How Nutrition Can Effect Morgellons

[2manyfibers]

Hi all. I'm new to the board (at least as a registered user - I've read much as a guest so I feel like I know many of you though) and wanted to introduce myself. I've sufffered from severe Morgellons-like symptoms including fibers and lesions for almost 3 years. I've explored many of the web boards and always find myself reading this one most frequently because of the quality of the people (gratuitous flattery but quite true). I've done a great amount of medical and biological research and reached the conclusion that nutrition caused my problem. I only ran across the term Morgellons several months ago, so most of my research was independent of the disease or condition itself. However, I see many strong similarities between my condition and Morgellons. I also see many "common threads" in some of the treatments used by many sufferers. I've often wanted to jump into some of the messages on the board and put my 2 cents worth in, so I decided to register so I could. I've posted a document on line at the following address that provides information on my research and why I so firmly believe that nutrition and human biology may play a large role in explaining Morgellons for many:

https://home.comcast.net/~morgellons..._Cause_web.htm

Some of the things I cover include how the human body naturally produces millions of fibers in the skin, how vitamin chemistry can explain why vitamin C and sulfur (MSM / garlic) seems to help the symptoms, why I think peroxide provides some relief and a good deal of information on the nutrients required by the body to produce and maintain skin (and everything else) in the human body. I invite anyone who is interested to read it (I'll warn you beforehand that it is pretty lengthy, but well worth the read). Although I am admittedly may be a tiny bit biased, I think it contains a lot of valuable information that could potentially help people suffering from Morgellons and help them understand more about how nutrition can explain or at least impact the symptoms (although I can't say that it does for everyone) and possibly help them in their long-term recovery. Feel free question me on anything I've stated in the document. The only way I gathered all this information was from asking myself questions about the incredible symptoms I was suffering from. It's amazing what you can learn from the internet when you're driven to solve a problem that no one else seems to be able to help with.

My compliments to everyone for the overall tone and attitude of the board and I look forward to typing with you in the future.

[michelle]

Welcome 2manyfibers
Sounds like you have lots to share, and I dont mean I want any of your fibers. You probably already know about the treatment steps.
We would like to hear what has worked for you
I plan on reading your information but wanted to say glad you are going to join in first.
Michelle

[ladycolorado]

welcome aboard, 2manyfibers. i am sure you know of me then. i have not been sick long but glad you joined, ad i look forward to your posts. i am up tonight, i see my doc tomorrow. it is amazing how this place has grown, bubba predatred me but i was lucky found this place three days after became full blown, oct 5th of last yr. had start sept last yr. but there are mutiple components of the disease which come into play too, genetic factor, environmental, and insect vector. nutrition, yes key i agree. this disease also ties to aa latent pneumoia called chlymidia pnemonia which may be the weakest link in disease. in london have done study with a chylamidia pnemonia vaccine cures morgellons in seven days, no joke. ( i heard from very goos source, trust me) if i can will get in a study when have one here. lots of cool stuff going on. more docs climbing aboard to help us, the cdc has contacted cigna to look into morgellons,and mrf has a biomedical firm which wishes to do research. if have not looked at morgellons.org, getting better all the time. publications section, case definition and medical sections real good. but i am sure you have looked. as many can register on that site please do so, 10,000 on there but i truly believe in the mrf for my own private reasons. after i see my doc, who has helped me achieve 99 percent remission, i will post how goes. i see him for last visit at noon tomorrow. but not worried, i will still have care. (let us hope so, anyway). good to hear from you, private message me at any time, be just great! (LC).

[2manyfibers]

