Do any of you ever feel like there's something just crawling on you? Like a tiny little spider crawling across your body or head? Or am I really losing it this time???

Yikes. Maybe I have lice! How can you tell if you have lice? Don't know where I would have picked them up. I don't have kids, and not generally around little ones. Could it just be another swell peri symptom?

LOL freakofnature....last year(before i realized what was going on) i had my hubby check my head all the time because i thought maybe i had lice.It really feels like something crawling,but it's not.I am assuming it's just a peri symptom since i have it quite often and i'm bug-free.

THANK YOU! I really didn't think about it being lice until I was posting, then of course I started obsessing.

I wonder if it's possible to give my body to medical science NOW?!

Lol!! Oh gosh, I know JUST what you are talking about! Sometimes I feel like there is a cobweb on me......and I'll try to brush it off, but there is nothing there! LMBO! My daughter says I am LOSING it for sure!! It's quite humiliating when people look at you like you're just swatting at air!
Yep..........that is certainly a menopause symptom!! UGH!

EXACTLY! I feel like a lunatic walking through a store batting at my hair, or brushing something off my face - and there's nothing there.

Well, as always, it's comforting not to be alone!

Thanks!

*giggles*.... SURE feels good knowing I'm not the only one with the cob web syndrome!
HUGS!

I get the creepy crawlies once in a while too. One really annoying thing that I've experienced is the feeling like something is tickling the inside of my left ear. My Dr has looked at it twice and there's nothing wrong. It doesn't hurt or get worse, just feels like something is crawling in my ear. I had it for several months and then it went away, but now it's back. What can it be except a strange peri symptom?

Actually, the "crawling" feeling as though bugs are crawling all over your body IS a symptom of perimenopause. It has a name - it's called ForMication (have to be careful of how I type that).

This passage is from one of the guest chats with Ruth Jacobowitz, medical journalist and author of numerous books on menopause AND a frequent visitor to Power Surge:


RSEquines: I've been plagued with muscle tingles -- creepy crawlies in the arms--can you explain hormonally what could create this situation?

Ruth Jacobowitz: Yes, you're probably dealing with one of the rarer symptoms of menopause, called formication

RSEquines: What on earth is formication--sounds awful!

Ruth Jacobowitz: It is described as ants crawling on the skin and can best be explained by realizing that our skin is our largest organ, covered with estrogen receptors that at menopause begin to cry out for their missing estrogen.


You can read the full transcript by clicking here. At the bottom of her transcript, you'll find links to her other transcripts as well.

I'd like to see what spell-check would do with this one!

Thanks so much for the information. Very interesting.

Now I can really appreciate the saying, "I'm out of estrogen and I have a gun."

Hope everyone has a cobweb-free day!

Both my ears itch, I get the same thing happening. I feel like my skin is itching, mostly on the upper body and mostly for me on my back. Right between the shoulder blades. I bought a shower brush, and that seems to help matters, but it goes with cycles with me. Some days nothing itches at all, then in the latter half of my cycle, everything is itchy galore!!!!!

Jules

Hi Jules - I'll get an itchy ear every once in a while, but my crawly feeling is mostly head and arms.

I have a back brush, too, and I recently got one of those body lotion dispensers with the long handle (looks like a back brush) that you fill the little reservoirs with lotion and there are tiny balls that roll the lotion onto your skin. I can reach all the places on my back. Ahhhhhhhhh.

Hi Ladies,

I too get the itchy ears and it happens at night. Last night was terrible. I actually woke myself with my fingers in my ears trying to scratch the itch.

But another thing I have been dealing with is twitching muscles in my legs mainly the right one and my feet. The best way to describe the feeling it is that it feels like a rippling sensation, like worms moving under my skin. I know that sounds terrible but it is the best way to describe it. It only lasts for a few second but it is annoying. Please let me know if any one else has had this as a peri symptom or do I have reason to think this is a horrible disease?

This month has been a bad month for me starting right at ovulation. Is this connected to the estrogen hormone?

Needing some encouragement
Maeflower

Hi Mayflower,

Sounds like it might be hormone fluctuations or something. I truly understand, its so up and down for me also. I get kinda in a funk, then I can't think, don't even ask me anything complicated or I'll cry..............ahhhhhhhh

Then it fades away and comes back again, dose this sound like you??? Before this all happened, I could expect a bad time during PMS, now its all the time, without a real pattern.

As for your foot thing, could be muscle spasms??? I stand on my feet all day, and they hurt and have weird pains lately. Mine feel like acking and burning, and I can't always get my legs comfortable when trying to fall asleep, all this started with my "peri" symtoms and just keeps getting weirder as the time goes on. Go figure, lol.

All this probably isn't cheering you, sorry!!!! I wanted to encourage as there is better days ahead, so I kinda learned now to live for them, and when the super funk hits me, I just curl up and read a book, stay away from everyone, so that they don't have to deal with me. Let me know how its going.

Love, Jules

Hi Jules,

Thanks for the words. They did encourage me because it is comforting to know that others are going through the same thing.

