Feelings Of Bed Bugs?

[tbradley93]

Does anyone else itch all night with a feeling that something is crawling on you. I know its in my head but I can't sleep b/c of it. I washed my sheets again yesterday hoping my mind would stop playin tricks on me, but unfortunatly it didnt help. Anyone else have this problem?

[loco-ladi]

You may want to check out a problem called RLS (restless leg syndrome) I have a minor case of it but it has decreased in severity with the gluten-free diet.... go figure! At night my issues have decreased manyfold, now I just have the daylight problems, but on the bright side my almost contant movement of my legs and feet give me awesome looking legs, lol I believe they have pills for this now, but I dislike meds of any kind, herbs etc are more my style

[Ursa Major]

I believe it is caused by food intolerances. I used to get that awful crawly feeling all the time. It decreased on a gluten-free diet, but went away completely when I discovered my other intolerances and eliminated those foods.

[loco-ladi]

Interesting as I recently have been led to think I may have soy issues as well, will see what happens with the food diary for that for now however.

[April in KC]

You might google the word "formication" to see if that describes what you're feeling. And note the "m" in the spelling - I'd hate for you to accidentally google "fornication," LOL. Formication can be neurological in origin.

I agree that food intolerance is one possible cause. Like Ursa, I also used to have RLS - but it has gone away on a gluten-free diet. I still get twitchy when I get glutened, but I get a lot of other neuro symptoms when glutened, too (also like Ursa). I also have a couple of other intolerances that showed up when I went gluten free.

I recently found out that my Celiac son (age 7) is deficient in vitamin E, a fat-soluble vitamin. Vitamin E deficiency is rare in humans but can occur along with malabsorbtion - and it CAN cause neuro problems.

If you had malabsorption problems and you have a good, sympathetic doctor, you might ask him to test you for deficiencies in the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K. Especially if you have only been gluten-free for a short time.

Good luck! - April

[HappyMomof5]

Hey! Feeling like bed bugs are in the bed? Somebody else has my weird symptom!

I washed those sheets like crazy. Everything down to the mattress pad, pillows, and comforter every day or two, plus everything I wore, sat on, or could fit into the washer. And if I couldn't, I sprayed it with Lysol.

It's really strange out of a family of 7 I'm the only one who ever noticed it.

To help you sleep, this works wonders: one 250mg tablet of Magnesium. Most people with either Type A blood type or with nutritional/mineral deficiencies lack Magnesium. It's also a natural muscle relaxer.

Whenever I feel restless or unable to sleep it works like a charm.

Also, if you're having trouble with this, chances are you also have trouble with constipation. Lack of Magnesium may be the culprit there as well. No matter how much water I drank, it never had the same effect as 1 tablet of Mg did.

Having celiac damages your ability to absorb minerals, so it would make sense to replace it.

The "bed bug" feeling, or in my case I thought it was mites appeared almost 10 years ago. (Age 26-36) Every time I got pregnant I threw up things with a lot of gluten in it, so I learned to avoid those foods. But every time after the baby was born it came back and I could never figure it out.

I've only been gluten free for 3 weeks! I'm still getting the prickly, itchy feeling occasionally, though only once or twice since I quit.

How long has it kept happening for you after you went gluten-free? I'd like to get an idea of when it will stop. I am just glad to quit washing so much extra stuff.

Take care,

Heather

[Guhlia]

I'm not trying to freak you out or anything, but are you sure its NOT bed bugs? I just watched a really interesting news piece on bed bugs and their return. It was so gross. The worst part was that they are SO hard to find and most people never know they have an infestation. Perhaps google it. I'm not saying its not food related, I just wanted to bring this up.

[Lisa]

I don't have the "bed-bug" feeling, but often I can't keep my legs still and had difficulty sleeping. I shook my leg all night. My doctor suggested that I take a benadryl at night. It has helped me sleep and no more fluttering feet to keep my buddy awake.

[Nancym]

With me it is tiny pin prick feelings ever now and then, feels like a pin stabbing me. I think it might be a b vitamin deficiency.

