The Misdiagnosis of Delusional Parasitosis

This is what pops up when you google delusional parasitosis: 

“Delusional parasitosis is a rare disorder in which patients have a fixed, false belief of being infested with parasites. It is often accompanied by a refusal to seek psychiatric care.”

Reading that made me physically ill. I thought of all the people who ended up in psychiatric care getting diagnosed as crazy and prescribed anti-psychotics for a real affliction.  Many of those people became my friends.

One friend from a bird mite support group went to a dermatologist begging for help. Without even examining her, the doctor diagnosed her as delusional. (That kind of label becomes a permanent part of your medical record, by the way.) My friend told her that her husband had the same symptoms. The doctor replied, “Yes, delusions can happen between spouses.” Doctors will diagnose more than one person in the home being affected as “shared delusional parasitosis”.

She showed the doctor bite marks on her skin. The response? “Your brain can manifest those too.”

How is that a medical diagnosis? And how does a doctor notice a growing number of patients reporting the same thing—and conclude they’re all crazy?

Bird mites are different from lice or scabies. They can live off-host and travel over 100 yards to find one. Skin biopsies almost always come back negative—why would a mite sit still on a skin sample when it can move freely? I know firsthand: they found me every night, no matter where I hid. 

I spent countless nights researching, covered in thousands of bugs, desperately seeking answers. I found exactly two articles that mentioned human infestation—and only when entire households were affected. Neither offered real solutions. 

Here are the two articles I found:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03079457.2019.1633010

https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-015-0768-7

Identifying Your Bird Mite

There is a company called VETDNA that will test swab samples taken from a host or environment to help identify your bird mite. However, it’s clearly stated that the company only diagnoses animals—not humans.

Do not call them asking about mites on a human. They will tell you they don’t offer that service. But a swab is a swab, my friends—just swab your skin and the places in your home where you notice the most activity.

There are many mite species you can test for, and you can order the test here:
🔗 https://www.vetdna.com/test-type/whats-biting-me

Where to Get Support

I highly recommend joining bird mite groups on Facebook. These communities can be lifelines—filled with others who understand exactly what you’re going through. The trauma of dealing with an invisible, misunderstood, and often dismissed condition like this is overwhelming, and it’s something no one should have to endure alone.

Finding even one true friend in these groups—someone you can message, vent to, and walk alongside—can make all the difference. The emotional toll of this journey is heavy, and having someone who gets it, who believes you, and who won’t gaslight you is not just helpful—it’s essential.