DD1's sleep disturbed, says she has 'colours in my eyes'- any ideas?

[hohohEauRouge]

DD1 is 3.2yo and has never been a great sleeper. She's never slept through the night and in the past has suffered from night terrors (thankfully over now), nightmares and sleep-talking.

For the last few days she's been saying she can't sleep because she has 'colours in her eyes'. She doesn't mean dreams, she knows what those are. She is completely healthy and doesn't seem to be in pain so I'm not excessively worried and she's not been sleeping any worse than she normally does. I've asked her if she's been rubbing her eyes but I haven't had a definite answer either way. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?

Doesn't sound like migraines then, as there's no other pain involved. has she been staring at a light/rubbing her eyes etc?

Synasthesia?

Will you be taking her to a doctor in the New Year?

Yes, I'll be taking her once the surgery re-opens, when I say I'm not excessively worried I mean that I won't be rushing her off to A&E. Thanks for the link on synasthesia, I'll give it a read.

Moterpanda- the eye rubbing was my first thought, I haven't noticed her doing it though. I've asked her if she's been doing it and she said 'yes' but then she said 'no'

When I was little I used to often wake in the morning with coloured lights floating all round my room. Like when you've looked at a bright light and then look away, but they'd be little patches and all different colours. I was convinced they were fairies and never mentioned them. I grew out of it.

Fairies, now there's a theory I didn't consider

I used to see little coloured dots in the dark. I can still conjure them up now, if I want to. Sometimes they were a like a haze of tiny coloured specks and other times they would be in a sort of snow flake pattern that came swirling towards me. I wasn't afraid, although I did used to call them The Grisly. I don't know why, they weren't grisly at all.

I also grew out of it.

children can get migraines without headaches so might be the explanation

I have problems with blood sugar levels, if my blood sugar drops too low during the night my body releases insulin and I get a psychadelic show of swirling colours. This only happens when I am asleep.

Thanks everyone, lots to consider there.

workshy- I didn't realise you could get migraines without headaches, would there be any other symptoms I could look out for?

I have had migraines without a headache before, they're called atypical migraine.

As well as the coloured blobs I see flashy lights (like little wiggles of light that move fast), tingling and loss of sensation in the soles of my feet (made walking tricky!) and funny feeling tongue and lips. Also a really weird wild feeling, like it's really windy and I'm all on edge.

I've had one proper migraine too with the horrendous headache. That time I couldn't get dressed or talk either. I wanted too, but my brain just couldn't get the rest of my body to co-operate.

I hope it's nothing serious for your daughter. I'd definitely go with the fairies explanation if she's worried :)

meant to say I used to see the coloured blobs as a child, but the rest was as a adult. They're linked somehow to hormones, blood sugar and dehydration I think