3yo visual hallucinations and hysterical - not asleep/no fever

[Watchingthetelly]

Has anyone experienced this please? DS3 woke at 3am and then started screaming hysterically that there were spiders on him. This continued on and off for two hours until he fell asleep. It then started again this morning. Managed to distract him for a few hours but then it happened very badly again. I've never seen anyone so terrified in my life. He does not have a fever. GP doesn't know.

Bless him, he is having bad dreams and night terrors which are very common. I remember having them when I was a child.

It doesn't last forever, all you can do is be extra loving while it does.

I don't know either either but I would want a neurological opinion. You must be so worried.

You said he wasn't asleep? Do you mean it wakes him from sleep every time?
My dc had night terrors, but it wasn't like this.

Is it only while he is sleeping? You said it happened during the night and this morning. Do you mean this morning as he was waking up or 10am when he had been awake for several hours already and wasn't napping? If it's associated with sleep, it sounds like a night terror. They are very common around that age. They seem to wake up (really they are asleep and 'sleepwalking') and shout and carry on about all sorts of things. Been up with mine loads during the night shouting about all kinds of things they see or think are happening. Usually fully waking them up, all lights on, cold cloth to the face, etc. helps snap them out of it.

But if you mean it's happening randomly when awake and not sleeping at all, then I would look for signs of infection. He may not have a fever, but could still have an infection. This happened to my friend's dd and she did in fact have a bad viral infection and needed to be in hospital for a few days.

At first your description of what happened very much sounded like night terrors. Children will 'wake up' (eyes open, may walk around etc.) and scream hysterically but are actually deeply asleep and won't usually remember anything about the episode in the morning.
The fact that this also happened when he was awake makes me think that it may not be night terrors. I would contact your GP or health visitor for advice.

@mindutopia that's helpful thanks

To clarify it is happening when he is wide awake. He's just had another bad episode. GP now advised A&E so we are leaving in a minute

Updating in case some poor soul is ever searching mumsnet in the middle of the night, as I was.

Back from A&E and thankfully no neurological or infection issues. Apparently this is a not uncommon phenomenon in small children. Usually there is a triggering event (none identified in our case) often coupled with excessive tiredness. The child experiences a nightmare scenario while waking and keeps reliving it with visual hallucinations while awake. This lasts for a few days. Drs recommendation was as much exercise as physically possible and as much sleep as we can get him to do over the next few days. It's a very upsetting thing, I really hope no one else needs to search for this and read it.

I had this as a child. Was diagnosed with migraines.

@Watchingthetelly Glad it wasn't anything too serious and hope that he's over them very soon. Interestingly, DS always suffered more from night terrors when he was overtired.

It sounds like very common night terrors.

My son had night terrors and he’d be sat up talking to me or crying but not remember in the morning. Was really freaky!

I'm glad he has been seen at A&E, op. At least you have reassurance and this, honestly, will pass. It's getting through it that is so difficult.

Poor little scrap, I hope he has a better night tonight - you too.

@Watchingthetelly Thank you for updating, my 3yo does this occasionally and it’s always awful, good to know what a dr would recommend.

@LemonRoses if you had read the thread it is very clearly not night terrors. It is happening in the middle of the waking day. Doctors also confirmed it is absolutely not night terrors, it is waking visual hallucinations.

@Maggiesfarm @Blueballinthegarden thanks. He slept through the night! A bit spooked this morning but no actual visual hallucinations. Blue you may also be reassured to know that the doctor said there is zero link with psychiatrist issues when older.

Great to know thank you :) that’s good news, must have been very frightening for you all but at least you have some answers now.

Hi, just read this post and last night we had exactly the same thing with our 4 year old son. It terrified me, he was going crazy about spiders and bugs being everywhere, we tried to reassure him but he was petrified 😞 just wondered if your little one was still suffering from these? TIA

Hi @Flowersformum . Sorry to hear this happened to your son too. You will be pleased to hear that it never happened again! He was very spooked for months after, as it unfortunately really unsettled him, but he never had another hallucination.