I would be on my 8th or 9th shot. I had been shooting cocaine and heroin in my room for 6 hours straight. The psychosis and paranoia were getting more and more powerful with each shot I did. Powerful uppers such as cocaine and meth have many dangerous side effects, but one is just plain creepy. It’s called coke bugs. Other names are Meth Mites, Crack Bugs, and Amphetmites. I got coke bugs regularly when I used cocaine. I’m not sure if certain people are more prone to these side effects than others but I was one of them.
What Are Coke Bugs or Crack Bugs?
Many cocaine users will get “Coke Bugs or Crack Bugs” during excessive use of cocaine or other powerful uppers such as crystal meth. Coke or crack bugs are hallucinations caused by excessive cocaine use in which the person thinks, feels, and sees bugs on or below their skin. They will cut themselves and itch themselves until they’re bleeding to get the bugs off. The bugs are not real they are a “Tactile Hallucination” caused by excessive cocaine use and the other chemicals used to cut cocaine.
The scientific term’s for coke bugs is “Tactile Hallucinations” specifically “Formication” which comes from the Latin term formicare which describes the multi-legged walking pattern of ants. (source). More specifically doctors will refer to someone who has or gets coke bugs as Delusional Parasitosis. The sensation that bugs are on or below the skin. Tactile Hallucinations typically happen from excessive drug use but in rare instances can happen to someone not under the influence of any substances.
I can personally attest to getting Coke Bugs and Crack Bugs on numerous occasions. I have never got them from snorting cocaine. Every time I experienced coke bugs were from smoking cocaine (crack) or injecting it. I also experienced Meth Mites when using Methamphetamine.
Why Do Cocaine and Methamphetamine Cause Users To Feel Itchy?
Cocaine and Meth use increases body temperature and blood flow to the skin, which results in increased sweating. Perspiration contains an enzyme that also increases the blood flow to the skin. When the sweat starts to evaporate, the protective sebaceous oil which coats the skin is removed. The combined effects of Sweating, removal of the sebaceous oil, and dehydration create a sensation similar to a bug crawling on or under the skin. More specifically this is referred to as Formication. (Source)
Cocaine, Meth, and most stimulant drugs cause people to have an itchy feeling. Combine this with psychosis and paranoia and that’s why you see crack addicts portrayed in movies always itching themselves.
In many cases, a person using excessive crack, cocaine, or meth is all consumed by the substance. This results in skipping daily hygiene tasks such as brushing teeth, showering, and wearing clean clothes. Being physically dirty can add to the side effects of the drugs and make the itching and scratching much worse.
What Do Coke Bugs Look Like?
Coke Bugs, Crack Bugs, Methmites, Amphetimites, Icebugs, come in different forms to different people. I experienced coke bugs in the form of translucent bugs about the size of a stinkbug right under my skin. I could see the bug under my skin almost at the surface. Also, I would feel and see smaller bugs on the outside, on and around my hair and skin. I would shake my hair and see bugs falling out. I would assume this was lice, but every time I went to the doctor to get checked he would say “There’s no lice or bugs in your hair”.
How To Treat “Coke Bugs”?
The best and easiest way to treat coke bugs is immediately stopping the drug or drugs creating this excessive paranoia and psychosis. When The drugs would wear off and I would be somewhat sober, the bugs would be gone. At this point, I still had a deep paranoia that some bugs were still there, but I couldn’t see them. This was something I had to work on through my recovery. I would have scratches and scabs all over my skin from picking the night before and that would increase my paranoia. Cocaine and Crack cocaine can cause intense side effects and long-term damage to the reward system of the brain.
Even after a person stops using drugs there may be long-term effects created or caused by their excessive drug use. I had to treat the psychological paranoia that the bugs were still on me as well as the physical scars, scabs, and open wounds I had created on my body.
Even after years of sobriety I still catch myself occasionally thinking about bugs on my skin when I get itchy. This thought has become substantially easier to deal with as time goes on, but in early sobriety, it would nag me for hours.
