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/Cantras]

There's an "ask a doctor" syndicated column, Dr. Roach, where people, overwhelmingly old people, write in dear-abby style with their medical details and a "do I need a second opinion" or "is there a better option than this drug" or "why this and this"...

And someone wrote in telling him she was desperate, nobody would believe her about the parasites, she's not on drugs but she'd been to so many doctors and they all said she was crazy, she'd tried ivermectin and various poisons trying to get them out, please help.

Dr Roach, and I'm imagining his writing like he's speaking in a very calm and patient tone, recommended a specific antipsychotic and clarified that he wasn't saying she was crazy: But some things are prescribed off-label for other things, such as a lot of anti-anxiety meds being prescribed for chronic pain and vice-versa, and this particular drug was also good for recalcitrant parasitic infections.

And I thought that was kindof sweet? kind? trying to meet her where she was at.

[u/iwantauniquename → u/Cantras]

Piggybacking top comment to share my experience of something like this:

I developed a weird version of this when I used crystal meth. I think maybe it started when I had dropped some on the floor...”carpet surfing “ is fairly common in stimulant users.

But this soon turned into something different: I was obsessed with the tiny sparkling crystals all over everything. I would get stuck on the floor, crawling around sorting the dust into desirable and non desirable piles. It was no longer drug seeking, I had no thought that they might be meth anymore, it was simply an almost unconscious habit that I would find myself doing. Like, catch myself back on all fours doing it again!

Then I noticed that some sparkles had stuck to my bare skin.

Or were they actually coming from my skin? AM I THE SOURCE OF CONTAMINATION?

It hit me with inspiration: Was I exuding some kind of crystal? It seemed to be irritating my skin, I rubbed at it with my fingertips...

Particularly around any old cut or scab, lots of sparkly crystals there...weird, what could they be? And around the bruised injection sites there seemed to be some beneath the skin, so perhaps this phenomenon WAS connected to my meth use in some strange, obscured way?

It can’t be though. Ummmm. And what about the quilt on my bed? Am I just exuding some kind of waste product?

I picked it up by the corners and began feeding it through my fingers cm by cm, picking off any suspect crystals off the taut fabric...

My skin felt gritty. It seemed like, the more I ran my fingertips over my body, the more of these gritty sparkling flecks would rise from my skin. Sometimes I'd have to pick at them with a grubby nail to dislodge them. Maybe a metal blade would be better? No don't be silly.

On all fours, I examined my pale clammy body....

Jesus it was horrifying. I would ache from contorting, alternately scampering around the dirty floor, then grooming myself like a chimp. For hours and hours, picking at my skin, the floor,my skin, the floor, fingertips black and themselves sore and bleeding.

Utterly deluded but compelled to continue. Inside screaming “stop, stand up, get a shower” but always “ in a minute just a bit longer”.

Scary drug, this all started quite quickly (I am predisposed to mania and the meth triggered it spectacularly), I mean it felt amazing before all this started, although there were definitely other problems with that, too! But the psychosis would trigger every time after that and always the same way

Good to remember why I am sober.

[u/Axe-of-Kindness → u/iwantauniquename]

This was a harrowing read. Thank you for sharing your experience