[YoloGx]

  Nancym said:

With me it is tiny pin prick feelings ever now and then, feels like a pin stabbing me. I think it might be a b vitamin deficiency.

Hi, Nancy I agree about the B vitamin deficiency here to cure RL and bed bug feelings. I have had this problem big time. It finally has gone away unless I am glutened or get exposed to some chemical I can't handle.

What resolved the increasing leg and feet burning and twitching as well as pins and needls (even though I already was on a gluten and sugar free diet), has been taking Country Life co-enzyme B vitamins.

They are best taken on an empty stomach, away from food. I usually take it at night and sometimes first thing in the morning often with L-glutamine and bromelain/papain (these last two items to help heal the lining of the gut). The Country LIfe co-enzyme B's are cheaper than the sublinguals that usually have sorbitol (which can actually contain gluten!). The B's by the way help one make proper use of carbs and are essential for nervous system health etc.

For me the co-enzyme B's have been a major life change since they also stopped my racing heart at night, help me sleep without RL and amazingly I now no longer get flu or colds etc., etc. in spite of my getting quite ill regularly since infancy!!

I agree though that magnesium is also essential for this condition to go away. B's, mag, D, K are all important for celiacs. Try reading DANGEROUS GRAINS and you will see what I mean.

Apart from that I also have had various scar tissue from past accidents and find doing yoga and stretching fairly regulary really helps calm down the nervous system as well as the muscles and the mind.

-----

OK I am adding this rest, which maybe should be in another post, on Bed Bugs and Chiggers:

If you find you actually have bed bugs we had an episode last year of either bed bugs or chiggers in my mothers house. We weren't sure if it was one or the other, it might have been both for all that since we live in the woods and the cats all had chiggers and also had signs of bed bugs. Its important to wash and bag everything tight. Its really awful actually. It took me two months of work to clean and bag everything since my mother and brother with downs are both such pack rats!

Of course I sprayed what I could with pyrethrins since arachnid family critters (which both pests are) are not killed by standard pesticides. They will also die however from things scratching their exoskeleton like borax.

I found using a mixture of 1 cup borax with 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (white vinegar is made from gluten!) and 1 tablespoon non gluten liquid soap will kill the bed bugs. Use it in an extractor as well as on surfaces and in your wash as well as on any pets you might have. You can also spray rubbing alcohol (use a spray bottle) on surfaces like you couch or mattress--it kills the eggs on contact.

I found wrapping mattresses in plastic and sealing them with duct tape effective. You can also put borax straight on your carpet and leave it there before vacuuming it up a couple of weeks later. Its suggested you can put carpet tape around your bed posts with the sticky side out to capture the bed bugs and don't let the linen touch the floor.

I found that whatever it was, I didn't get it strangely enough although I was the major cleaner--even of the old hairy dog not to mention the drapes. I took the co-enzyme B's, plus was also (and still am) taking raw chopped garlic in my veggies each day. Seems to help keep the critters away!

-----Yolo

[purple]

My daughter had this prob at college. We thought it was the new sheets or the bed. When she was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity we told the osteopath about it. He said its an allergy prob b/c her liver isnt producing glutathione so shes getting injections for that. Then she started getting greasy hair at the back of the head. The doc said thats where the liver is draining out the toxins. Who would have known all that? This could be your problem.

[tarnalberry]

I have RLS. (I already take magnesium, vit D, B-vits, and a couple of other supplements, in addition to being Gluten-free Casein-free.) I have to take meds for it, or it drives me up a wall and there is no way I could get to bed reasonably. Talk to your doctor about it - assuming you aren't getting actual bites that indicate you have real bed bugs, of course. You can have a sleep study done, in addition to blood work for vit deficiencies, to figure out what's going on before taking any medications.

[Rachel--24]

I had the bed bug feeling...like ants were crawling on me.

I also had RLS and the random pin-prick feelings on my skin.

For me the symptoms were related to food intolerances...mostly food chemicals which my body was unable to process.

I no longer have any of these symptoms unless I eat the offending foods.