Complications From Coke/Crack Bugs Can Include:
- Open wounds
- Pus, cuts, scabs
- Infections, Tetanus Infection
- Viral infection
- Gangrene
- Excessive paranoia
- OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder)
Stopping any drug use is the most important first step. Users should seek proper medical supervision when detoxing from drugs. Depending on how bad and deep your wounds are seek medical help getting them patched up and make sure they’re not infected. I needed a tetanus shot because I dug knives so deep into my skin trying to dig the bugs out. During treatment speak with your counselor and other support networks to work through any paranoid thoughts. The thoughts should and will get better the longer you abstain from drugs.
Why Would Someone Continue To Use Cocaine or Meth When They Know it’s Going To Cause This Nasty Effect?
The cocaine and its high are so strong and powerful and my addiction was so bad that I could have experienced almost any negative side effects and I would have kept using.
There is also this false sense of reality that addicts get. Many addicts (myself included) would create any justification to keep using more drugs.
“That won’t happen this time”
“I’ll use a little less”
“If I know they aren’t real before I start using then they can’t bother me once I’m high”.
As soon as the drugs enter a user’s body all that thinking goes out the window. It doesn’t matter what we tell ourselves beforehand or how hard we try to avoid the negative side effects, an addict in the grips of addiction will keep using their drugs no matter what the consequences are. Check out this article: Why Can’t Addicts Just Stop Using Drugs, for more information on the power of addiction.
It Feels, looks, Sounds, Even Smells Real
I spoke with a recovering meth addict who experienced these hallucinations on multiple occasions. She said often times her hallucinations would come in the form of worms. She explains:
“I could see the worms under my skin long thin and slimy, I could feel them. One time Ipulled multiple of these worms out of my nose, yea just like a horror movie I was pulling worms out of my nose. I felt the worm in my fingers, I felt the pain of pulling it out of my nose, I even remember the smell of it coming out of my nose. When the meth finally started to wear off I went to the sink where I threw the worms and there was nothing there. My nose was a mess from me picking at it and in it but there was no actual signs any worms came out of me. I can still feel and smell those worms. “
- J – Recovering Drug Addict
Different people see different types of bugs. The common theme is they see and feel bugs on or below their skin that are not there.
Coke Bugs Are A Creepy, Crawley Nightmare
One time I was getting high in my car driving around and using an excessive amount of cocaine. I could see thousands of bugs crawling all over my car. My thought at the time was it was lice and scabies (even though scabies are microscopic) because I had been in and out of some nasty drug houses. I figured some of the bugs got on my clothes at the dope house and that’s why they were in my car. I kept pulling over trying to shew the bugs out. My level of paranoia was unbelievable at the time because I couldn’t get rid of the bugs.
” I was so high on cocaine I saw and felt hundreds of bugs crawling on me and under my skin. I actually went to the emergency room begging for help to get the bugs out of me. They gave me a mild sedatitive, patched up my open wounds where I had dug into my skin to get the bugs out, and sent a drug counselor to talk to me and by the time I left the bugs were magically gone”
Of course, the bugs were never there in the first place but at the time it feels 100% real. I could see, feel, and even hear the bugs. Every cell in my body knew these bugs were real when I was high on cocaine. When the drugs wore off and the bugs were gone I would know it was a hallucination but part of me was still paranoid because they felt so real I would think that maybe some of it was real.
Coke Bugs Are Not Real
If you are in active addiction and you get these bugs when you get high please seek treatment for your drug use and any open wounds you have. I know telling someone the bugs are not real is pointless. When people told me they weren’t real at the time I didn’t believe a word out of their mouth. I could see and feel the bugs and you weren’t going to tell me any different. This is what drugs will do to us. They destroy our whole sense of reality.
Now that I’m sober and have been in recovery for some time now I look back and think of how nasty and gross this was. And to think this was just 1 of many side effects caused by the drugs. I can still remember that itchy feeling, seeing the bugs all over me.
Sources:
- https://www.addiction.com/3301/hallucinations-of-bugs-crawling-on-skin/
- https://drugabuse.com/ice-bugs-dont-scratch-that-phantom-itch/
- https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/cocaine-addiction/cocaine-psychosis/#gref
Kyle Ruggeri is a certified peer recovery coach. Kyle spent years battling his own addictions and now focuses on helping others find recovery.