What is so frustrating for me is that I have a couple of good months and then get hit with a bad month. I started using progesterone cream a month ago and I had a great month last month so I thought I had finally found some relief. Then the muscle twitches started again and the internal shaking took off. There are some symptoms that I can handle just fine - breast soreness, headaches, tiredness, even the heart palps (to a point) but this internal shaking and the feeling that my skin is crawling freaks me out. I feel like something terrible is going on inside. But when I keep track of all my symptoms they seem to be in a cycle so then I tell myself to be logical and that it must be part of peri.

And we have to go through how many years of this? Thanks for the comfort you all give here at PS.

Maeflower

I get the 'restless legs', too. It's usually the worst the week before my period. I've seen supplements at the health food stores for this, but have never tried them.

I also have one good month, then one bad. Maybe it depends on which side you're ovulating from????

Do any of you find that some days you absolutely can't stand wearing a top with long sleeves? Until recently, I would never go sleeveless at work (I'm work in an office). But now, I can wear a jacket over a sleevless top for about 5 minutes, then I just drives me NUTS! I hate having my bare arms hanging out at work, but the alternative is running screaming from the building!

Hi Liz,

I too have had times where I can't stand to wear something but for me a couple of months ago it was a bra. I absolutely drove me nuts to wear a bra. I ended up getting several of those stretchy camisole tops that have a shelf bra sewn in and I could handle that fine. Now, I have been having problems being too cold and then too hot. So I start out wearing warm clothes and then ripping clothes off because I'm roasting. It's not like a full blown hot flash but similar. Also my legs feel like there is something crawling on them at times and thats when I can't stand wearing pants.

I guess you can't win.

Maeflower

PS. Glad to know that you also have good months and bad months. Maybe there is a connection with which side ovulation is on.

Well.............I don't know about the ovulation thing, as I only have one ovary, lol. So that counts that theory out, sorry!!!!! Maybe we just don't bounce back like we used to. Things seen to be much harder on the body with hormone changes. Probably the surges are to a different degree at different times, thats why its so unpredictable???

Balance is something we don't have right now, so we just have to endure..........

Jules

I get the "funk" times, too, fatigue and brain isn't working. This goes in and out. Not fun, but like you Jules, I think the best thing is to just sit and do restful things when necessary. Then, when things wheel around again, I run around trying to catch up with all the stuff I haven't gotten to!


Fun, huh?

Well, I guess my Theory of Ovulation is wrong!

Maeflower - My bra strap will bother me when I'm getting a migraine! Just that little bit of pressure (it's not like the straps are holding up a lot of weight!) really is uncomfortable. It's just my left side, but a lot of days I'm walking around with one strap down and the other up - but only when I have long sleeves on! Can't do it when I'm sleeveless and I want to be sleeveless all the time! It's a vicious circle.

Take care!

Like today I feel so wore out! Like last night as we were talking I felt so tired just talking, plus
I get all these strange sensation going on, like my mouth feel likes it’s twitching or I feel like my
skin burning, etc~ This menopause thing has made it were I just can’t be the friend I use to
be...My friends said, we should get together do lunch or something, I’m thinking I can hardly do
this, lol. And just thinking about doing lunch or something wears me out...Yeah I feel old, lol. But
I know it will pass, my mother in her 70's now, she was done at 45. She told me once she went
through it menopause, she felt human again, energy was back and felt great. So I’m looking
forward to crossing that road. I gues it would make sense to not feel well, after all I remember
feeling sickly for about 3 years before I had my first period at 14. Renita

Hello
Yes there is times we we don't just feel like we want to.
I call it being lazy but its more than that.
I just try & do the things that i feel like doing
then when the mood strikes me I just catch up.
We have to sorta baby ourselves right now.

I think maybe its our moods that are swinging
around too much.

Good Luck

Angel

My upper arms itched so bad yesterday, I have bruises today from scratching!

I really DO feel like a Freak of Nature!

Ditto to all the symptoms that have been mentioned: Itching in ear canal, twitching or quivering in my legs under the skin, maddening crawling itch that moves all over my scalp and body.

However, I had a total hysterectomy at age 38. I'm now 59. This itching usually occurs for a few days and then disappears. I have taken a tranquilizer (Valium) and it stopped the itch.

Other info: I have diabetes which I control by diet. I have wondered about kidney problems, since a doctor once said that itching was a sign of end-stage kidney disease.

These symptoms we have seem to be common enough that doctors should know the cause!

Hi, just found this site tonight while trying to do a search on crawling, itching skin from head to toe. I have to take pain meds for pinched nerves in my neck and thought i was having an allergic reaction to it, so the doc changed my meds and i'm still having these feelings. I wake up in the middle of the night either from the pain or scratching myself all over.. I had no idea this was a symptom of menopause. My reaction to that is..."Just flippin' great...one more thing to deal with!!" But thank the Good Lord above that it brought me to this site. It's great to find someplace to go for help. Actually, I have found two board forums that will be a great help to me....

I guess it's just nice to know that I'm not alone in this....

