Perimenopause and formication

I was wondering if early menopause is inherited?  My maternal grandmother was 39, I am going to be 36 in May.  My symptoms started in 1998 with migraines, then 2 years later the bug crawling feeling started, its been there ever since, along with the migraines, I have a period between 24-31 days apart.  Some months it will last a day, with heavy bleeding, other times it will last 3 days and be very light.  My period rarely ever lasts more than 3 days.  I do not take birth control pills either.  I have gained a good bit of weight in the past 3 years also.  My hair and my skin is awful and dry.  Loss of libido, and vaginal dryness.  I have had a brain MRI, c-spine MRI, lumbar MRI, bloodwork including CBC, sed rate, thyroid, Lyme, cholesterol, ANA, everything is normal, except that I have a bulging disk at C-3 in my neck.  These weird feelings are way worse the day or two before my period starts.  I also noticed lately that I get these cold chill type feelings in my head before a migraine starts.  Coulod all these bug crawling, and cold feelings be coming from migraines or perimenopause?  Thanks so much for you time, Happy Holiday to you!!!!

[Machelle Seibel, MD]

A. Your question is a difficult one. Several patients have written about formication as you have. It is not supposed to be linked to menopause but certainly many changes occur at that time and it is not impossible that there is an association. However, it isn