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Mental Health  (Expert Forum)
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5 year old-seeing and hearing things???
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
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MedHelp Member's Question

5 year old-seeing and hearing things???

by shy1214, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
I'm worried about my 5 year old daughter.Her symptoms are:  she sees circles flying at her, can last anywhere from 5-45 minutes. (usually wakes from sleep w/this but sometimes during day)She has seen bubbles floating from ceiling on 1 occassion.  She described this as being pleasent and not scary at all. Also, tells me she hears voices, can't make out what they are saying (has happened 3 times) Also, comes to me with intense feeling of fear 'deep inside her body'. Her first episode was after she spiked a fever of 104 in middle of hte night one year ago.  I thought it was a febrile seizure.She has had 3 episodes relating to fever the rest have been when she is well.I was absolutely convinced they were seizures of some sort. But, that was ruled out by the pediatric neurologist yesterday b/c of normal EEG, CT Scan and the oral history we provided...Now I am at a loss-What is going on with my baby!?



Any info at all would be greatly appreciated.
Doctor's Answer

by Roger Gould, M.D., Jan 23, 2006 12:00AM
I wish I had the answer. I don't, but let me direct you to the place on this site that can help you, there is a child behavior forum that is staff with the kind of experts that can help you.  Sorry.
Member Comments (16)

by laneybuns, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
Have your pediatrician recommend you to another neurologist for a second opinion.  Has she had an MRI as well?  I wouldn't sit with one doctor's opinion.  Your concern must be unbelievable.  I don't know how I would react.  Take care and best of luck

by shy1214, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
To: laneybuns
I do have a second opinion scheduled for Feb. 6 with a neurologist in my area.  The first one I went to was a pediatric specialist so I am sure she is correct in her opinion but, I just want to know what it is my daughter does have and what I need to do in order to help her.  I feel helpless right now.

by dandeelyon, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
I wonder if she isn't having migraines.  I started having them when I was really young.  I always called the halo's razor blades.  Generally the halos last for the amount of time you mentioned and then turn into headaches.  The halos are not horrible, just make me dizzy.  It's the headache that will take me out for a couple of days.



Good luck, I hope you are able to figure out what is going on.

by joss26, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
also if there is food allergies that cause the same problems to also you want to check the thyroid to my brother had these same problems and we found out that these were causing his issues and this was years ago he is now 20 so it might be something you want to check into

by shy1214, Jan 20, 2006 12:00AM
Oh Thank you for these ideas.  I will look into each and every one.



I do ask my daughter is she has a headache but she always tells me no.  Maybe she is just getting the aura though??



Thyroid...never thought about that.  That can be tested with a simple blood work up right?



Thanks again...I so appreciate any advice.

by joss26, Jan 21, 2006 12:00AM
yes i would recommend a full blood workup she seems young to be starting to get migraines he but everyone is different. But yes eating the wrong food can cause a lot of weird things to somebody. So i would go and get a full food allergy check up to

by kloedanser, Jan 22, 2006 12:00AM
I have had migraines since I can remember.  They went away for a while until I got pregnant with my son.  Then I had migraines when I was pregnant that were just the "halos" or what is technically called "auras" .  I had never had this part before, and it scared me doubly bad being pregnant.  Sometimes I heard what sounds like a low- volume radio station playing in my head when it happens.  Very unsettling at first, but after I got used to it it wasn't so bad.  Also, the "fear" or nervousness that precedes these headaches is part of the "prodrome" cycle, or  pre- migraine phase.  Also, after I had the baby, I finally starting getting the pain after the auras.  I know this sounds gross and probably unhealthy, but the only thing that helps now is throwing up.  When I was little and I got the pain without the auras, my dad would help me to throw up.  It was the only thing that reduced the pain enough to let me sleep.  I never turned out anorexic or bulimic, so it may not be the best choice, but whatever works. Bless her heart if it is migraines, and I hope everything turns out okay. Lets all pray that it is just headaches.  Although scary and weird, it is not that serious of a disorder.  Good luck.

by joss26, Jan 22, 2006 12:00AM
i too have had migrains all my life. i have what they call daily migrains meaning that out of 30 days about 20 or so are spent dealing with headaches. but i started to get headaches or migrains about when i was ten years old. i am thinking 5 is young because most people expereince thier first migrain when pubrity first startes and some do not get them until later in life best of luck to you

by dandeelyon, Jan 23, 2006 12:00AM
Just as an FYI, migraines in children who are 5 or even less do occur.  Depending on the studies, between 5-10% of children under 10 have migraines.  It is more common in boys at that age.  I started having them when I was 7.  Or at least that's when I started getting sent home from school because of them.  Also, children can have migraines without the headaches.  That is also not that uncommon.  If I remember from my books, it's something like 40% will not have a headache that follows the aura's (sorry, I don't know why I called them halo's in the previous post).  That often times causes difficulty in the diagnosis of migraine.



Again, who knows if this is what she is experiencing.  It very well could be thyroid.  I just wanted to point out that although not common, young children to get migraines.



Again, I hope you can find out what is going on with your daughter and hopefully it is something as simple and treatable as thyroid or migraine.

by shy1214, Jan 23, 2006 12:00AM
Just an update-I was able to make an appointment with a specialist in a major city near me so I took her today for an evaluation.  They will not rule out seizures yet.  Though they believe it is improbable.  They now believe it may be a stress response from her.  (We recently had my sister and her three children living with us b/c my sister was extrmely ill and unable to care for her childre) WE had everyone here for around 6 months and it was v. stressful.  The doctor thinks this may be her response to it and doesn't think it is a 'major phsychological or medical' problem.  SHe had a blood and urine test done.  I have follow ups on Feb 6 and again in 4 weeks.  Thanks for the valuable info.

by WhiteStone, Jan 24, 2006 12:00AM
Their is a spiritual realm, and a physical one.  If your concerned in the least bit that this could be "other-worldy", at all, maybe you should see a religous authority.  The work of christ is all that could elimate attacks of this kind, but maybe its biological.?

by shy1214, Jan 24, 2006 12:00AM
To: whitestone
Yes, I do believe that this could be something spiritual and have thought of asking a spiritual advisor about this.  I guess I was going the medical route first.  Thanks!

by evalotta, Feb 03, 2006 12:00AM
Hi there, it is enormously worrying when these things happen to your child. Please also try to bear in mind the power of imagination- I don´t want to trivialise anything, but imagination is a powerful thing and sometimes we, as parents, make it much more "real" by reacting and giving it attention with, and through, our worry. I am not saying this is nothing, just to try to remember not to panic