Thanks for the welcome Michelle and LadyC. The only thing that has provided me any relief has been peroxides (hydrogen and benzoyl). Part of my problem is one of having too much keratin in my body and on the surface of my skin. If you've had time to read the document I referenced above you know some about how the skin is constructed of collagen fibers and keratin. There are 2 known solvents of keratins; alcohol and peroxide (the only known solvents of collagen are enzymes produced by the body to spcifically allow skin cells (keratin) to pass through the network of collagen fibers to the surface of the skin (this happens at a microscopic level). After trying everything available in my garage and under the kitchen sink (including mineral spirits and degreasers which did nothing - the only things I didn't try were gasoline and clorox) I tried alcohol but it dried too fast and left a brittle coating on my skin (I think keratin may explain why some people have noted having a "sticky" coating on the skin). The peroxide worked much better for me - I had to saturate my entire body in 3% hydrogen peroxide (standard drug store type) and soak my feet for about 30 minutes every couple of hours for the first 2 years or so of my condition to gain any relief (the peroxide dissolved the keratin coating temporarily and allowed the excess collagen fibers in my skin to move - the most simple explanation is that my skin was way too tight and growing tighter from having produced an extreme excess of the 2 major structural proteins in my system (collagens and keratins)). I also use a 10% benzoyl peroxide acne wash to lather up in the shower every day and let it dry before washing it off (and slathered myself in acne cream until it dried - usually a couple of times a week). Using peroxide like I have for several years should have made my skin extremely dry (or destroyed it altogether) and bleached what little hair I have out (I've kept it cut to about an eigth of an inch long daily for the duration of this condition). Aside from the excessive fibers, my skin is pretty normal in texture and condition (and I don't use any lotion or moisturizers - this supports my belief that I've had a tremendous excess of keratins in my system). For the last couple of months I've been able to reduce the hydrogen peroxide down to a couple of times a day.

I can't say that I would recommend anyone saturating themselves with peroxide every couple of hours - I suspect that for most people it would do more harm than good. It did soften up the lesions when I had them (they were quite prevalent and severe for well over a year on much of my body as shown in the pics in the document). Not sure this is of much help, but it is what worked for me. If you ever want to bleach the color out of any clothes, benzoyl peroxide will do the trick.

[tcmgpt13]

Hi 2mf,

Glad you have found some relief for yourself. Not sure I agree with causative factors for morgellons, as I did catch this from eating fish. Dramatic onset described elsewhere in greater length. I think it is a group of parasites from the fish which has caused my symptoms. IMHO. I also feel that most who have morgellons may also have a dysfunctional lymph system. Slow. Which would cause some the dimpling of skin that you mention, but as I say this is all IMO.

I would like to warn others that benzyl peroxide may cause a severe allergic reaction in some people. I am one. I think the hypersensitivity may have developed from eating wheat flour. It is often used to bleach food such as flour, maraschino cherries, pickles, whey and cheese! Go organic I guess for that one. Benzoic acid (food preservative) is another one for me to avoid (breakdown product of benzyl peroxide and also a food additive). Just one time I used benzyl peroxide from a dermatologist and my face and ears swelled up and I became exceedingly dizzy. If used in the 10% prescription strength be careful. After that reaction I started staying away from the foods which might be bleached with benzyl peroxide. Cheese is something I should avoid anyway due to the mold content(though I love cheese!). The modern food world is a mine field for those who are sensitive to additives.

best,

tcm

[2manyfibers]

Thanks for the nice review Michelle. My eyes were one of the worst problems, especially early on. The collagen fibers that make up normal skin really swirl around the eye sockets to support the muscular structure (the fibers also form a "donut" that provide the support for the lips). The first few weeks my eyes were "matted" completely shut when I woke up - I had to pry one eye open with my fingers to get to the sink to wash them out with hot water to open them). Even now, my eyes are one of the worst places for the fibers. I'm a smoker too - I think the vitamins help negate the effects of smoking (at least that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it). (I'm trying to do a smile face but it only shows "" in the text - maybe it'll work when it posts).

The picture you were talking about was actually my forehead (sadly, not my back - I would much rather that it was). The dark brown is what little hair I have (but strangely the peroxide hasn't bleached it out). I think you had mentioned amino acids in one of your recent posts - I noted to of the most important ones later in the document. The body needs 8 "essential" amino acids to survive - there are about 20 amino acids required by the body, but the body can actually produce the rest of them from these 8 "essential" ones. I can send you some more info on them if you want.

[2manyfibers]

Hi TCM. I don't want to give the impression that nutrition necessarily causes Morgellons (from everything I've read there may be several possible causes for the symptoms including parasites). I just know from my own personal experience that nutrition CAN cause the SYMPTOMS of Morgellons including the really strange ones like fibers in and on the skin and the mysterious lesions that seem to appear from nowhere. The information I posted on the web is much of what I learned in my own research about how human skin is constructed using millions of collagen fibers and keratins from trying to determine what caused my condition. It doesn't appear to be "common knowledge" so I thought it might be worth sharing with people suffering from Morgellons. Being able to understand the "mechanics" and chemical (nutritional) properties of how the body constructs skin helped me tremendously - hopefully it can help others in some way.