Just reading this thread Renita and you make a very interesting comment here. My daughter, who is nearly 12 years old, has felt sickly for the last 2 years. Sometimes she looks really pale and tired looking. I've taken her to the dopctors many times, shes had all kind of tests and I really think ( and the doctor thinks) that its hormonal. Its a shame it has to affect one so young.


Gez

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I have been having muscle twitches and feelings of something crawling on me all day!!

A little history...my husband and I have three kids ages 15, 12 and 20 months!! After the 12 year old we decided we were done and hubby had a vasectomy. In Oct. 2002 we decided we wished we'd had one more...vas. reversal Dec. '02, pregnant April '03, baby boy born January '04!!! He is a wonderful blessing, but I guess having a baby after a long hiatus wreaked havoc on my body (I'm 35). I breastfed for 13 months and as soon as I quit...Bam!! straight into a state of anxiety unlike any I've ever known. I was put on Zoloft in June. I was on it for approximately 10 weeks and hated every minute of it. It gave me some strange side effects that I decided were just not worth it. I've been off for about 5 weeks and have had some nasty withdrawal, but was getting better. All of a sudden, yesterday and today, I've gotten these weird twitches. My bottom lip twitches, my calves, my forearms....not painful, just annoying. I don't feel like they've necessarily hindered my life, other than all the time I've spent worrying about it.

I love this site...it has been a blessing to me through the last six months. I tell all of my friends about it...if they say something's wrong, even just a headache, I say 'go to power-surge...you can find everything there!'

I would appreciate any input you might have into my "twitchiness". I would love to know what's causing all this. I'm beginning to think pregnancy threw me into perimenopause!! is that possible!?!?

aliciadawn

oh yes.. me too.. i have felt it for a couple of years now, off and on again.. i get it on my lower legs and feet mostly.. feels like insects are crawling on me, i have stood and watched while it's happening and i know there is nothing on me, not even a stray hair fluttering in the breeze, nothing at all! feels like ants maybe walking over my feet... weird hey...

has anyone here ever experienced the itchiness and burning,crawling like feeling on the bottoms of their feet..it is so weird,,,I have the muscle twitches everywhere even in my butt..that one is weird..lol.

But,anyway,the feeling in my feet scares me,because so many people have said either MS or Parkinson`s..that scares the hell out of me. But,mainly it is uncomfortable..like tiny little bugs crawling around under my skin on the bottom of my feet..and I feel slightly itchy other places to..like my shoulders.sometimes in my arms or legs and even on my fingers and the outer part of my palm..so weird...*sighs*...I really hate this...

And the anxiety is not that great either...gosh I just hate this..

take care all(((Hugs)))

Christina

My itching is on and around my head. It is driving me crazy. and my nose, they all itch. I just logged on and on a whim decided to look for itching skin and lo and behold I found it here at my favorite site on the web.

This crawling sensation you all talk about.......I do have intense itching.........is this the same thing? I actually wake up covered in bruises where I have scratched so hard during the nite..............I look like I have been skateboarding in my sleep ...............lol.

Jadie xo

When my kids were babies I had a neighbour in her late 40s. She changed from being an attractive, outgoing, fun loving, life and soul of the party kind of lady, into this shadow that I would see scuttling in and and of the house on very rare occasions. We lived in a small village and there were a lot of social events, but she just stopped coming. I would occasionally see her hubby and ask 'Where's J' and he would just shrug and reply 'she's not well'. When I was up in the middle of the night feeding the kids, I would see her lights on next door, and her pacing to and fro in her dressing gown. I knocked her door a couple of times in the day, but even though I knew she was in, she would never answer, so I guessed she just wanted to be left alone.

One day, after about 4 months or so, I ran into her outside and I was so shocked to see her up close. She looked like a frightened rabbit stuck in the headlights and she had kind of bloated up in the face,and had aged 10 years, even her body shape had changed. Always slim, she had gained some weight, not a huge amount, but she just looked leaden and heavy. It really rocked me. How this happy, vibrant woman changed so much in such a short time? She just didn't look like the woman I had known before.

When I asked her what was wrong she just burst into tears and began to tell me it was 'the change of life'. Of the 54 symptoms (or whatever it is), she started to tell me all the things going wrong with her, and believe me, she had most of them. To be honest, I didn't believe it could be that bad (ah the ignorance of youth???) I could see the poor woman was absolutely terrified, physically and emotionally drained from it all, but I felt certain it had to be something else, not menopause. It couldn't do all that to you could it?

She told me that the thing that caused her the most distress, was the constant feeling that creatures were crawling all over her skin. She would spent most days (and nights) just lying in a bath of tepid water as it was the only thing that gave her any relief. She would get out for maybe half an hour ... but couldn't stand it, and climbed straight back in and her hubby would have to bring her meals and stuff in the bath. One day alone she took 18 baths.

I remember thinking 'she's totally nuts' and that she was exaggerating how bad it all was.

I often think of her as I go through this .... and wish now I had been more sympathic and tried to help her somehow, but it all sounded so crazy to me back then. Boy, have I ever come to eat my words!!!!!

I moved away soon after, so I don't how how she fared. Hopefully she came through it and is now living a happy fulfilled life once again.