What would cause intermittent blurry vision in a 10yo? update from appointmentpost 24

[Aerynne]

I'm taking her to the eye doctor tomorrow. When she has it, she wakes up with it and has it all day. The only causes I can come up with is migraines (she does get headaches frequently, as do I), diabetes (no other symptoms), or a brain tumor. Other ideas? Ideas about the likelihood of any of these scenarios?

[Zooey]

I think migraines. It sounds like some of the kind of symptoms that I sometimes have when a migraine is coming on. And I have one cousin who says, that whenshe gets migraine, she sometimes completely loses the sight in her one eye.

[Dtswife]

:hug

My brother had that as one of the earliest symptoms of a brain tumor. More followed, but that was the first weird thing.

The optometrist was actually the one to have him rushed to the hospital for surgery because he could see something was very, very wrong during an eye exam. Until then, my parents thought it was chronic debilitating migraines (an Eye, Nose and Throat Dr. told them that - I think they should have reported him to the AMA).

[HomeWithMyBabies]

Any chance it's allergies? I get stringy whiteish eye goop on days the pollen is bad. It gets stuck to my eyeball and I don't notice it just from looking in the mirror, I only realize it when my eyesight is blurry. Once I clean it out it's fine.

[Aerynne]

I think migraines. It sounds like some of the kind of symptoms that I sometimes have when a migraine is coming on. And I have one cousin who says, that whenshe gets migraine, she sometimes completely loses the sight in her one eye.

Interesting. Migraines wouldn't surprise me.

:hug

My brother had that as one of the earliest symptoms of a brain tumor. More followed, but that was the first weird thing.

The optometrist was actually the one to have him rushed to the hospital for surgery because he could see something was very, very wrong during an eye exam. Until then, my parents thought it was chronic debilitating migraines (an Eye, Nose and Throat Dr. told them that - I think they should have reported him to the AMA).

Thank you for being honest with me. :hug Dd has an eye doctor appointment tomorrow and I'll be biting my nails until then. Glad to know eye doctors can see something is wrong if there's a brain tumor (at least sometimes).


Any chance it's allergies? I get stringy whiteish eye goop on days the pollen is bad. It gets stuck to my eyeball and I don't notice it just from looking in the mirror, I only realize it when my eyesight is blurry. Once I clean it out it's fine.

Maybe. How do you clean out the goop if you can't see it?

[HomeWithMyBabies]

Maybe. How do you clean out the goop if you can't see it?

I don't notice it until I go looking for it. It comes off in a long string. It's gross. Sometimes I use homeopathic allergy eye drops and that helps keep it from getting too sticky.

[Aerynne]

So I just gave her an eye test and it came out 20/20. Granted it was "for educational purposes only" but that is still interesting. She's the one claiming her vision is blurry. I have no doubt it seems blurry to her, but I'm not sure what's going on (and she did say her vision was blurry when I gave her the test).

[ShangriLewis]

When my son was having eye problems he was sent for an MRI. Hopefully your appointment goes well. Follow your gut.


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[Aerynne]

When my son was having eye problems he was sent for an MRI. Hopefully your appointment goes well. Follow your gut.


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How was the MRI and what did they find? She now says she isn't sure the blurry vision is intermittent. It might be constant.

I was driving around town with her tonight and asking her about things she could and couldn't see clearly. It seemed her vision is only slightly worse than mine (corrected- uncorrected I can only barely read the E at the top of the charts.

[ChristmasGirl]

Another thought is head injury (concussion)...headache and blurry vision can follow one...just something to consider if there's been a recent bump to the head that find' tween significant at the time. I've also seen this in migraine too. :hugheart

[Blue-EyedLady]

You can have 20/20 vision, and have it still be blurry. Blur is a function of the accommodative system rather than the focusing system. (Though the systems are similar and I can't yet explain the difference. I'm still learning...)

She could be having binocular issues and just need vision therapy. Ask the optometrist if that's a possibility.

[Zooey]

Astigmatism, maybe?
I have a spot in my left eye that is always a little "off". Turns out that its astigmatism.
But it was never caught when I was a kid, because I couldn';t explain what the problem was. :thinkMaybe "blurry" means something different to her than it doea to an adult.

[Little Forest]

Has she compared each eye by itself?

There are so many possible kinds of causes of blurred vision. If it truly is intermittent there are a few serious things that should be ruled out.

