Six year old seeing "nightmare bugs" flying round her

[jeffy22]

I'm getting rather worried.
Six year old started saying she sees these coloured bugs flying round her all the time and if she looks at one it turns into a nightmare picture.
It's not really mentioned in the time but at night time and sometimes in the morning.
Sometimes she seems annoyed, but often seems scared.
She can't really elaborate any more on what they are but when questioned says she sees them all the time.

I don't know what to think or what to do?

I’d be getting her eyes checked first. It might be floaters. Then I’d be seeing the GP. Does she have head or tummy aches ?

Take her to a doctor.
If its a physical thing t might be something as simple as eye floaters, but it could be something more serious like flashes. Hopefully it isn't a psychological problem, but it needs checking out.

Your poor DD. I agree with PPs about going to the doctor.

She had her eyes tested recently and they are fine.
She get tummy aches all the time and has been diagnosed last year with stomach migraine and takes medication for it

I had quite bad floaters at that age. Optician thought I was mad when I tried to ask about them but then it clicked with him what I meant and he was very reassuring, said they're really common and nothing to worry about. I don't even notice them anymore but you might need to bring it up at an eye test.

diagnosed last year with stomach migraine

Could it be that she is now suffering from aura migraine?

Ohhh I had this for years as a child. Around the same age. It then stopped suddenly. It was terrifying at the time and it caused my parents lots of sleep deprivation. But it was just me. Nothing suspicious underlying it. Overactive brain I guess. I am sorry she and you are going through this.

I get something like this. Not very often, comes in episodes when I will have it a lot and then not for months or years. Had it since childhood.

I see sparkles above my head or my face and interpret them as flying insects. I wake screaming, or at least horrified and shaken, sometimes flailing my arms to protect myself. It is genuinely terrifying. If I'm alone I switch the light on to reassure myself that there's nothing there, but if dh is there than just snuggling up to him is enough. I generally go back to sleep without difficulty. In that respect it is not like a nightmare.

Usually happens just as I'm drifting off, but sometimes during the night, so I expect it's at the start of a sleep cycle. I sleeptalk, and used to sleepwalk, so I wouldn't be surprised if it is connected.

I associate it with stress and being overtired. Although I have been phenomenally stressed and phenomenally overtired recently (Long Covid AND starting a new and challenging job) but it has not happened. Maybe I've finally grown out of it!?

I don't really have any advice, other than comforting your dd and reassuring her that she can come to you or call for you if she is scared. An eye check-up is always worthwhile. I have lots of floaters and I do not think they are connected with this, as the 'insect' sparkles are always in a different location to the floaters.

Then I think it’s aura. She needs seeing again.
Has she ever had a fit ?

Floaters was the first thing I thought of. I have some and they do look like bugs flitting by sometimes.

No fits

This OP. I had the same thing as a child and eventually in my late twenties got diagnosed with migraine with aura (they were dismissed as headaches for years despite having so many symptoms). The floaty bugs are the aura (it manifests differently for different people so it's easy to miss some types of aura). As I got older I saw dancing blue lights instead of red and green blobs. You can also have a migraine with aura with no pain (occular migraine) so it won't necessarily correspond with when she thinks she's got a migraine.

Check for any medical related reasons, maybe from the medication but if everything's fine, just go with it and advise her to stare the bugs down or something like that. One of my friend's DC used to "see and hear" people when they moved into their new house, my friend told her DC to tell them that she's not allowed to talk to them, and they "disappeared". It could be just imagination.

So did I and so did my son when he was similar age, was always terrified when in bed, though we didn't call them 'bugs', just 'things'. It passed.

My daughter has abdominal migraines and gets coloured spots in her vision, occurs mostly when she is tired. Have spoken to the optician about it several times and they are not concerned and said she will likely grow out of it.

My younger cousin used to see things like that. He turned out to have schizophrenia. Definitely see a doctor.

This is an interesting combination, and one that I have too.

I hallucinate bugs and insects on waking up, frequently. This is known as hypnagogic hallucinations and is a recognised thing.

I also get aura migraines, without much pain, just very distinct disturbances in vision.

If you google hypnagogic hallucinations and aura migraines, there are several studies.

Here's one specifically on a child experiencing both: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7001680/

It sounds similar to what your DC is experiencing, I hope this helps a little.!

I get visual migraine - no headache really, but a tired feeling. Flashy lights at edge of vision, jaggy lines, and floaters.

I get retinal migraines with odd flashing auras, no pain at all. Definitely get her checked out, but does sound like some sort of migraine.