Imaginary bugs, AAAAARGH!!!
 

I've had imaginary water running down my calves, imaginary spiders crawling on my legs and arms and scalp, and imaginary "things" flying around the house.

This is the first time I've had imaginary things biting me. I've looked in the mirror TWICE, sure there were little teeny bugs biting my scalp, ears, neck, forehead. I even got the magnifying mirror, but they AREN'T THERE!!!

If they don't drive me crazy, I'll end up slapping myself to death trying to kill them. AAAAAARGH!!!

aww, that sounds awful. :hug: Can you call the MD in the AM? they must have something that will help you.

Can you try ice packs, or hot packs, or massage, or tickles? something to change the sensation? I cant imagine how exhausted you must be.

Withdrawal
 

Have you stopped or started any new medications recently? Sounds similar to DT's but I know that's not it. However, stopping a med abruptly could have same effect? I've had itching like that, but never mistook for bugs, although I could see how one might. Like to have drove me crazy. I truly understood suicidal impulses for the first time. Turned out to be either Tofranil, a tricyclic antidepressant I had taken for years, or the pink dye used to make the caps [got similar reaction to pink and white benedryl]. Hope you find relief SOONEST! With genuine empathy - billie

PS: Try Cortisone shot + Cortisone dose pack. OR scabies? I don't think you can see them.

I used to get what we in the upstate ny area called "sweat bug" bites. Whether that's a real bug or not - have NO idea. But it has a tendancy to happen if you sleep in one position and sweat heavily at night - especially in summer. It can feel like something is biting you and can become a rash over time.

If you haven't been having problems with being too hot at night, it could be a nerve thing too. If it's driving you batty, you probably should give your doc a call. :hug::hug:

The bug crawling feeling was my first symptom. Lasted about 2 months. started with a bug falling down my trouser leg, then he'd run up my top.

Advanced to left neck, ear and shoulder- millions of fetherlight tap dancing micro bugs. I'm convinced van gogh had ms as I would gladly have cut off my own ear to get away from the crawling. That sentiment was what convinced my GP there was something going on with me.

I still have the ear thing. Just cut off lots of hair to stop it itching my neck and face. It gets painful when my hair brushes my face.
I have a permanent cat rubbing up against my leg.
My thigh and knee has a burnt feel.
and will someone PLEASE tell the FOOL tapping on my side to get lost !!

i thought mine was scabies also. fortunately, it was all in my mind... :rolleyes:

B2U,
I had all the same sensory symptoms as you are getting. That's what they are. They are invisible to the doctor, but yet you can feel them. It is the nerves under the skin, and your sensory perception.

The bug bites are a slight electrical shock that your mind interprets to be a bug. The brain names it for what it knows in the past. The wet pant leg used to drive me crazy, but that left after a few years.

I still get the "I feel like there is a bug crawling in my head in bed sensation", like a spider or whatever. I get the bug bite feeling on my legs, arms, side of face, mostly anywhere it wants. But more so when I am in a relapse.

I really think they are all slight electrical signals, from the brain, that you feel, because they have gone haywire.

I think your brain may re-wire itself over time, and the feelings start to change for the good or the bad. Sometimes I try to ignore them and darn it, a mosquito gets me. It was real. I hate when that happens.

Neurontin is supposed to help with sensory systems, but it stopped working for me after 7 years on it.

Just letting you know others get this too. We all perceive them a little different, like Pud's friend said hers were like.

And like dejibo said, try to change the feeling. If it is pain, rub it or put heat on it or cold. If it burns try a vibration, try to change the sensation your brain thinks its feels. It is real, you are not the only one. :)

Hi B2Y -
You are definitely not alone with those weird sensory feelings.

I get some of them - mostly the 'biting' - I call them electric shocks. I grab my leg at the speed of lightning thinking it's a flea or something!

I only had the scalp-bug-crawling on 2 occasions, and bug-crawling on my hips too.

i'm sorry i don't have any suggestions to help them go away, but I hope it does soon.


Michelle

Thanks, everyone. It's better this morning. It lasted about three or four hours. At first I thought it was fleas, gnats, or maybe even cooties. Then I thought allergy of some kind.

But when you think about it, when a bug bites you, it DOES feel rather like a little electric shock. I guess unless something crawls down my face and makes Bob scream, I'm going to call it one more stupid MS thing until further notice.

*sigh*

Didnt you get a cootie shot in grade school? My best friend insisted that I get one. She said "boys have cooties! you need protection" I am so glad I did. I havent seen a cootie since. :p

I am glad you are feeling better. :hug:

I hate that too. When I get those crawlies...I have to check it out just
in case there arnt REAL bugs crawling. For me , its much better now
that it is cooler. I hope you are feeling better this am.:)

Wow..here I thought I was going NUTS! I saw this thread and I just had to reply. I have not been actually diagnosed with MS yet but they are pretty certain that I have it. I have TOS & CRPS/RSD and all the signs of MS.