I had wondered if possibly the feeling of bugs crawling on the skin was actually caused by a release of histamine.

[babysteps]

  Ursa Major said:

I believe it is caused by food intolerances. I used to get that awful crawly feeling all the time. It decreased on a gluten-free diet, but went away completely when I discovered my other intolerances and eliminated those foods.

ditto!!

skin crawling used to wake me up in the middle of the night.

RLS used to annoy me just after dinner.

In my body they felt very different, but both go away when I'm gluten-free.

After I get glutened, and after the initial symptoms go away, it can take a couple weeks until my skin is 100% normal - I get a light itchiness (not as extreme as skin crawliness, but in that direction) almost every time I eat (within 20 minutes or so), I think it's my body getting rid of any remaining toxins, whether toxic gluten or toxins my body made to fight the gluten.

The first time I went on a purification diet (basically a paleo diet), I thought I was sensitive to everything because of this skin reaction, now I think it is part of how my body detoxes.

[MELINE]

  tbradley93 said:

Does anyone else itch all night with a feeling that something is crawling on you. I know its in my head but I can't sleep b/c of it. I washed my sheets again yesterday hoping my mind would stop playin tricks on me, but unfortunatly it didnt help. Anyone else have this problem?

hello

I actually did have that feeling and it was extremely irritating but it had to do either with food intolerances or with candida dying off.....I was on holidays for a week, it was the week when I started taking the supplements for candida and at the same time I had to eat some food that I was not supposed to but there was nothing else to eat on that ship.....so I don't know which one was the cause, but it definately felt like a whole army of ants was crawling on me. And the funny thing was that I had that feeling ONLY when I was about to sleep.

[Leslie C.]

I found this on the internet when doing a search on Celiac and Neurological problems. It is on thefooddoc.com site:

Some admit to "bug crawling" sensation on their skin, something called vermiculation in medical terms but rarely asked about or given much thought by most doctors. Odd muscle movements under the skin that some call a "bag of worms" medically known as fasiculations are also very common but dismissed by many doctors.

[RiceGuy]

  tbradley93 said:

Does anyone else itch all night with a feeling that something is crawling on you. I know its in my head but I can't sleep b/c of it. I washed my sheets again yesterday hoping my mind would stop playin tricks on me, but unfortunatly it didnt help. Anyone else have this problem?

No, it is NOT all in your head. Something is causing the sensations. As others have suggested, both nutrient deficiencies and food intolerances may be contributing factors. While I can't be sure if restless leg syndrome has anything to do with it, I do know that RLS is often a result of nutrient deficiencies, most notably magnesium. So I would echo the suggestion of a magnesium supplement. This is an extremely common deficiency in Celiac sufferers, and in fact most Americans in general are deficient in this vital mineral. Vitamin B12 is another possibility IMO, so I'd recommend a sublingual methylcobalamin form, for best absorption. These two nutrients are quite critical for muscle and nerve function.

I can tell you that I had all sorts of trouble sleeping, and that I was having increased muscle and nerve trouble until starting those two supplements. Your particular deficiencies may differ somewhat, but it is completely safe to start with those. You may also want to try a B-complex, vitamin D, zinc, and probably some others which I'm not thinking of ATM.

I Googled and found this:

Excess valine can cause headaches, irritability, and a crawling skin feeling.

Valine replaces glutamic acid in hemoglobin resulting in sickle cell

anemia in those genetically predestined.

Open Original Shared Link

I also found something relating to hypoglycemia, that apparently 30% of patients experience itchy/crawly skin sensations:

Open Original Shared Link

The other overwhelming possibility that came up from the search was candida, so it's probably a good idea to look into that. It can't hurt to get yourself some caprylic acid capsules, and/or a jar of high quality coconut oil, which also contains caprylic acid. This nutrient helps kill candida, but if this is an issue for you, it would be most advisable to avoid all sugars, yeasts, vinegars, and fruits, in addition to taking the caprylic acid. The more of an overgrowth you have, the longer it takes to get it under control.