Is what's on my head all in my head?
March 4, 2023 1:08 PM   Subscribe

For two days in a row, I've experienced what I can only describe as the sensation of a bug in my hair. Not on my scalp. Not a sensation under the skin. Always in the same place. Do I need delousing? Should somebody check my head, or really check my head?

There was no bug either time. This weird sensation happened once yesterday and once today, each time lasting for 5-10 seconds and located in the same spot near the top of my head on the left side. It felt like something small landing on my head and hopping around a few times.

I found this answer in an old Ask post that mentioned paresthesia, which seems relevant, but what that poster was describing is different from what I experienced.
posted by emelenjr to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)
 
You could get a lice comb (at any drugstore) and give that area + your whole head a thorough combing. That'd definitely make it clear whether or not there are any bugs in there. (Ask me how I know.)

Also, our scalps are full of sebaceous glands, and those can act up in pimple-like ways; you may be experiencing the sensation of an oily clog-up or pre-pimple situation, whether or not it ever turns into a pimple.
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:25 PM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I may have experienced what you're describing. A tiny muscle in my scalp sometimes acts up. It feels exactly like a creepy buzzing bug is on me. Not sure if you ever get eyelid tics when you're tired and stressed, but it's similar to that.
posted by Stoof at 1:38 PM on March 4, 2023 [8 favorites]


My kids had lice infestations all the time for years, and sometimes I got them too. There is a lot of information about how to deal with that. But sometimes, even now, I get "ghost" lice when something reminds me of that time. There are no lice, and I'm fine, but for some reason I get the reaction. Our brains are strange, I think I'm mildly traumatized by all those lice, at one point one kid caught a serious infection that meant we had to be isolated for weeks.
Actually just remembering this gets my head scratchy.
posted by mumimor at 1:45 PM on March 4, 2023


Best answer: Try taking a B complex supplement for a few days and see if that helps. Sometimes that fixes my tiny muscle twitches. If it’s any consolation, this isn’t what having lice felt like to me—it was intense, intense itching that no amount of scratching would cure. More consolation: lice can’t fly or hop, so it probably wasn’t a bug.
posted by corey flood at 1:45 PM on March 4, 2023 [2 favorites]


Seconding B complex, but I'd also suggest adding a magnesium supplement and a calcium supplement. Or heck, just a regular multivitamin if you're not already taking one.

Magnesium and B-complex together tend to fix my weird tiny muscle twitches.
posted by erst at 2:49 PM on March 4, 2023 [1 favorite]


Sorry you are getting bug feelings. You need to do all the checking.
- You do need someone to look at your head and see if you have lice or very bad dandruff (if you live alone there are businesses you can contact and they will come to you or you go to them). Sometimes lice will find an area that has an easy blood supply and they will hang out in one spot.
- You can take a magnesium calcium supplement which will help reduce muscle spasms

- you can try a dandruff shampoo

Good luck
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 2:53 PM on March 4, 2023


Best answer: It's called fasciculation
posted by mani at 1:57 AM on March 5, 2023


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