Mysterious condition leaves EC man itching for answers
"It's frustrating for Brian. If it was cancer or heart disease, we'd know what to do. It's taken over his life. He's in a constant state of uncomfortableness. He goes days without sleep at night." - Leeanna Shimek
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com
The stinging and burning keeps him up at night. The small sores are almost a constant, but they blend in with the daily bumps, bruises, nicks and cuts of a person who swings a hammer and wields a saw daily.

Relaxing at his home in El Campo with his dog Kaylee, Brian Shimek is searching for answers to a mysterious skin condition that has been plaguing him for years. The first time he noticed fiber like hairs was in January 2005. L-N Photo by Shannon Crabtree

Then there are the fibers he finds, but can't explain in the wounds.

But worst of all, Brian Shimek, age 50, of El Campo says, is the lack of available treatment.

Doctors say they don't know what he has.

The Internet has led him to the self-diagnosis of Morgellons.

But that's not much help.

The Center for Disease Control calls Morgellons an "unexplained skin condition" characterized by a "range of (skin) symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads, fibers, or black specklike materials on or beneath the skin; and/or skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores)."

Giving the condition which has plagued him for three years, a name is something of a comfort, Shimek said. At least now he's found a group of people trying to cope with the same symptoms and hunting for the same answers.

This coming weekend he and hundreds who feel they have the same undiagnosed condition will be gathering in Austin at the Charles E. Holeman seminar with more than a hundred doctors and nurses trying to raise awareness for the condition and hoping to find some help.

"We do not know the cause of this condition or whether this condition is new," the CDC says on its Web site. "CDC has received an increased number of inquires from persons who report similar symptoms; therefore, we are conducting an investigation to learn more about this unexplained dermopathy."

The recent increase in the number of calls, however, "may represent an increase in the awareness of this condition rather than an actual increase in the number of persons with this condition," the CDC site adds.

Shimek can recall the exact day he believes he became infected - Jan. 25, 2005 at the bay.

It's been a nightmare ever since, he said, adding health conditions aren't a norm for him. Now a private contractor, Shimek spent five years as a commercial diver and 14 years in competition league Class A Slow Pitch softball.

"I can only remember having the flu one or two times in my life," he said, adding the first incident occurred while he was examining a vacant house down at the bay.

"I thought it was fleas attacking me from my toes to my knees, but then I bent over and it got on my face," he said.

A doctor in Palacios prescribed a medicine which offered some initial relief, but the attacks came back.

"I still thought it was fleas," he said, adding that with a new puppy in the house he quickly began to spray and fumigate trying to kill out what he thought was an infestation.

But nothing seemed to last long and family members didn't seem to be affected at all.

"It's frustrating for Brian," his sister Leeanna Shimek said. "If it was cancer or heart disease, we'd know what to do. It's taken over his life. He's in a constant state of uncomfortableness. He goes days without sleep at night."

Although some skin treatments help, nothing completely eliminates the problem, Shimek said, adding it seems to get worse as the sun goes down.

But whether that's a true part of the condition, or simply the mind paying more attention when not distracted by work, he says he doesn't know.

"I've had 17 visits to the doctor - 11 of them to the emergency room," Shimek said, adding no firm diagnosis has resulted.

Instead he found common ground in an Internet chat room where people with similar conditions share their concerns, research and hope.

"My symptoms are exactly as others have described," he said, adding, "It's not life threatening, but there is a lot of frustration and fatigue."

A lab at the University of Oklahoma is studying the condition and on Jan. 16, the CDC announced a year-long study on the condition would be conducted by Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Division of Research.

In an effort to determine who is affected and why, the study will include skin biopsies from affected patients and an effort to determine what exactly the mysterious fibers associated with the condition mean.

The $364,000 study is too little, Shimek said, adding he hopes the upcoming weekend conference can do more.

"It's a bitter sweet victory (the study)," he added, saying coming out to speak on the condition isn't easy - especially while living in a small community like El Campo.

"But how else are we going to get recognition?" he said. "I grew up knowing that Grandpa was crazy, but we later found out he actually had Alzheimer's."