Help please! Occitipal epilepsy or mild autism?

[mummytopebs]

My dd 3.9 has always been a bit of a medical mystery she has been in hospital a lot since she was a baby and no one can ever seem to diagnose anything. Anyway the recent thing baffling doctors is flashing experiences in her eyes she says it flashes black white and red and gets very distressed by this. She has had an mri which shows some scarring on her brain and an eeg which showed something slight, she is going in next week for a 24hr eeg, the thing that is confusing me is we went to see the epilepsy specialist last week who said he doesnt think it is occipital epilepsy (which he originally thought) and now is hinting towards autism, as he thinks the flashing could be emotions! I dont really know anything about autism except what ive read on the net! Any advice please? I still believe it is occipital epilepsy because she gets distressed by this flashing and it is definitly real

Autism isn't diagnosed just for flashing experiences - sensory problems can be part of ASD, but there's a lot of other criteria in terms of problems with language/communication/socialising etc.

I don't know anything about the epilepsy side of things I'm afraid.

There is a rare condition called synaesthesia -

"Synaesthesia is a joining together of sensations that are normally experienced separately. Some synaesthetes experience colours when they hear or read words, whilst others may experience tastes, smells, shapes or touches in almost any combination. The sensations are automatic and cannot be turned on or off. People are generally born with it and it runs in families. It is not considered to be harmful in any way. Most synaesthetes could not imagine life without these extra sensations! Studying synaesthesia may help us to understand how the brain segregates and integrates different sensations and thoughts."

I don't know if that sounds of any relevance.

site with info about synaesthesia:-

www.syn.sussex.ac.uk/1.html

She has more symptoms that could be on as, she is very ritualistic, hates change, cant control her emotions very well, plays on edge of children etc. I was wondering if it was more aspergers than autism. Has anyone ever heard of flashing lights bein an emotional problem ? Would really like some advice or suggestions

Riven i would really like to hear about your dd cos it is very difficult to find people who have heard of occipital epilepsy. Does your dd have seizures or petit mals or is just her eyes that are affected? cos my dd is her eyes in the main and the doc said that is rare so thinks it mite not be ooc epilepsy. We go in on wed for 24 hr eeg. If she doesnt have funny flashing sensation when monitor is on, will nothing show up?