Reply to this discussion piece from Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan. Use research to back up your claim. Use the attached rubric to help assist you.

In the article "Ekbom Syndrome: A Delusional Condition of "Bugs in the Skin"" by Nancy C Hinkle, Ekbom Syndrome is described as a delusional condition where patients believe they have an infestation of bugs in their skin. It is an uncommon condition that only affects around 100,000 Americans (Hinkle 2011). Susannah Calahan is a 24-year-old woman who lives in New York and works as a news reporter for theNew York Post. The book Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness gives Susannah's story of her experiences. Susannah shows similarities as well as differences compared to Ekbom Syndrome. Susannah's condition started with what she believed to be a bed bug bite that is described as "two red dots on the main purplish-blue vein running down my left arm" (Calahan 2020). Because of this, she begins to panic and have dreams of bed bugs which she claims is very out of character for her. Susannah gets her home reviewed by a professional who states that there are no bedbugs in her home. Even with this reassurance, she packs up her belongings that she is convinced are infested with bugs, starts losing sleep, loses appetite, gets behind on work, has sharp headaches, and has a sluggish body (Calahan 2020). Eventually, Susannah decides to be checked out by her doctor who says it is most likely mono. However, after the lab results come back the doctor informs Susannah that she does not have mono, so she must just have a virus she needs to get past (Calahan 2020). Over the following weeks, she becomes hysterical and overly emotional to the point where her co-workers and friends begin to take note and become concerned. She begins going through extreme highs and lows throughout her day.

Susannah's condition has some similarities to Ekbom Syndrome. The main similarity is the obsession that her home is infested with parasites and abandoning items out of fear that she would normally want to hold onto (Hinkle 2011). In contrast, her condition did not progress into the later signs and symptoms of Ekbom Syndrome. This can include visual hallucinations of parasites, skin picking, dermal scarring, and sensations of biting, crawling, and stinging. For someone to be diagnosed with Ekbom Syndrome these signs and symptoms must be present, especially the skin picking and dermal scarring (Hinkle 2011).

References:

Cahalan, S. (2022). InBrain on fire: My month of madness. story, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks.

Hinkle, N. C. (2011, February 23). Ekbom Syndrome: A Delusional Condition of "Bugs in the Skin".