with a tick-borne spirochete.
According to an article published in Psychology Today, there is an interesting and often unexpected manifestation of formication/delusional parasitosis:
Delusional parasitosis may be a shared illness, in which some of the patient’s close contacts also believe they, too, are infested. When two family members are involved, usually husband and wife or parent and child, the delusion is known as folie à deux (“a madness shared by two”). The psychological film Bug (2007) portrays a folie à deux involving a man and woman who believe they are infested with government-implanted, nano-technological insects.
The Causes of Formication
Many causes of formication have been identified, including Parkinson’s Disease, fibromyalgia, anxiety disorders, shingles (herpes zoster), schizophrenia, Lyme Disease, perimenopause (possibly due to lower estrogen levels in the blood), certain types of skin cancers and neuropathy caused by poorly controlled diabetes. Some articles on the subject state that it is more likely to occur at night than during the day.
A very common cause of the sensation of formication is acute withdrawal from certain types of both illicit and legal drugs. Users of methamphetamine often present with faces and arms pockmarked with scabs and sores, which may become infected from uncontrolled scratching. The violent itching often seen in meth users is brought about by acute withdrawal. Cocaine users can also experience the same symptoms.
When withdrawing from alcohol, formication often accompanies delirium tremens, a potentially life-threatening form of acute withdrawal that can lead to seizure activity and other dangerous symptoms beyond itchy skin.
In terms of legally prescribed medications, formication can result from sudden withdrawal…