Light Hurts Her Eyes

[weezix]

My 3 yr old dd has been asking me the past week to turn the lights off because they hurt her eyes. Isn't this a little odd?

[JBaxter]

FYI.. Lymes disease can cause photo sensitivity. Could she have had a tick bite you didnt know about? IF it continues I would take her to the ped or at least give them a call.

[weezix]

i dont know where she would get a tick bite. we have an indoor cat...that's it. i've never heard her complain about it until recently but it's been every day for about a week. i figured she was tired, but even after a nap she still says the lights bother her.

[dakotablue]

Does she have a headache? when I get migraines light hurts my eyes.

[MamaJenese]

I had my first migraine at age three. The first indication one is comeing on is light sensitivity. My DS is the same way. We can actually have several days of increased sensitivity leading up to the headache.

[weezix]

this is what concerns me. i had migraines at a VERY early age. i dont really know what to do about them. she doesn't say her head hurts.

[ellemenope]

Does she have large pupils? I just got my eyes checked and the doc noticed that I have unusually large pupils. She asked if my eyes hurt in bright lights.

They actually do very much. Whenever I walk outside for the first time in bright light it hurt so bad. stabbing pain. And, DH is always bugging me about turning more lights on in the house. (but, I can't say that normal artificial lighting hurts my eyes. Although, flurescent lighting always really bothered me.) And, I also realized I squint all the time. I am going to be all wrinkled before I turn 30.

The doctor just told me to invest in some really nice sunglasses.

I also have light light very light blue eyes.

ETA: I hardly ever get headaches.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by weezix

this is what concerns me. i had migraines at a VERY early age. i dont really know what to do about them. she doesn't say her head hurts.

Ask her if her eyes or face hurt...sometimes when you say "head" kids assume whole head or forehead. Migraines, as you know, are more in the eye area.

[Madalyn]

I echo the migraine suggestion. I supposedly had my first one at 4 but I always say who knows that I didn't have one before then and couldn't express or understand it yet.

[weezix]

..but if she was having a migraine wouldn't her behavior show it in other ways?? i will ask next time she talks about the lights, but i would assume something that painful (which i actually found out doesn't always hurt - i was rushed to emerg 2 months ago with a painless migraine they thought was a stroke) would make her act a little goofy

[weezix]

she just asked me again to turn the light off because her eyes hurt. i asked her to show me where and she pointed to the middle of her forehead in between her eyes.

[AFWife]

Tension headache? Food allergy that's causing a headache? I know that even with tension stuff I get light issues.

[elmh23]

Sounds like a migraine to me. That's where I get mine and then they spread to the rest of my face.

I'd also have her eyes checked. After suffering from severe migrains for 15 years, I got my vision checked in May, got glasses and have only had five since then (pretty unusal, esp. since we have a baby and sleep deprivation is my number 1 trigger, along with lights.)

[tangledblue]

I would definitely take her to the doc so they can rule out anything serious.

[springmum]

It does sound like a migraine, but the lack of other symptoms (of a migraine I mean) makes me think of something else. This has been going on a week continuously - not intermittent?
By now I would of thought the head pain would have shown (and nausea etc) which would be very obvious in her behaviour I would think? Maybe migraines in toddlers are different though - I only had them as a teenager on.

I suppose maybe it could be vision related?
Is there any diseases/illnesses etc. that cause light sensitivity - glaucoma maybe?


If it were me, I would definitely let the dr know and maybe an eye dr., just to rule things out.
Hopefully it's nothing serious and she feels better soon

[dakotablue]

When I was a child and had migraines I didn't mention the pain (because it wasn't what bothered me) I talked about everything moving to fast, people talking to fast...which I guess translated to adult terms is my sound sensitivity. My mom didn't know I was having migraines until I started throwing up (a few years into them). I still have that cycle, migraine throw up pass out (sleep heavily) and usually when I wake up I'm better, but somethings it take days.

[teachma]

While I would probably pursue this with a medical professional, I know that at ages 2-3-4, both of my older kids were very likely to repeat things like this over and over for great lengths of time if they overheard another person say it just once. Is it possible that your daughter heard you or another older family member say their eyes were hurting in the light, and now she's experimenting with the idea herself?

[weezix]

i would think that if she were repeating, she wouldn't have been able to point to where it hurts??

i dont know how to do all the quotes in the messages so to previous posters - it hasn't been intermitent, it has been EVERY day sometimes more than once for about a week.

i dont think there is any family history of eye problems - other than migraines and i happen to be the only one in my family that suffers from them.

we dont have a doc appointment until Monday so it will be an interesting week to see what happens. she's been sleeping better aside from the nightmare last night. which is also puzzling because she NEVER sleeps through the night and so that makes me think the senstivity to light can't be tiredness related.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by weezix

we dont have a doc appointment until Monday so it will be an interesting week to see what happens. she's been sleeping better aside from the nightmare last night. which is also puzzling because she NEVER sleeps through the night and so that makes me think the senstivity to light can't be tiredness related.

Actually, sleeping more can be a sign that she's overtired...

[teachma]

Originally Posted by weezix

i would think that if she were repeating, she wouldn't have been able to point to where it hurts??

I don't know...I mean, my 17-month old went through a phase about 3 months ago during which he would walk up to me and say, "Owww. Owww," seemingly out of nowhere. (I could see that he was happily playing nearby until the minute he decided to stop and say "owww.") He was clearly copying the expression and intonation of a very sensitive older sibling who frequently has strong reactions to small injuries. In effort to teach the little one empathy, I would always scoop him up, kiss and hug him in an exaggerated fashion, and ask, "Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" and without fail, he would point with his right pointer finger to his left pointer finger, every time. Now, I know this was a game, and I'm not suggesting your older daughter is "faking" in the way my much younger toddler was, but I'm just trying to throw out the possibility of something similar. If your intuition says this definitely isn't it, toss it!