For the past several months I have been going crazy with this bug feeling. It started on a trip to see family and I felt like I had ants on back. At times it actually felt like bee stings. It would come and go. Then it started on my legs with this feeling of bugs crawling all over me. I would be in the grocery store, in the dairy aisle looking at my legs and slapping myself like I had bugs on me. I felt like such an idiot! Nothing was there but it feels like it!

I get this feeling often and I'm always looking at my legs and arms for bugs. My back also gets it. Here I thought I was going nuts! I also feel like I have water on me at times. It's weird but now it makes sense after reading your posts.

I just try to ignore it when it happens. I'm on large amounts of neurontin which helps. I've been on it for over 2 years now. My problems never seem to end.

This is an interesting thread.

Those of us with Peripheral Neuropathy, we get this too.

That water going down the leg... I had this as the beginning symptom of Meralgia Paresethetica. This is an entrapment of the lateral femoral nerve. I had it for years, from my C-section surgery. It progressed to terrible stabbing pain attacks. When Lidoderm patches came out I tried them, and with time the nerve settled down, so now I hardly have much problems anymore with it.

The bug sensations, I get them on my lower legs. Sometimes.
Certain foods make them worse. MSG additive for one. and also nightshade veggies (esp potatos). I also have a over sensativity to the hairs on my lower legs. If any breeze brushes them it feels like bugs. When I shave I always seem to miss a few here and there, and when those move...it is an odd sensation. In winter when my legs are covered, I don't have those feelings at all. If I sleep with the fan on, I can get these anywhere!

Another thing that can do this peripheral nerve thing is Candida. So if you have a yeast infection it might activate these sensations..itching. The byproducts of Candida release aldehydes and they affect the sensory nerve endings.

So while I don't have MS I can relate to this post. Over the years we have had PNers who post similarly.

I find MSG makes many weird lil symptoms crop up for me. I think I am overly senstive now that I have been completely weaned from it, and go far out of my way to avoid it. When I find it has been secretly added to a food I didnt expect, or wasnt included in the list of ingredients, and I had to look it up to find out, I get headaches, crawlies, itchies, and more.

I hope you are feeling better today. :hug:

B2Y, I get this sx alot. Right now I'm having the feeling of water on my lower legs and feet. I'm also having the itchies....especially on my back.

I had the feeling of bugs crawling for about a week and it nearly drove me mad! I knew nothing was there but had to look anyway....just in case! :o

Can't we have a day (or even just an hour) where all our sx just quiet down? I don't think that's too much to ask. :rolleyes:

I've had a bug on the back of my head for a couple years now. In summer, I get them on my shoulders and lower legs, feet. Those tend to bite. Get the dripping water thing too.

Weird thing is, I don't ususally feel it if a real bug is on me. The other day, a fire ant got me - didn't feel him crawling on me or biting, but that stung for a while after. Then I had the creepie crawlies all night, ugh.

This thread is making me itch. :o

Speaking of BUGS.... You know I had to deal with the "lice" issue at work. Parents bringing in kids when school starts, when the first wave of new cases appear commonly.

Well, one night when I was doing midnights in the summer, 2 adults came in, the gal dressed in a sun dress and the older gentleman in a Hawaiian shirt mostly unbuttoned and shorts. It was about 2am or so. So she asked me what we had for lice. And I said, where is the problem?, and she pointed to his chest, and when I looked CAREFULLY...his chest hair was MOVING! I am TELLING you I was itching/hyper all night from then on. I cleaned and cleaned the counters, doors, the MONEY even. Talk about the power of suggestion....I was a mess for the rest of the night :yikes:

Mrs D., I am sure that the bugs didn't stop at his chest hair. Yikes! I would have given him a bottle of Rid-X and a box of gauze pads, and sent him on his way fast.:eek:

I, too, would have gassed the places he was even near.:)

Right now I have those tiny Gnats and 'No See Ums" getting in my window screens, now that the A/C is off. They bite like crazy. Only me of course. :cool:

I tried everything to keep them out. They swarm at dusk outside, ever run into a bunch of them? Yet they enter the windows all day.:confused: Any ideas?

oo oo oo, the creepy crawlies..:mad:

OK, I just have to share this story as I can totally relate.

Last week I was sitting at my desk when it started. I didn't even look or touch the area as I've gotten used to it and just blow it off. It is just too annoying and frustrating to keep looking and nothing is there.

A while later, I got a slight kind of burning/odd sensation so I just had to look. Blood was dripping down my leg.:eek: I never felt the cut. :confused: Earlier in the day I had tripped over the cat and my shin hit the wicker laundry basket I have in my bathroom. There are little pieces of wicker that stick out at the top where it is woven to make the rim. (I think you all know what I am trying to explain). I must have hit it just right to cause this big gash in my shin. It was pretty nasty.