intermittent colour distortion and blurred vision

[annawol]

A few weeks ago my 11 year old daughter first described intermittent visual distortions.  At first this consisted of a blue halo around the whiteboard with blurred vision in the distance and 'like trying to read through an earthquake' close up.  She then also described losing yellow and then seeing all colours as 'wrong' during the time that these attacks occurred.  An optician found her eyesight to be normal - the eye exam occured whilst the symptoms were absent.
As the school have not looked after her particularly well during these times (accusing her of lying and deliberately refusing to do her work) her behaviour during these attacks is becoming increasingly disorgansed and i would say she is quite bewildered by her experiences.
My GP has refered us to the opthalmologist and we have an appointment for 1st april - the gp does not think these symptoms are of an organic origin - by which i am assuming she is thinking they are psychogenic?
My daughter had already been having problems due to being bullied at school in the period prior to onset of the visual symptoms (she had been running away and hiding in corridors and empty classrooms as the school had not confronted the bully or protected her in any way) and she had also had some pounding headaches - all of which is atypical of her as she has been a very robust, healthy child up until now.  It might be worth mentioning she began her menstrual cylce a few months ago.

It would be really great to have some reassurance that these symptoms may not mean that my daughter is going mad as i am doing my best to comfort her whilst we wait for the nhs to see her in april

I thank you for your time

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS]

Keep your appointment with the ophthalmologist. She may need some additional testing. Things such as juvenile migraine and neurological problems may need to be excluded.

Children are hard to evaluate as many complaints have secondary gains.

JCH III MD