Joni Mitchell is expected to make her first Grammy performance at the 2024 Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 4. The 80-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter has only made a few live appearances after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2015.
Following his hospitalization in 2015, much attention was drawn to Mitchell’s rare condition known as Morgellons disease, which he has spoken about candidly in the past. The little-known skin condition is characterized by patients experiencing biting and stinging sensations under the skin. However, the controversial situation sparked reactions from the medical community; many believe the symptoms are due to a psychiatric disorder.
In 2010, Mitchell described Morgellons disease symptoms, Morgellons disease symptoms los angeles times. Mitchell described seeing “fibers of various colors coming out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm: they cannot be forensically identified as animal, plant or mineral” and suggested that the disease was “as if it had come from outer space”.
According to the Mayo Clinic, several thousand people who report suffering from Morgellons disease describe their symptoms as skin rashes or sores that can cause intense itching; sensation of crawling on and under the skin, often compared to moving, stinging, or biting insects; and the belief that fibers, threads, or black fibrous material are present in and on the skin.
“I couldn’t wear clothes. “I couldn’t leave my house for several years,” Mitchell wrote of her symptoms in her 2014 memoir: Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words. “Sometimes it happens that I have to crawl on the ground. My legs were cramping, like a polio spasm. “Polio hit every place I had it,” said Mitchell, who contracted polio at the age of nine.
Morgellons disease is believed to have been named in 2002 by Mary Leitao, who rejected a doctor’s decision that her two-year-old son was suffering from delusions after lesions began to appear on the inside of his lip. He discovered the term “moregellons” in a letter from the physician Sir Thomas Browne, who noted a similar disease in 17th-century French children.
However, there is a limited number of studies on Morgellons disease, and the studies have yielded conflicting results. In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published one of the largest studies on Morgellons disease. The CDC analyzed 115 people who reported Morgellons symptoms between 2006 and 2008. In this population-based study, the majority of people who reported having Morgellons were white women in their early to mid-50s.
The results showed that most of the fibers in skin wounds could be explained by repeated itching. The researchers also found that some fiber samples were derived from cellulose, a component of cotton fibers found in clothing, while dyes were also detected in some samples.
Ultimately, the study found that “similar to more commonly known conditions such as delusional intrusion, no common underlying medical condition or infectious source was identified.”
A case study was later conducted by the Mayo Clinic in 2011; Here, researchers analyzed 108 patients who believed their inflamed, itchy skin was the result of an insect infestation. The study concluded that the sores in many patients were caused by scratching and picking at their skin. In a 2016 study, researchers collected fibers from a person who reported having Morgellons disease and compared them to fibers collected from around the apartment, such as human hair, pet hair, or plastic fibers. The study found that fibers in Morgellons disease lesions actually come from the environment, not the body.
Meanwhile, a smaller study in 2017 analyzed 35 Morgellons patients at the Royal London Hospital in the United Kingdom. Researchers found that participants exhibited common psychological conditions, including depression or anxiety, in 48.2 percent and 25.7 percent, respectively. Current or past substance abuse was also reported in 14 percent of participants. When a treatment plan was implemented that focused on both treating skin lesions and addressing mental health, 40 percent of participants showed significant improvement.
Due to the lack of understanding surrounding Morgellons disease, effective treatment options are still unknown. However, victims have found support from groups such as the Morgellons Research Foundation. In an interview in 2013 StarMitchell explained that he alleviated the symptoms of Morgellons disease with the help of a doctor and addressed the controversy surrounding the condition.
“I haven’t been doing much lately because I just recovered from an illness that had been slowing down for about seven years,” he said at the time. “I wasn’t cured, but I found an unusually helpful doctor. Western medicine says it doesn’t even exist, it’s a psychotic illness. Not like that.”
In addition to the “Case of You” singer, other artists Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, U2, Travis Scott, Luke Combs, Burna Boy and Billy Joel are expected to perform at the 66th Grammy Awards. This year’s Grammy Awards will be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah and will be broadcast live by CBS from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles starting at 8pm ET/5pm PT.