Pins and Needles

"I don't know what is happening to me. Lately, I'm tired all the time, my mouth is dry, and my muscles are all sore."

Miry walked around the house restlessly, "I must be getting old". She ran her hand across her face, letting the sleeve absorb the droplets of sweat between the wrinkles. "What will happen to me next? Cancer? I'm fifty-one, I never got married, and I have no children."

She glanced at a picture of an elderly couple hugging a short middle-aged woman that was hanged on the wall. "Even then my hair was grey. That trip to the woods was amazing. I miss my parents so much…"

A trail of blood followed her footsteps on the ceramic tiles. "And this terrible crawling sensation. It's so creepy." She repeatedly itched her body until the nails tore through the flesh. "Why bugs? I hate bugs… How did they get under my skin? I have to do something about this."

She remembered watching a crime series on TV once. There was this specialist that helped solving murders by identifying insects on the bodies. How was he called again? An entomologist. She had to find one. Fast.

She sat near the computer and looked for entomologists in her neighborhood. Bingo.

"I have to change clothes and get rid of the blood. I can't go out like this." She hurried to the shower and got some clean clothes. On her way out, she grabbed the matchbox that was laying on the kitchen table.

***

Miry agitatedly knocked on the wooden door, leaving traces of blood on the metal sign. "Dr. Edward Wilson" it read.

A deep voice came from the other side of the door, "I'm coming, I'm coming." The door opened. A small man in a white robe stood in front of Miry. "Yes? How may I help you?" He stared at her through the small lances of his golden glasses.

"My name is Miry. You have to help me doctor, I don't know what to do. I can't take this anymore… It's driving me insane… Make it stop!"

The small man had a stern look upon him. He noticed the stains of blood on Miry's shirt. "Come in dear, tell me all about it."

Edward led Miry through his dark and stuffed laboratory. She clenched her teeth and fists every time they passed near a glass tank full of insects.

They sat in his office. As if the glass tanks were not enough, the walls were filled with pictures of weird insects. Miry did her best not to take her eyes off the old doctor, thus avoiding any possible little horrors accidently entering her line of sight.

"What happened?" Edward asked.

Miry started itching again, "Bugs. There are bugs under my skin. I can feel them crawling inside me."

"Stop itching, that won't do any good. Let me check you. Take your shirt off." Edward took out a pair of white gloves and examined Miry's wounded skin. "You are lucky to have come here you know. Most entomologists are not doctors, but I happen to be one myself. You should have gone to the hospital with these wounds. Even if I'll be able to determine the cause of the problem, you will still have to get proper treatment."

Miry started crying as Edward checked her. "Please, I'm begging you, take them out."

Edward took his gloves off, and threw them in the garbage can. "Why do you think you have parasites under your skin?" He asked, giving her back the shirt.

"I can feel them, burrowing, eating me from inside. It's horrible."

"Well Miry, I can see no sign of parasites in your skin. I think there is something else that causing you this. You should go to a hospital immediately to check what it is."

"It has to be insects, look," Miry took out a matchbox, handing it to Edward. He opened it and inspected the inside. After a moment, he carefully took out of the box what seemed to be a single hair.

"I don't understand," He said and scratched his head.

"It's theirs. I found it on my shirt yesterday. It must be a part of their hellish body."

"It's just human hair Miry. Parasites don't have such hair," Edward said with the calmest tone he could make.

"No. You're lying! I know it came from them."

"You can trust me. I know a lot about insects. Why else would you have come to see me?"

"I trust you. It's just that…"

"Come, I'll take you to the hospital. If there are really parasites under your skin, they can get it out."

Miry held the tears in, wiping her wet face with her palms. She nodded.

***

Miry sat on the bed in a hospital robe. Her hands rest on her thighs, and a lifeless expression hanging on her face.

"Miry, there's someone here who wants to speak with you. I'll be outside." Edward said and left the room.

A minute later, a tall woman dressed in black came through the door.

"Miry?" The woman asked as she bent over to look in Miry's eyes.

No reaction. Only her eyes slowly rose to look at the woman.

"My name is Amanda. I'm a psychiatrist. I'm here to help you with your problem, and explain what happened to you. Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Miry nodded.

Amanda sat next to Miry, holding her hand. "I know you're thinking that you have insects under your skin, but that's not the situation. The feeling that you felt, the crawling sensation, is called Formication, or pins and needles. It's very common, and can happen due to several reasons. I saw that you declared that you don't take drugs, is that true?"

Miry nodded.

"That's good. Sometimes people suffer from this sensation because of drugs, but since that's not the case here, we think that there's another reason. Tell me, did you have any problems with your period lately?"

Another slow and stiff nod.

"Mmm… You see, Formication is one of the possible effects of Menopause, a transition that signals the end of the fertile phase of a woman's life. Although quite rare, Formication can sometimes be misunderstood and lead to delusional parasitosis, which is a form of psychosis. In other words, this crawling sensation can make someone think that he has insects under his skin. That's what happened to you. And like most people with delusional parasitosis, you also searched for an entomologist instead of a psychiatrist. I know it sounds bad, but this state can be treated quite easily with the right medication. That's why we had to drug you in order for you to receive treatment. Do you understand what I just explained?"

Tears started going down Miry's face. Another nod.

"Good. You will be back to normal in a few days, but until then we'll have to keep you here. You were very lucky to have seen Edward. Someone else might have not brought you to the hospital, and you could have died. I will let you rest now."

Amanda slowly stood up and walked to the door.

Miry lay down. She listened to the tapping of Amanda's high heels as she walked farther away from the room. Slowly, she fell asleep.



The end