One thing I've noticed recently is that it seems that many of the benzoyl peroxide acne products are being replaced by 2% salicylic acid products. The salicylic acid did nothing for me - I can feel the effects of the peroxide immediately. Maybe the allergies you mentioned are making the manufacturers change the ingredients. I've read that benzoyl peroxide is "not good" for skin in general, but it does help in my specific case. I enjoy reading your posts on the herbal treatments and have learned a lot. Somewhere I read that "western" medicine seems "stuck" on treating specific, individual symptoms with specific chemicals (both doctors and pharmaceuticals). I noticed from my research that many of today's "wonder drugs" are created by testing herbs, plant and root extracts against specific DNA base pairs - when one is found that has the desired effect researchers are looking for, they create a synthetic chemical equivalent of that particular natural substance (and the synthetic equivalent often has unintended side effects that probably wouldn't occur with the natural substance - statins are an example - they deplete CoQ10 in the body although the pharmaceutical companies don't readily acknowledge this in their advertising). It seems that with the technological advances of today that medical science would realize that the human body is a complex system and often, many symptoms are simply indicators of a systemic problem rather than an isolated occurence that impacts a given isolated area - many prescription drugs seem to be based on backward thinking to me in many ways. The more I research, the more convinced I become that the human body has great power to heal itself if the proper nutrients (including those in many herbal remedies) are available for DNA to perform its miracles.

[michelle]

Well I guess I have shown how much trouble I am having with my eye sight
This was a new experience with my eyes, It was the whole outside of my eye the stuff came out and made this over the eyelid and lashes ??? I have had success in the past using witch hazel to wipe my eyes off in the morning, And clean the eye lashes. This was like a weaved netting and sticky. Still need to read when eyes have had a rest.

[2manyfibers]

Hey Michelle. Lysine is very good for bones - vitamin C "activates" lysine which causes calcium particles to chemically bond to the collagen fibers in bones. I've read some information on biphosphonates (like Fosamax) from various doctors and many of them believe that these drugs make bones brittle (although the density is increased) - of course all the information from the pharmaceutical companies have nothing but positive things to say. Biphosphonates work by preventing the bone from losing existing calcium (bone normally "turns over" calcium as part of the formation and maintenance process) - but these doctors also see this as a negative in that existing calcium can't be replaced effectively with new calcium as nature dictates without the "old" calcium being removed from the bones at a molecular level. Some of these doctors recommend taking lysine as an alternative to biphosphonates (biphosphonates remain in the bone for many years) because it allows the natural process of bone regeneration to occur - the collagen fibers in bone provide the "toughness" (keeps them from being brittle), so the lysine and vitamin C are critical to bone formation. Some studies also show that lysine can prevent kidney stones by helping the body use the calcium where it should rather than stay in the urinary tract and become crystallized in the kidneys (vitamin D is also critical for calcium absorption).

Chitin appears to be classified as a "sugar" (it is a polymer of glucosamine chemically). In nature, it does appear that chitin is combined with a protein complex to form the exoskeletons and appendages of arthropods like lobsters and crayfish (or crawfish as we say in the south) (I have to admit I looked up chitin to find this). The glucosamine supplements available today are made from chitin (chondroiton supplements are made from shark cartilage and tracheas). These supplements are believed to help rebuild cartilage (which is largely collagen fibers).

One of the things I learned from all my researh is that the only known function of DNA is to build proteins (proteins can be structural like collagens and keratin, they can form enzymes (chemical catalysts), they can regulate cell activities (many hormones are proteins - others are steroids) and proteins also form antibodies. Thus, it seems to me that proteins are the most important factor in how the body constructs and maintains itself cell by cell. The base pairs in DNA are much like a very advanced computer program (the sequence of the base pairs determines the "coding" - light years more advanced than anything MicroSoft makes) that instruct the body on how to produce and deposit proteins. I personally think DNA is a true miracle of God.

[michelle]

More great info
I use to take the glucosamine chondroiton for many years. This is one of the supplements I ceased taking a few years ago. I quit taking it because of the shark cartledge and how it kept the process from calcium turn over like you mentioned. Now that I know it is made from chitin I am glad I did. I have noticed the clear smaller fibers remind me of what grows on the stalks of certain plants and they are abrasive too. I recently was taking fresh comfrey which the stalks are full of these fibers they remind you of cactus needles. I was making a brew of herbal plants for a skin spray. Would you know what the chemical make up of these plant needles are made from? I noticed this uncanny resemblence to some of my fibers in the past before. Do you have anything in your environment (clothing is the worst for my family) ?