Ekbom's Syndrome
"I don't know what is
happening to me. Lately, I'm tired all the time, my mouth is dry, and my
muscles are all sore."
Miry walked around the house
restlessly, "I must be getting old". She ran her hand across her
face, letting the sleeve absorb the droplets of sweat between the wrinkles.
"What will happen to me next? Cancer? I'm fifty-one, I never got married,
and I have no children."
She glanced at a picture of an
elderly couple hugging a short middle-aged woman that was hanged on the wall. "Even
then my hair was grey. That trip to the woods was amazing. I miss my parents so
much…"
A trail of blood followed her
footsteps on the ceramic tiles. "And this terrible crawling sensation.
It's so creepy." She repeatedly itched her body until the nails tore
through the flesh. "Why bugs? I hate bugs… How did they get under my skin?
I have to do something about this."
She remembered watching a crime
series on TV once. There was this specialist that helped solving murders by
identifying insects on the bodies. How was he called again? An entomologist.
She had to find one. Fast.
She sat near the computer and
looked for entomologists in her neighborhood. Bingo.
"I have to change clothes and
get rid of the blood. I can't go out like this." She hurried to the shower
and got some clean clothes. On her way out, she grabbed the matchbox that was
laying on the kitchen table.
***
Miry agitatedly knocked on the
wooden door, leaving traces of blood on the metal sign. "Dr. Edward
Wilson" it read.
A deep voice came from the other
side of the door, "I'm coming, I'm coming." The door opened. A small
man in a white robe stood in front of Miry. "Yes? How may I help
you?" He stared at her through the small lances of his golden glasses.
"My name is Miry. You have to
help me doctor, I don't know what to do. I can't take this anymore… It's
driving me insane… Make it stop!"
The small man had a stern look upon
him. He noticed the stains of blood on Miry's shirt. "Come in dear, tell
me all about it."
Edward led Miry through his dark
and stuffed laboratory. She clenched her teeth and fists every time they passed
near a glass tank full of insects.
They sat in his office. As if the
glass tanks were not enough, the walls were filled with pictures of weird
insects. Miry did her best not to take her eyes off the old doctor, thus
avoiding any possible little horrors accidently entering her line of sight.
"What happened?" Edward
asked.
Miry started itching again,
"Bugs. There are bugs under my skin. I can feel them crawling inside
me."
"Stop itching, that won't do
any good. Let me check you. Take your shirt off." Edward took out a pair
of white gloves and examined Miry's wounded skin. "You are lucky to have
come here you know. Most entomologists are not doctors, but I happen to be one
myself. You should have gone to the hospital with these wounds. Even if I'll be
able to determine the cause of the problem, you will still have to get proper
treatment."
Miry started crying as Edward
checked her. "Please, I'm begging you, take them out."
Edward took his gloves off, and
threw them in the garbage can. "Why do you think you have parasites under
your skin?" He asked, giving her back the shirt.
"I can feel them, burrowing,
eating me from inside. It's horrible."
"Well Miry, I can see no sign
of parasites in your skin. I think there is something else that causing you
this. You should go to a hospital immediately to check what it is."
"It has to be insects,
look," Miry took out a matchbox, handing it to Edward. He opened it and
inspected the inside. After a moment, he carefully took out of the box what
seemed to be a single hair.
"I don't understand," He
said and scratched his head.
"It's theirs. I found it on my
shirt yesterday. It must be a part of their hellish body."
"It's just human hair Miry.
Parasites don't have such hair," Edward said with the calmest tone he
could make.
"No. You're lying! I know it
came from them."
"You can trust me. I know a
lot about insects. Why else would you have come to see me?"
"I trust you. It's just
that…"
"Come, I'll take you to the
hospital. If there are really parasites under your skin, they can get it
out."
Miry held the tears in, wiping her
wet face with her palms. She nodded.
***
Miry sat on the bed in a hospital
robe. Her hands rest on her thighs, and a lifeless expression hanging on her
face.
"Miry, there's someone here
who wants to speak with you. I'll be outside." Edward said and left the
room.
A minute later, a tall woman
dressed in black came through the door.
"Miry?" The woman asked
as she bent over to look in Miry's eyes.
No reaction. Only her eyes slowly
rose to look at the woman.
"My name is Amanda. I'm a
psychiatrist. I'm here to help you with your problem, and explain what happened
to you. Can you understand what I'm saying?"
Miry nodded.
Amanda sat next to Miry, holding
her hand. "I know you're thinking that you have insects under your skin,
but that's not the situation. The feeling that you felt, the crawling
sensation, is called Formication, or pins and needles. It's very common, and
can happen due to several reasons. I saw that you declared that you don't take
drugs, is that true?"
Miry nodded.
"That's good. Sometimes people
suffer from this sensation because of drugs, but since that's not the case
here, we think that there's another reason. Tell me, did you have any problems
with your period lately?"
Another slow and stiff nod.
"Mmm… You see, Formication is
one of the possible effects of Menopause, a transition that signals the end of
the fertile phase of a woman's life. Although quite rare, Formication can
sometimes be misunderstood and lead to delusional parasitosis, which is a form
of psychosis. In other words, this crawling sensation can make someone think
that he has insects under his skin. That's what happened to you. And like most
people with delusional parasitosis, you also searched for an entomologist
instead of a psychiatrist. I know it sounds bad, but this state can be treated
quite easily with the right medication. That's why we had to drug you in order
for you to receive treatment. Do you understand what I just explained?"
Tears started going down Miry's
face. Another nod.
"Good. You will be back to
normal in a few days, but until then we'll have to keep you here. You were very
lucky to have seen Edward. Someone else might have not brought you to the
hospital, and you could have died. I will let you rest now."
Amanda slowly stood up and walked
to the door.
Miry lay down. She listened to the
tapping of Amanda's high heels as she walked farther away from the room.
Slowly, she fell asleep.
The End
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