacal that turned my life upside down

Delusional Parasitosis
Delusions of Parasitosis
Ekbom's Syndrome
Parasitophobic Neurodermatitis
Entomophobia
 
Delusory Parasitosis
Dermatophobia
Parasitophobia
 
 

   1. See Also
         1. Neurotic Excoriation

   2. Epidemiology
         1. More often seen in women over age 50 years

   3. Classification
         1. Monosymptomatic Hypochondriacal Psychosis

   4. Symptoms
         1. Patient convinced of parasite infestation

   5. Signs
         1. Matchbox Sign
               1. Patient presents container with purported parasite
         2. Focal Erosions on exposed areas of arms and legs
               1. Results from attempts to pick bugs from skin

   6. Differential Diagnosis
         1. Schizophrenia
         2. Major Depression with Psychosis
         3. Bipolar Disorder with manic Psychosis
         4. Vitamin B12 Deficiency
         5. Multiple Sclerosis
         6. Syphilis
         7. Cerebrovascular Accident
         8. Hallucination of insects crawling on skin (formication)
               1. Drug intoxication (e.g. Cocaine, Amphetamine)
               2. Drug Withdrawal (e.g. Alcohol Withdrawal)

   7. Labs (consider for differential diagnosis evaluation)
         1. Complete Blood Count (CBC)
         2. Serum chemistry panel
         3. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
         4. Rapid Plasma Reagin (RPR)
         5. Urinalysis
         6. Urine drug screen

   8. Management
         1. Confirm diagnosis
               1. Rule-out true parasitic cause of symptoms
               2. Evaluate for differential diagnosis as above
         2. General measures
               1. Establish patient's trust
                     1. Listen
                     2. Communicate empathy and sensitivity
                     3. Avoid offending or further isolating patient
               2. Consider psychotherapy
         3. Pimozide (Orap)
               1. Initial dose: One-half of a 2 mg tablet qd
               2. Titrate dose: Increase dose by 1 mg/week to 4-6 mg qd

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