Hallucination? Imagination? medication related?

[Merfille]

I tried to research this but am coming up short. I'll try to make it short. Our daughter seems to be doing great on Abilify (2 mg). She has not been one to much worry about ghosts (though she has 2 imaginary ghosts friends of some time now). Last night she woke me up and said she had a nightmare about a ghost. This morning after being up a while she started following me and staying close saying she saw ghosts popping up out of the floor. They said nothing, but came closer to her. She drew a picture. It had a frowny face but a solid line for the mouth (no smile, no sad face, no zigzag mad mouth). She said they had tentacles.

Later in the evening, they went away...or rather she said they were just in her imagination now and gone to another house.

As we were putting her to bed she said there was only one scary ghost now. It was evil but it could be a boy or a girl, and it was tricky. Looked nice but was scary evil. She said it wanted to take her away. She got out of bed, drew a picture. The picture was a pretty happy looking little girl (down to the puffed sleeves, dress and smile). On the other side of the paper was a boy picture. She wrote "Changer" for its name and "girl-boy" under that. Again, saying what she already told us about it. Looks nice but is evil. Can change into anyone. She did get teary at that point and say something about her imaginiation and then "something's wrong with my brain"

It seems to me like she logically thinks they are imaginary but she is battling with that she really does see them.

So, this is a totally new thing. I have read about things sort of like this with Bipolar children, but we hadn't encountered this until now. Will call the psychiatrist in the morning but was curious if anyone had an experience like this. Could it be the medicine (which in every other way has been a miracle worker this past few days)? Could it be that so many of her severe symptoms have calmed down that this one is more prominent for some reason? Though, it wasn't there before.

We thought things were going great but something is very odd about this.

Thank you!

 

[DammitJanet]

Well if this wasnt there before I would definitely call the psychiatrist. medications like antipsychotics can actually have a paradoxical effect in some people and induce psychosis. At one point they put me on a higher dose of seroquel and it caused me to become somewhat psychotic.

 

[Merfille]

Thank you so much. It isn't so bad that she is seeming terrified (a good thing), but there is obviously some fear and the whole thing is just so different. All I have read is that this happens but that antipsychotics help...which, as you said, this may be the opposite.

Thank you, again!

 

[mattsmum]

My difficult child was recently diagnosed Bipolar and I have read about such things with that disorder. You are doing the right thing letting the Psychiatrist know. Let us know what you find out.

Linda

 

[Sara PA]

I was thinking about this last night. There is one explanation we tend to overlook -- she could be seeing ghosts.

My son sees ghosts. One example is he came home from field trip to a famous national historical site and started talking about the woman sitting in the display behind the glass. I was there; there was no woman in the display behind the glass. He insisted there was. I called the site and asked if the place was haunted. They said no. Ten years later you could easily find accounts from other people who describe the same woman doing the same thing in the same place as my son described. The site is now on that city's haunted house tour.

 

[DDD]

Interesting, Sara. My Dad was a bright man who was interested in
a wide range of topics. One of those was parapsychology. He had
two friends who were recognized experts and authors. Although there was no direct experience in our family, we all absorbed from him the belief in spirits or ghosts.

At her young age, however, it seems remarkable that she would be
able to share complex concepts and draw pictures of her views in
detail. What a remarkable child she seems to be. Her trust in
her Mom is wonderful. DDD

 

[donna723]

If this just came up suddenly, I would probably attribute it to the medication too.

But I wouldn't completely discount it either. I firmly believe in things like this. And I also believe that sometimes children (who have less "brain clutter" than adults), and animals are more receptive and more sensitive to it than we adults are.

 

[Merfille]

Thanks for all your words...the psychiatrist said no worries for now (based on other things she said she could do or see, he said). We will see him in the next few days anyway.

The ghosts have not come back since Friday night, thankfully.

Sara, that is an interesting (and much more fun) way of looking at possibilities. I know you can't just discount things based on my own experiences...I don't always understand it, but surely don't say it doesn't exist.

DDD - thank you for saying she sounds remarkable and that she must trust me. Those are beautiful words (especially after the way it has been until this past week and a half LOL). She has always been very creative and artistic (she could draw dinosaurs at age 2 and 3 that I still couldn't draw). We homeschool and I wrote her name, 1st grade and drew a rose on the board. Keep in mind I put a lot of time in my simple rose. She literally took about a half minute and drew one and it was way better than mine. I like crafts and sewing somewhat but I don't know where she gets some of this. Like a box...she doesn't draw a square, she draws a 3 d box.

Ok, I am off on a tangent - thank you, all, again!!!!