He asked if I had bites. I didn’t. Any blood spots on the sheets? No. Any other signs? No.
“Probably not bed bugs,” he said. “But call your doctor.”
I thought that was a weird suggestion. Why would a doctor know about bugs?
But I called anyway.
The Truth: Formication (And Why Your Skin Lies to You)
My doctor listened to my story. Then she asked a few questions:
Did the sensation happen when you were falling asleep or waking up?
Do you have a history of anxiety?
Are you under a lot of stress right now?
Have you changed any medications recently? (No.)
Do you have any other symptoms? (I was tired — but that was from not sleeping.)
She nodded and said, “I don’t think you have bugs. I think you’re experiencing something called formication.”
I’d never heard the word.
Formication (for-mih-KAY-shun) is the medical term for the sensation of insects crawling on or under your skin when nothing is actually there. The word comes from the Latin formica, meaning “ant.” It’s a type of tactile hallucination — a false perception of touch.
What causes it:
Stress and anxiety (most common — that was my cause)
Sleep deprivation (which I now had in spades)