I will just point out that you can see 20/20 vision but it can still seem blurred. And seeing 20/20 vision does not rule out pathology.
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[Aerynne]

Has she compared each eye by itself?



Yes, they are both blurry but one is worse.

[teamommy]

Hope the appointment goes well.

[ShangriLewis]

My sons problem was blinking and how that affected his vision. He still goes through times where he blinks. His MRI was clear. It wasn't difficult at all for him. But, he is quite a brave guy.


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[Aerynne]

Hope the appointment goes well.

Thank you. Appointment is at 2:30 MDT, so in an hour and a half. Please pray. My biggest prayer for this appointment is not that they don't find anything wrong, but rather that IF there is anything to find that they DO find it, that the Dr will recommend whatever needs to happen, so for example that if she needs an MRI that the Dr will recommend one.

[Singingmom]

Following and agreeing in prayer.

Does she already have glasses?

[scottishthistle]

Is she taking any meds? lamictal makes my eyes very blurry sometimes

[Little Forest]

:pray Hope you get to the bottom of this!
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[Atsirk]

:pray4

[KarenBoo]

:pray4 for the visit to go well.

I started to type this morning on my phone and had to put it down. I get intermittent blurry vision, but it's 100% related to my use of a backlit device. It is worse when I use it in the dark. So reading on my phone in the dark or reading on a backlit Kindle will cause my vision to be fuzzy - even for several hours! (depends on how long I was reading like that.)

[houseforjoy]

:pray4

[Aerynne]

She had a very thorough eye exam this afternoon. Her vision all checked out including her pupil responding to light properly and it was all good. He said she had a very mild prescription, but not worth getting glasses for. I asked her to fix up his lenses to her prescription so she could try it out and see if it solved the blurriness, which she said it did. The only thing he said that COULD be concerning is that some of the border of her optic nerve indicated a slightly higher than normal intracranial pressure. He said we could do an MRI to make me feel better, but he wouldn't if it was his daughter and that doing it would just be to ease my anxiety. I asked him if he saw 100 kids my dd's age how many would have the same very slightly increased intracranial pressure and he said ten. Knowing what an MRI entails I don't think I want to put her through it just to ease my anxiety. I think it would give her more anxiety than it would ease for me, and if really ten of a hundred kids would have what she has, I don't think it's a problem. He did say it might be worth doing if she got more frequent headaches or if her headaches were all in the same spot, but given the circumstances he doesn't think the MRI is necessary.

ETA: I'd love to know what you all would do in this situation- would you do the MRI? I don't want to miss anything I should catch. We do have insurance, if that matters, but I am a cheapskate. Obviously I will do any necessary tests, though. It's just putting her through it that worries me more; if 10% of kids have what she has I figure it can't be that bad.

[Blue-EyedLady]

Since most of the doctors I know over-prescribe tests rather than under-prescribe (they have to work from a "cover your butt" paradigm), and the dr doesn't recommend the MRI, I'd go with no.

[sunflowermom]

I'm glad the doctor seemed to do a thorough job. :yes
I don't think I'd do the MRI either.

[ECingMama]

I wouldn't right now.

My hubby has that pressure issue. His is pretty bad. Doc said to have surgery for it when he's in his 50s or 60s. I don't know anything beyond that, but I can ask him. We've known the eye doctor for 33 years. He was a ped first and he treated my newborn sister 3 decades ago.

[Aerynne]

I wouldn't right now.

My hubby has that pressure issue. His is pretty bad. Doc said to have surgery for it when he's in his 50s or 60s. I don't know anything beyond that, but I can ask him. We've known the eye doctor for 33 years. He was a ped first and he treated my newborn sister 3 decades ago.

Yes, feel free to ask him if you don't mind.

My dis sick of me talking about it. :(

[Little Forest]

I might be wrong, but I think the dr meant that it looked similar to optic nerves with high inter cranial pressure, but sometimes they just looked heaped but are not, if that makes sense. If he really thought there was some true swelling, yeah, something would have to be done.

If your DD thought it was clearer with the small Rx, I would definitely let her get the glasses to use. Some people do better with low scripts.

I would recommend running a visual field test. Much less invasive and cheaper than an MRI. That can show if there is something impinging somewhere on the visual tract so it can show up problems between the brain, optic nerves to the retina and the pattern gives an idea where the problem is. If the visual fleld came out clear that would be good to know it had been checked out. Maybe call back and ask about bringing her in for that? :shifty