Doctor now focuses on disputed skin disease (Article)

[Franky]

Dr. George Schwartz first heard about Morgellons disease on the talkradio show Coast to Coast AM With George Noory, a late-night show that commonly features UFOs, ghosts and conspiracy theories of all kinds.

Schwartz said he had a patient who had a strange flesh-eating skin disease on her chest, so when he heard people on Coast to Coast talking about Morgellons disease — a condition in which tiny parasites are believed to spin odd fibers in peoples’ skin — he called in.

The next night, Schwartz was a special guest on the show, and that’s how one of his patients, Julie Olague of Tecolote, N.M., heard about him.

Olague said she was at home late one night in California when her husband , Vernon, called her into the room to listen to Schwartz on the radio. Olague said she has suffered from Morgellons disease for 20 years, ever since she caught it as a heroin addict in a run-down Los Angeles hotel room.

“He ended the show by saying he was here in Santa Fe,” Olague said, referring to Schwartz. “The next week, we were on our way.”

Schwartz said he appeared on Coast to Coast in February, and he now treats between 30 and 40 Morgellons patients. Some come from as far away as New Hampshire to receive treatments , he said.

Joan Baumbach, a medical epidemiologist with the state Health Department, said the department has researched Morgellons disease and cannot find any peer-reviewed literature that would give it credence.

Delusional parasitosis, however, the mistaken belief that parasites are infesting one’s body, is a real condition, and some doctors believe that is what Morgellons sufferers are actually experiencing , Baumbach said.

But it is important to take each case individually, Baumbach said, and it would be irresponsible to assume that everyone who thinks they are suffering from Morgellons disease is really suffering from delusional parasitosis. The department looks at every case individually , she said, and would not make that generalization.

Baumbach said she didn’t have exact numbers of New Mexicans who have complained of Morgellons disease, but there have been some in Socorro and Grant counties.

Olague said many doctors who have treated her Morgellons disease have told her they think her problems are delusions, so she was relieved to find Schwartz because he believes the condition is real. “He’s the man who saved my life. I depend on him greatly, and he’s always there,” she said.

Life with Morgellons is not easy, Olague said. She said the disease causes her to see things other people can’t see, such as floating particles in the air. Once, she said, she saw her salad from a fast-food restaurant grow. Other times, the disease caused her hair’s color to change and lead to sparks shooting out from her hands when she was under the bed covers, she said.

“I know Stephen King couldn’t even make this up,” Olague said. “It’s so bizarre.”

Olague said she also has a brain tumor and gets her income from disability insurance.

Schwartz said life is difficult for many of his patients because so many doctors have told them their disease is a delusion. Many of his patients have been in mental institutions because doctors haven’t believed them, he said.

Schwartz said Morgellons treatments range from anti-worm medications , which cause the worms to leave a patient’s skin in a mass exodus, to applications of a paste made out of diatomaceous earth, a natural insecticide made of ground-up seashells. The diatomaceous-earth applications suffocate the worms and cause them to die, Schwartz said.

“I’m of the firm belief that this is the beginning of a worldwide epidemic,” Schwartz said. Doctors should be much more concerned about Morgellons disease than the bird flu, he said.

The doctor has written a book about Morgellons disease, and he sells it on his Healing Research Institute Web site for $24.95. Schwartz said the book is more like a pamphlet at this point, but he plans to expand it so he can sell it on http://Amazon.com.

Morgellons sufferers are grateful for the book because it is the most comprehensive information source available about the disease, Schwartz said. Patients are also grateful for Schwartz’s assistance in general.

Olague said Schwartz has helped her with more than her Morgellons disease. He also helped her get off methadone by providing her with Subatex and Suboxone, which both contain buprenorphine and are used to fight opiate addictions.

Olague said she sometimes comes to Santa Fe for treatments. She took the treatments that got her off methadone at the Red Roof Inn on Cerrillos Road, but last week she got stuck at the Best Western for nearly a week because her car broke down and she didn’t have the money to repair it.

Schwartz treats many of his patients at hotels along Cerrillos Road, Olague said.

Olague said she does not remember much of the three days Schwartz treated her for methadone dependence at the Red Roof Inn because her Morgellons disease causes her to have what she calls “brain fog.”

Schwartz said many of his Morgellons patients experience brain fog, which he characterizes as a general forgetfulness. He thinks it might be caused by the tiny Morgellons worms traveling through a patient’s blood to their brain and collecting there.

Olague said she once saw a drop of her blood begin to “walk” because the tiny worms were in her blood.

Schwartz said he has medical offices at his home, but he prefers making house calls to his Morgellons patients. He does not know how the disease is spread, he said, and does not want to contaminate his offices.

Olague said Schwartz has been an excellent doctor, and she and other Morgellons sufferers are trying to get the medical establishment to recognize the disease so Schwartz can bill insurance companies for his work. Now, patients have to pay the doctor directly.

“The difference between Dr. Schwartz and a lot of other doctors is that he’s not in it for the money,” Olague said. “He says he has a Mother Teresa complex, and I believe him.”

Schwartz said he believes there are thousands of Morgellons sufferers all over the world, but it is difficult to say how many people have the disease. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not recognized Morgellons disease, and neither has any other major health organization, he said.

While he sees patients with severe cases of Morgellons, Schwartz said, he believes there are many more people out there who have slight, unexplained rashes that also could be Morgellons.

The number of Morgellons sufferers in New Mexico is higher than in most states, Schwartz said, and people have various theories about why that is true. Some people think it’s because of increased amounts of radiation while others think it might be due to a mutated organism. The majority of people reporting symptoms of the disease are in California, Texas and Florida, according to the Morgellons Research Foundation Web site, morgellons .org.

Schwartz said he talked to a man who said he used to work with the CIA, and the man told the doctor about a government-developed bacteria that got out of control in France. That theory would substantiate claims that Morgellons has come from bottled water from France, Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he is not sure what to think of the theory that the disease comes from imported bottled water because some of his patients don’t drink bottled water.

Olague said Schwartz’s Morgellons treatments have helped her considerably , but there is no hard-and-fast rule about what helps Morgellons patients.

Olague said she keeps in touch with other people who have the disease, and while some people have found meat tenderizer makes them feel better, one patient has found that extract from orange peels helps.

Cranberries, however, do not work, Olague said. “That we know for sure.”

By Wendy Brown The New Mexican |

[midnightladyNC]

Making the victims of non-lethal weapons testing which also has fibers, memory problems and skin rashes look mentally ill is common. We are a group of scientist, lawyers and even have former Army Intelligence officers that believe that Morgellons is a part of these weapons testing. The weapons testing seem to go further with some. I suggest that you find out all about non-lethal weapons which will at first appear not to be connected. I have some excellant photos that may help to convince you that you could be a non consensual test subject.

[Franky]

Originally Posted by bubba

Hi MN lady,
Please elaborate.
Thanks

I agree sounds like one hell of a idea you have there. If you want why dont you start a topic on this over at the
Moregellons Theories and Spectulations forum.