The following survey was sent to approximately 114 active subscribers by email and mailed to an additional 20 who don’t have access to the internet in the Spring of 06. Forty-one completed surveys were sent in by email. No responses were received from the mailed questionnaire.
Do
you know or suspect that you have spring tails? If not certain, see
explanation below!
Have
you been diagnosed as having them?
If
so, who performed the tests and what was involved?
Any
treatment recommended? What were the results?
How
long have you had the symptoms of itching and biting?
Do
you smoke or use any nicotine products?|
If so,
Less
than equivalent of one half pack cigarettes per day?
Between
on half and one pack per day?
One
to two packs per day?
Two
to three packs per day?
More
than three packs per day?
If
yes, how many?
Do
you consume alcoholic beverages on a daily basis, if so, how much?
Have
you been using the diet?
Have
you used ORAP, zyprexa, Doxepin, or Zoloft to control the symptoms?
If
yes, which one, how long, dosage, and what were the results?
Have
you received any diagnosis for delusions of parasites?
Have
you received any other diagnosis for the skin itching?
There may be some confusion as to whether or not you have
Spring Tails which may be holding up your response. Since I haven't been
diagnosed with them, I can only go by my experience and what others tell me, but
they are like this. Suppose you just took a hot bath with Epson salts and wiped
down with tea tree oil and are symptom free--no crawling or biting. Then
you sit on a chair in the carpeted living room and within four or five minutes
you begin to feel random crawling or movement on your ankles or lower legs--you
know nothing could have crawled that far from the floor or your chair in that
amount of time—especially since you can’t see them. Whatever it is, it had
to have jumped there—you don’t actually feel them land, just notice
their presence!! That's spring tails as I know them.
Hope this helps with answering the first question.
Please complete it for yourself and anyone else in your household who may be
infected with the parasites whether you have or do not have spring tails.
Here’s a summary of the returned surveys:
The first
questions regarded spring tails. No one has been diagnosed with spring tails and
roughly 70% of the respondents suspected that they have them.
Smoking: the heart association
gives 19% of smokers as women and 24% as men. Roughly 18% of the women who
responded are smokers and 33% of the men are smokers (but only 12 men completed
the survey) which may not be large enough of a sampling.
Out of 41 completed surveys, however, only one person smokes more than one pack
a day on a regular basis (most are at a ˝ pk/day or less) which suggests the
possibility that nicotine at more than 21 mg./day (roughly 1 mg/cigarette) may
play a role in protecting heavy smokers from being infected with these
parasites. More research is necessary as nicotine in addition to being generally
a health hazard for smokers is primarily used as an insecticide which may
explain why heavy smokers aren’t prone to these parasites. Collembola (spring
tails), one of the infecting parasitic organisms, is an insect.
Diet—those
who use it or a specific variation it for a significant length of time find
results and when they go off the diet, symptoms return within seven to ten days.
Meds
(zyprexa, orap, risperdol… Again, relief is evident (one person couldn’t
tolerate the side effects of ORAP) and when they stop the meds, symptoms return
within 7 to ten days.
For the last several respondents, a question was added to the survey re daily alcohol consumption. Those respondents used less than a drink a week or not at all which may likewise contribute to protection against these parasites. However, too few subscribers were surveyed. More research is necessary as it may be a combination of smoking and alcohol consumption.
Raw data available upon request.