Imaginary Fleas

Hello, I have posted before about my ex, I was with for 28 years and started to accuse me of having affairs with people I didn't even know.
We are separated but still in the same house for one week a month until my new house is ready.
He now thinks he has fleas and is a "host" to them . He blames me of course because the dog got out of the yard when I was home and picked up a couple of fleas from somewhere.
I promptly treated the dog with flea powder and rid her of the fleas but it has now been 12 months and he has spent thousands of dollars trying to get rid of non existent fleas from him and the house and his car.
I have never seen a flea or never been bitten and neither have my kids.
he has put that many chemicals and pestisides into and on his body, Im amazed he is still alive.
He soaks and washes his bedding everyday and throws out and buys new clothes every week.
I could go on and on about the strange things he has said and done to do with these fleas over the last 12 months
I have told him he needs to see a phsycologist but he insists these fleas are real and there is nothing wrong with his mind.

What a difficult spot to be in (for you). It sounds like a form of aggression towards you. I imagine it feels like that on your end, too. He can keep blaming you for the “fleas” that aren’t really there. The sooner you move out and disconnect from him, the better. Once these guys get something in their heads, it’s impossible to dislodge.

Agree with Nmkim.

For me personally if I'm around someone and I start to feel like I have fleas crawling all over me and I'm itching then it's a sign I really do not want to be around that person. Once I acknowledge that it's actually because I don't want to be around that person the flea feeling stops but if someone is so caught in the delusion and doesn't want to face what's causing it then it's impossible to get through to them.

This condition sounds like it might be a form of Morgellons (delusional parasitosis).

-- Thu Nov 21, 2019 3:00 am --

This condition sounds like it might be a form of Morgellons (delusional parasitosis).

This fixation with imaginary fleas, or similar, is happening with my mom, too.
Her delusional disorder began 10 years ago, at age 68, and at first she though her then-husband was having multiple affairs, and that he was sanding her furniture.
A couple years later, with her poor husband enduring weekly accusations, she thought he was going to kill her and she left, and thankfully her doctor convinced her to admit herself to a geriatric psychiatric unit, where she stayed for 2 weeks. The doctors there referred to her delusions as 'fixed' and tried anti-psychotics, but the medication didn't change her delusions at all.
My mom and her husband divorced, which was strongly encouraged by the psychiatric hospital experts, and which my sister and I were relieved about because we could see the stress on her husband, a dear man who was then in his 70s.
She moved to an apartment on her own, and became convinced he was still entering all the time, to damage her furniture or move things around, or take things, to then return them later. There are so many other things she was suspicious of, too many to list here. She spent money on cameras and door alarm monitoring.
Anyway, a few years ago, she said her apartment has fleas, but get this, her dog did not! She still spent hundreds of dollars on flea treatments. She even took what she thought were flea carcasses to a dermatologist, and was told she has delusions. (She's received that diagnosis from various doctors, to no avail)
She started to say her ex-husband is blowing dust and fleas on her through holes in the ceiling, and that he lives in the apartment above her. A few months later, she said she had the fleas under control, but then earlier this year, she started saying she now has mites all over her body. She puts various tree oils and who knows what else all over herself, and does a lot of laundry. She caused a rash on her face, probably from putting various 'treatments' on. And now she also picks at her imaginary mites.
A month ago, she suddenly signed a new lease with a new apartment, saying she has to get away from her ex-husband (who, in actuality, is in his 80s now, can't walk well, and lives hours away from her). We worked very hard to help her move, though she didn't consult with me about whether it was convenient, and yet we knew with 100% certainty that moving would not stop her delusions.
Sure enough, it's been just 2 weeks since the move and a few days ago she told me her ex-husband lives in the apartment above her.
She still thinks she has mites, and she's also developed olfactory and auditory hallucinations. She thinks she hears her ex-husband whistling, and gets angry with us when we say we can't hear anything. And she thinks she smells vapors or fumes that he's blowing on her somehow.
We're hopeful that the new place she moved to, which has independent apartments, but also has assisted living services, will place barriers on her behavior, or somehow enforce mental health treatment. We'll see.
I'm also 100% certain that even if her ex-husband passes away before she does, she will still think he's tormenting her, or that he's hired people to do it after his death.