TIL about Delusional parasitosis, sometimes referred to as phantom infestation, is a psychological disorder in which an individual mistakenly believes their body is overrun by living or inanimate entities. Typical examples of these perceived invaders include bugs, worms, or microbes.

[u/1998199888]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delusional_parasitosis

[u/spoopyboiman]

My friend experiences this from time to time. She has a lot of health problems, her nervous system is a wreck, and she’s got a lot of mental health disorders. She told me that it starts by knowing she doesn’t have bugs under her skin - but… it feels like things are crawling under there (in her case, she had an undiagnosed vitamin deficiency that caused a tingly/crawling sensation). She could viscerally describe the sensation of them squirming in her body. And after days/weeks/months of that feeling, she said your brain searches for bugs in things (just in case). And then you see mucus in your stool. Or a wiggly vein. A burst blood vessel. And suddenly you can’t stop thinking about all these symptoms - how they might be connected and how they /could/ be bugs, so you should treat this like that just in case.

So you buy the “anti parasitic” cleanse. When that doesn’t work, you coat every inch of your home in diatomaceous earth and you see a doctor who doesn’t help. You spiral. You dig through your stool and your brain tells you that all the fiber and mucus is worms. You double down on the cleanse. You double down on the diatomaceous earth. The dust makes it hard to breathe, and now it feels like bugs are clogging up your lungs. You vape diatomaceous earth. You start cutting and digging into your skin to remove the worms.

It can get really concerning really quickly, but it can be addressed early (before the concerning bit) if we have more empathy and awareness in healthcare. Check in on your friends and advocate for them when necessary. We have to take care of each other.