Really worried, dd 12 is complaining of intermittant double vision

[Kaylasmum49]

Hi, my 12 yo dd told me the other day that she is having the occasional episode of double vision. I should explain that I have health anxiety which has been under control mostly but this has sent me into a downward spiral of fear and obsessive googling.

She says it happens maybe once a week or so and lasts for a few minutes. She told me when it happened yesterday at school she closed one eye and it was'nt really noticeable with the other eye, she also said that it's only on certain objects, she can look around and not notice it on other things.

Her dad has a squint that he had since early childhood, she had that checked out when she was little and there was no evidence of one. I certainly don't notice one when looking at her, can a squint suddenly occur at this age? I'm focussing on a brain tumour and I'm driving myself to the brink of insanity.

My eldest dd has taken her for an eye test so I'm anxiously waiting to hear from her.

Can anyone help to calm me down, please. Please don't tell me any scary stuff

i'm sure they had a good check of the back of her eyes , if there was anything sinister to see they would have!

I would have thought so too but I can't stop worrying about it. Health anxiety has me firmly in its grip.

Lots of non serious issues can be missed in a normal eye test. Visual stress/Irlen syndrome causes my ds's double vision. Hth

Hi thanks not lost,

How old is your ds? Did his double vision just suddenly appear? Sorry if you think I'm being nosey

Hi Kaylas, yes, I'm an optometrist (optician). I specialise in kids in private practice and work with kids in a hospital situation too. Convergence insufficiency isn't too serious and it may not always be discussed in a standard eye exam (though it probably should be. It can appear to come on all of a sudden because the symptoms suddenly became apparent but it is usually in the background without symptoms in the first place.
To be honest, 4 hours a day is too much and make sure your child obeys the Harmon distance rule - hold tablets/books closer than the distance between your middle knuckle and elbow away from the eyes.
Your child's symptoms don't sound like Irlen Syndrome - I have a lot of experience in this area and use a colourimeter. I have found that kids previously diagnosed with Irlen often just have binocular problems though I'm ok if they prefer wearing tinted lenses.

Bayworld, thanks again for your reply,

Unfortunately my anxiety is off the scale this morning and I'm in a state of fear and panic.

My dd had a few episodes of double vision yesterday, she also had what seems like an afterimage. She was watching the tv and the words were slightly doubled. The tv is about 5 feet away, everything that I've read about convergence insufficiency says that it's close up. I can't stop worrying that it's a brain tumour and I'm terrified for her.

The optician that tested her eyes knew that she was having double vision so surely she would have tested for a convergence issue.

My dd just came to me just now and told me she was seeing it again, it was on a door handle and I asked her to look at something else, she couldn't see it, when she looked back at the door handle she could see it again. She looked at a few different things and could only see it on some.

I not going to take her to another optician, I'm going to take her to the gp and hopefully he will refer her on.

Sorry to disagree but an orthoptist is fully trained in binocular problems while only some opticians with a special interest really know what they are looking for ! Please request a referral to an Orthoptic clinic !

Just wanted to update,

Took my dd to the gp yesterday. He did a few visual checks on her and decided to refer her to the eye specialist. I told him I'm very worried about a brain tumour and he told me he doesn't think it is. I am a complete nervous wreck now, my anxiety is constant from the minute I wake up. I have barely eaten for a week and a half, I've lost 7lbs. I have health anxiety and it's been under control for the last 5 years but after a year of intense stress due to my 29 yo ds having severe mental health issues, he's been in prison, has self harmed for 15 years, has a painkiller addiction and quite often overdoses. He is very unpredictable and I never know what to expect, he asked my permission to take his life. So....I think it was inevitable that I was going to breakdown at some point.

My gp has signed me off from work and given me diazepam. I'm trying to hide this from my dd as I don't want her worrying, she already has anxiety issues. I feel like such a bad mother at the moment and I'm having such dark thoughts about my dd. This is torture!!

If you google for College of Optometrists in Vision Development you will find a set of specialists who can fix this problem easily with exercises. I had the same problem develop when I was 11 but it wasn't diagnosed until I was 28. It was easily fixed with exercises once it was finally identified.

This is an example of a specialist who can solve the problem:

www.candahurstopticians.co.uk/

I had similar in my mid teens. They never really found the cause but I had double vision and was badly affected by glare. All they could come up with in the end was it was caused by a growth spurt (I did grow several inches very quickly around the same time).

Hi Helen,

What kind of testing did they do for your double vision?

