Not sure what to make of this

F

flutterbee

Guest
A couple of weeks ago, difficult child was picking up dry dog food that the dog had spread all around her dish (the dog has some odd nervous habit she does with her food) and stopped because she said there were bugs all over the place. I immediately went over - however, cautiously because bugs...ewww! - and didn't see a thing. We have never had a bug problem other than the occasional bug or spider you get which easy child is promptly dispatched to kill so we can continue to live in our home. difficult child and I are a bit phobic. I just assumed she saw *A* bug and it became bugs all over the place and didn't think much of it.

Tonight, easy child told me that difficult child went to pick something up off the floor (don't remember what...I've been up a lot of hours), and stopped because she said there were bugs all around it. He looked right away and there wasn't a single bug...just the flecks of color in the carpet. I hadn't told him about the other incident, so it was something he thought was odd, too. In fact, he presented it with, "I think there's something wrong with difficult child."

She has been somewhat withdrawn lately, although not worrisome so, and her sleep patterns have been odd, but she's a teenager so I haven't thought much of it.

I don't know what, if anything, to make of this. I'll definitely be keeping my eyes open, though.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
This sounds like a delusion. I would be very concerned. When can you get him in to see someone? He may feel safe talking about bugs, but not other "things" that he is seeing or hearing. I would be very concerned.
 

Sara PA

New Member
"Visual disturbances" is a side effect found in the clinical testing and "visual hallucinations" are a postmarketing reported side effect for Lexapro. Singular lists "dream abnormalities and hallucinations" as a postmarketing reported adverse reaction. Could be a medication side effect.
 

smallworld

Moderator
I completely agree with Sara that it could be a side effect of Lexapro. I have been told by our psychiatrists to watch for three distinct side effects with Lexapro: first, delusions/hallucinations (which are related to medication/dose); second, increased hyperactivity (which is also related to medication/dose); and third, a true manic episode (which is related to bipolar disorder). You need to talk to the psychiatrist about these bug episodes ASAP.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I'm with Sara. This sort of thing happened to me on certain antidepressants and just went on to get worse. I'd think that the Lexapro may be giving her hallucinations of bugs.
 

Fran

Former desparate mom
I agree with all the others that there may be some hallucinations or distortion.
My difficult child got very obsessed with storms to the point he was looking out the window on a sunny, cloudless day. He lived in anxiety that the weather was going to hurt him.
I would look for medication causes too. Look for anything that would cause the changes.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
Heather I hope you can get this figured out... hopefully it is something that can be fixed with a quick medication change or something easily explained.... fingers crossed for you and your family. As if you don't have enough on your plate!!!

How scary, disturbing for all of you.
 

jbrain

Member
Interesting--my difficult child 1 swore she saw roaches crawling across the tv screen a few years back (we live in NY state, no roaches in our house though we saw plenty when we lived in Louisiana). I am trying to remember if she was on Lexapro at the time--she was on it for a couple of years. I never connected the 2!
Jane
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
I will definitely put a call into the psychiatrist. She's still asleep. She's been asleep for well over 12 hours.

Thanks for the information, ladies.
 

Steely

Active Member
I am not sure what to make of it either - although it has happened here with my son as well. When my Dad was first hospitalized with brain cancer this spring, and my difficult child was up at the hospital every day, he started having these stress like reactions to things. One of the things was that he would "see bugs", like running over the tv screen, or in the kitchen, when they weren't there. This disappeared as the stress lessened.

Just wondering if your daughter might be experiencing some new added stress? Maybe your illness could be exacerbating it, or school?

Hang in there.
 
M

ML

Guest
difficult child used to avoid eating sometimes because he's swear that the pasta was worms. He went through an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) period where he was afraid of "bugs" or "germs" and if you came within 10 feet of his meal he'd stop eating because of contamination. It's a wonder he turned out to be 88 pounds at 8 years old (almost 9).

This is probably irrelevant to this situation but for some reason this post made me think of it.

Good luck finding the solution to this.
 

WNC Gal

New Member
My daughter started reporting hallucinations when she first arrived at a new placement - a PRTF - and she had never reported hallucinations before. We're still not sure if they were medication-induced... at that time she was on five different medications! But her psychiatrist told her that she didn't "need" those hallucinations to communicate her needs - she had been telling other kids that her hallucination (a young girl) was mad at them. So he told her to just communicate her needs directly. This gave her a way to give up the hallucinations and "save face" if they were a means of getting attention. She told the psychiatrist that her hallucination had made a new friend and wouldn't be back. She hasn't reported them since...
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
She told the psychiatrist that her hallucination had made a new friend and wouldn't be back. She hasn't reported them since...
Wow. Very interesting.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Heather, you've gotten some good leads. Too bad it's a weekend. You problem won't hear back from the psychiatrist until tomorrow.
Good luck.
 
Heather,

I have never experienced this, and have no advice. I just want to send hugs and prayers, you have a lot going on between you and your daughter.

I am very happy that your easy child is being, well, easy child!

(((((hugs)))))
 
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