I’ve had this few weeks now and it’s starting to drive me batty. I constantly get this weird itchy/crawly sensation on my right shin. It is only on the right shin. The skin surface looks perfectly normal. It come and goes about every minute or two. It lasts for a few seconds then fades and returns a minute of two later. It’ll sometime fade out for a longer while but it always comes back. It’s not painful, just incredibly annoying. I’ll see a doc, but I’m wondering if there is anything I should be on alert for. I’m a 52 year old white male , non-smoker. Need to lose some weight, but generally in good health.
My grandmother had diabetes and my mother had shingles. This isn’t a precursor to the diabetes losing feeling in your legs thing is it?
Yes, given a family history of diabetes and being overweight and ahem of a certain age, you should absolutely be on the alert for diabetes. I’m not sure this is precisely symptomatic (diabetic neuropathies tend to start at the toes, not the middle of the leg) but it’s probably time for you to be screened for it anyhow. This is as good an excuse as any to get into the doctor’s office and get it done.
Your mother having shingles isn’t meaningful, by the way. It’s a viral condition, not a genetic one. Not that this can’t be shingles (although by “a few weeks” into it, I’d expect you to have pain, not just itching, were it shingles), but it doesn’t make it more or less likely that she had it.
Formication (note spelling carefully)is a parathesia, an abnormal sensation. It can be a symptom of cocaine or meth use, menopause (not applicble in your case) a side effect of several prescription drugs, or shingles (herpes zoster) among other causes. I think you should have it checked out by a doctor.