Delusional Parasitosis

So the doctor has forced you to see a Psychologist – either by refusing to treat you further or because they have strongly recommended it/ referred you. Let me introduce you to the funny farm …. my impressions where scared the living daylights out of me. For context, I’ve been to a few

Getting an appointment in the UK

There are clearly too many of these ‘professionals’, as soon as I got a referral I was swamped with calls trying to book me in and then hassling for follow up’s – if ONLY getting an appointment with the doctors was like this.

You HAVE a mental Condition

As soon as you walk through that door, the assumption is that YOU HAVE A MENTAL condition that needs solving, that is why you have been referred. It dawned on me quickly through a few conversations along the following lines:

‘You are the very definition of delusional because you don’t think you are delusional’

‘You seem to be normal and not a typical sort of patient’

The problem with the profession is that it is entirely decoupled from the normal medical profession and when you have been referred, as far as they are concerned you have a mental condition that needs to be solved – and they have spent a lot of time just training for this. The bar seemed pretty low to me, but I did meet one guy that I had some respect for.

Difficult Questions

It became exhausting to have conversations with them – I would explain that I have not only feelings but physical manifestations of issues around those areas. The were also waking me up etc (Symptoms) .. but it feel on deaf ears, as far as they were concerned I had a mental condition that needed to be solved.

So I folded to them all and agreed that I may have that condition, it could be a possibility. Success gleamed in their eye’s, they were making progress!!!

“Here is the recommended treatment, take this antipsychotic drug for 3 months”

‘What if these don’t work’

‘We will up the dose’

‘What if they don’t work’

‘We’ll keep upping the dose or switch you onto another course of antipsychotics’

‘At what point will you decide that what I have isn’t delusional’

‘………they couldn’t really answer that one’

As I’m typing this, I still cannot believe it – it just scared the living daylights out of me. I couldn’t possibly convince them ever that I actually had something and the only solution was a prolonged course of mind altering drugs.

Physical symptoms were simply ignored – ‘But I’m feeling movement in and around my ears and then I get

Taking Them – A Short Version

Everything that I thought was going to happened, happened.

The pressure to take these things was enormous from friends and my partner. So I agree, and I have to say – things got better for a little time, but then they got MUCH worst as I suspected they would. Antipsychotic’s mask the effects of anything that is actually happening to a certain threshold and then they explode.

I almost immediately had a spike in ear infections and they became constant, the sense of movement around my body increased, getting to sleep was impossible and traumatic. I had 2 young children at the time and lived with my now ex-partner. I effectively isolated myself from them – I couldn’t bear the thought of them potentially catching what I had and going through the insanity of experience I was going through. It put an intolerable strain on our life, and this is one of the main reasons we are not separated. What I would say is this, when you are living this – you are on your own, no one else can understand it – not even those that are close to you – its a very lonely place.

Objectively, these professionals are well meaning – however the system isn’t set up for edge cases … and I think, the advice given become dangerous and life changing with no seeming end accountably by these professionals on the treatments provided.

I weighed carefully if I was indeed suffering delusional Parasitosis and came to mine own conclusion, but you will have to evidence this yourself and the first step towards this is producing ‘something’.