2 year old hallucinating about bugs??

My son just turned 2 in April. Last week he was diagnoised with the chicken pox. I had given him some benadryl for the itching as directed by his doctor. He hadn't had any benadryl for 2 days and still had one chicken pox on Monday. Out of the blue he started screaming, "the bugs the bugs" I was so confused I asked him what bugs? He said "I scared mommy the bugs get me" he insisted that i hold him. He would not walk anywhere without me holding him because of these bugs on the floor(he saw). When he finally did start walking around he would curl his toes and walk on his heels. I was very confused on what was going on with him. The following morning he woke up screaming again. I went in his room and he tells me his eyes hurt. I look and see nothing in or on his eyes. I get him out of his crib and he starts screaming again about these bugs and starts to shake a little because he's so scared. I called the doctor because something was not right. She told me that he it be due to the benadryl, I explain to her that he hadn't been on it for almost 48 hours before this first started. She then tells me it's due to his chicken pox. My concern is, I have Epilepsy as does my father and 2 of my nephews. Could this be seizure related? Is it just his chicken pox? He still says he sees these bugs and it seems like hes afraid of them. A few months ago he was playing outside picking up bugs so for him to be scared of them is odd to me. I monitor what he watches on tv and he's not around other kids much. I am just very confused and concerned about what this could mean. For his eyes to be bothering him and then to see these bugs, something is just not right. Any ideas on what it could be?  Thanks

[teddybears4ever2]

I think people with epilepsy can have hallucinations.  I think you are wise to be concerned.  I might also wonder if benadryl, had caused epilepsy to come to the surface.  
The other thing that comes to mind is that he had a fever dream that stuck with him.  I'm sorry you are going through this.

[tgtiffany]

I don't feel that it would be due to the epilepsy, but this is interesting to me.  I'm gonna look some stuff up and send it to you tomorrow sometime.  Hope you get this figured out :)

[margypops]

When he first started to talk about bugs was he in the company of any other child or adult, has he any close family may have talked to him about them ? I think a child of 2 year old listen and emulate others .I dont think anything is wrong with him ,or could he have seen anything on TV  Check out who has been around , would Dad have spoken of bugs to him perhaps in play?

[RockRose]

If you google both benadryl hallucinations,  or chicken pox hallucinations,  you sure get lots of hits!   This sounds scary but I think the nurse is probably right - hallucinations caused by one or the other,  even though he hasn't had benedryl in days.  

Best wishes.

[CupcakeMommy]

Chicken pox are all gone and this morning he did it again. He was with my mom on Monday when the first episode started. Nobody had talked about bugs or anything. I am fairly certain that he's not really scared of bugs. Last month he was outside picking up the bugs talking to them saying hi. And just yesterday he did the same thing with ants that were on the ground. I guess my concern is that it is something more than just the chicken pox. He hasnt been on benadryl for a little over a week and chicken pox free for about 3-4 days now. Today he is running a slight fever and woke up a few nights this week screaming about bugs and he was scared. When I picked him up he was soaking wet, he had peed through his pants. I guess it's just my gut feeling that it's something more and it has me worried. The doctor said if he's still doing it this after this weekend then to give her a call.

[RockRose]

So he's dreaming about them,  not actually hallucinating as far as you can tell?

It just sounds to me that he hallucinated about them before,  now he's having nightmares of a recurance of the bugs.  

Best wishes.  I hope you are able to get answers from the doctor this week -

[tgtiffany]

This is what I am understanding.  Maybe the chickenpox made him hallucinate at one time, but little kids don't understand that things like that aren't real, even if you tell them so.  He loves bugs and plays with them all the time according to you right?  Even touching them and picking them up to say hi (so cute btw :D...)  Now he's not hallucinating but having nightmares about the hallucinations of bugs and obviously bad ones to make him wake up screaming.  Do you ask him questions about his dreams/what he sees? Or you just leave it at that.  I would start questioning him about it when it happens and ask him where he thinks they're coming from etc etc. Maybe "make" them come from something in his room that you can remove and see if that plays a role in his mind and helps to stop all this. You know what I mean? I don't know about another medical condition coming into play, but I doubt it's from something else.  Could be, but I think it's just from this chickenpox/benadryl thing.  

[margypops]

I doubt a child who is scared of bugs would be picking them up,I still think he has over heard or someone has spoken to him about bugs ...possibly an older child ..

[tgtiffany]

I don't think he's really scared of them either, I think it's like his subconscious is being overly active about it or like margypops said someone said something.  It might not have affected him consciously too much but affected his subconscious more.  That's why I'm thinking saying the bugs that are in his dreams/nightmares are from something else and get rid of that thing, and then those "bad" bugs won't get him anymore...you know?  

[CupcakeMommy]

He hasn't been around anybody that has said anything about bugs. The look on his face is just, i'm not sure he's really scared. He refuses to come in the basement, kitchen or anywhere that doesn't have carpet. When he gets up in the morning he will be fine it's lik 10-15minutes after he's been up. I agree he is having some bad dreams and I asure him that nothing will get him and he will be just fine. Yes I do ask him about his dreams and all he says is I happy mom. I am not sure he remembers his dreams. Today there was a "bug" on the kithen floor so I asked him to show me. He leaned down and said right there, see it see it? I did not see anything. The whole time he was screaming, hold me i scared. It just seems odd to me. Not sure what's going on. I called the doctor this morning and I am just waiting on a call back on what our game plan is for today. Thanks for all the input ladies!

[tgtiffany]

Let me know what the doctor says okay?  Have you tried "playing" his little game and saying that you DO see it and "killing" it perhaps?  I wish I could help more :(!!!  

[CupcakeMommy]

I have tried killing the bugs for him but he screams they are gonna get him. We have and MRI and EEG set up this week. They think seizures, autism or possibly swelling in the brain. I will let you know. Thanks again

[RockRose]

Since this is brand new for him,  after the Chicken Pox,  autism doesn't really seem very likely.  

Best wishes.  This must be very hard.

[teddybears4ever2]

I think people with epilepsy can have hallucinations.  I think you are wise to be concerned.  I might also wonder if benadryl, had caused epilepsy to come to the surface.  
The other thing that comes to mind is that he had a fever dream that stuck with him.  I'm sorry you are going through this.

[CupcakeMommy]

We ended up being admitting to the hospital on Wed. They did some blood work to see if he did indeed have the chicken pox. And he did not. We had an MRI, EEG and then a 24 hour video taped EEG. Tests all came back normal but the dr said he thinks that it is absence seizures and those are very hard to diagnois. So we are supposed to watch him and right down everything we see and video tape it if we can. We see the doctor in 2 weeks so we will just have to wait and see what happens until then. Thanks for all your advice ladies!

[tgtiffany]

I hope that he is doing okay.  I know there are lots of different ways to have absent seizures.  That's so crazy though.  I worry sometimes when my daughter zones out and just stares that she's having them cause my husband used to have them when he was little.  I know my bro-in-law has epilepsy but he makes like clicks and weird noises when he has the daytime seizures like that.  I hope that it's just a phase and that he isn't having them or has to deal with that though.  Good luck :)  

[Drewden]

My son is doing the same thing. What happened next? Please let me know.

[mom3331]

My daughter is experiencing the same problem. We went to the ER last night. They suggested we get and EEG if it continues. Please let me know if anyone finds out anything.

concerned mom