Snowfedup, my gp has referred my dd to the eye specialist at the hospital. Would this be an orthoptist?

Good post by ipsogenix - indeed I hold a Fellowship with COVD (FCOVD). It does depend on where you live as there may not be a COVD fellow in your area. Whereabouts are you kaylas? The option of referral to the hospital will give you a specialist (ophthalmologist) or you may see an orthoptist first. Both are good options to confirm there is nothing sinister going on. The chances of this being a brain tumour are very small.

I'm in Perth Scotland.

My dd has told me that she can see double on her phone if it's white writing on a black background, when she looks at other text on her phone it's not there. She can see it on objects on our coffee table at times, when the light shines on objects. She doesn't seem to notice it outside.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my rambling anxiety filled posts. I am trying to remember my cbt but the irrational thinking starts forcing its way into my head.

Just out of interest (and prompted by your last message) does the double vision go away the she looks at text with a coloured filter over it? You can buy one from any stationery shop (blue/green/aqua colours are usually the best.

ds 12 has episodes of double vision , then vision black outs and photosensitivity ,we were sent to a&e by gp to access instant eye clinic . where they saw squiggly optic nerves .

head ct and lumber puncture all normal , neurologist diagnosed migraines and he now has to take preventive medication , the squiggly nerves were diagnosed as "juvenile" something and they weren't too worried by it.
so if it comes and goes it could be neurological and nothing to do with the eyes iykwim.
so id go to gp to get ball rolling.

sorry , i can see youve already been to see gp.

Oh dear, high anxiety is so uncomfortable.

Not sure if this will help at all but my 8yo complains of occasional double vision. He has been seen by a behavioural optometrist and he has tinted lenses, script in there too, which is helping a lot. Turns out he's had it forever but didn't know how to describe it.

Tbh it never occurred to me to worry about a brain tumour!

Bayworld, I will have a look for those. I'm kinda just waiting for her hospital appt and trying to keep it together. Thank you so much for helping me keep things in perspective.

Wfrances, was your ds having these episodes a few times throughout the day? She definitely is'nt having vision blackouts or photosensitivity. She did have a migraine about 2 years ago, it started with a bright flash in her vision, then she was mixing her words up and then came the headache from hell. The school called and I'd only just picked her up when she was violently sick. She has had headaches on and off but never too severe.

JerryFerry, what was the diagnosis for your ds? Unfortunately because I have HA I tend to catastrophise and always manage to focus on the worst case scenario. Oh to be normal!!

If you're worried - get an MRI and then you will know. My son had a brain tumour - it does happen but thankfully very rarely. The one thing it has taught me is that there is nothing anyone can do to diagnose a brain tumour but to give a child a scan. If my child had persistent double vision and no firm diagnosis, I would do it - privately if necessary.

www.headsmart.org.uk/admin/uploads/Headsmart-Symptom-card-final.pdf

And I don't want to add to your HA - but frankly it's not about you - it's about your daughter.

It was a long time ago op, so I can't remember exactly. I remember I got an eeg and lots of eye tests. I also had loads of people looking in my eyes. I got referred to eye outpatients relatively quickly. It was around my exam time so the school printed larger exam papers for me and also printed them on yellow paper instead of white so there was less glare.

Black swan, I'm sorry to hear about your ds, I hope he's doing ok.

Actually you did add to my HA, massively! We were out for the day when I read your post, it made my heart sink and brought on a bad anxiety attack.

I don't understand your point, since finding out about my dd's issue I've done everything that I should have. W are currently waiting on an appointment with the eye specialist, I am going to put my faith in the medical professionals. I came on hear to hopefully gain a little reassurance. HA is no joke and I've been extremely ill with it before.

This is all about my daughter and "frankly" you don't know me!! I have 5 kids and they are my everything.

Helen, thanks for your reply,

Was your double vision mainly on things with light shining on them? My dd seems to notice it on things that have light shining off them also on the tv/phone if there is white text on a dark background.

OP he has visual processing disorder (VPD) and finds everything too bright, cannot read text on white background. As I understand it he has a prism in the glasses to reduce the double vision, slight script and the tint to soften everything. Weirdly they seem to have improved his listening skills and helped him calm down, before he was constantly in motion.

I would actually say this is more about you than your daughter. You are obviously a very caring parent who is conscientious about her children's wellbeing so I would say she is in great hands. Just so tough being you, I hope this doesn't irritate or offend, but do you get a chance to have some physical exercise each day? It can really help to offset anxiety