Any M.D. - help...PLEASE. I'm a terrified mom.

Factual Questions
1

My 3 year old daughter jumped up in my lap today and went nose-to-nose with me, giving me a silly grin. I asked her what she was doing. She said, “Playing with you!”. She was making a crazy face, and her eyes crossed (her right eye drew in toward her nose). All afternoon I noticed her doing it. I assumed she was impressed with her newfound talent and didn’t think a lot about it until my mom came over and kind of freaked out about it. My sister was born with “lazy eye” and wore a patch for years and required several surgeries, so mom got me good and worked up too. I called the doctor this afternoon, but he’s out already for the weekend. I scheduled an appointment for Monday morning, but in the meantime, I’m scared out of my wits. Is it possible for something like this to show up so late (my sister’s was diagnosed at birth)? Could it be a muscle strain that will eventually go away? If so, what should I do for her? For Pete’s sake, surely it’s not the one real case in the world where “keep making that face and it’ll stay that way” is true. I’ve noticed that when it’s worst, she will kind of put her hand in front of the eye (maybe trying to focus?). She hasn’t really complained of pain, but when I ask her if it hurts, she says it does a little - she says it feels like her eye “has a boo-boo”.

I hope to God I’m overreacting. My kids have really never been sick, so I’m not handling this with much finesse. Her eyes were perfect yesterday. Does anyone know what might be going on?

2

jane, if it is amblyopia (hope I spelled that right), waiting until Monday to see the doc is not going to make any difference. Check her out otherwise. Breathing fine? Appetite OK? Anything else wrong? No? Good. Go see the doc Monday.

But, if you are concerned about anything else in conjunction with this, see if you can see another doctor tomorrow, or go to the ER. I don’t think any pain is normally associated with amblyopia, but [stress]I DON"T KNOW THAT[/stress].

I hope both of you come out OK (you will).

3

I’m not a doc, but until one comes in…

I really don’t think that “lazy eye” comes on like that, in a sudden, acute way. I think that your guess that she just discovered the ability to selectively cross her eyes is probably right on. And if she has, indeed, been overusing the muscles involved by playing this new game all day, those muscles are quite likely to be tired and sore.

By all means, have her checked out. But I wouldn’t run to the emergency room tonight, unless she has had some kind of other trauma recently that might be affecting her vision.

My daughter was diagnosed with a lazy eye when she was 5. For her, it was merely a matter of fitting her with glasses. Her vision was barely worse than normal, but correcting it strengthened the weaker eye sufficiently that she never had to take the next step, which would have been a patch. Not all kids have to have surgery. My advice-don’t borrow trouble. Have it checked out, but don’t panic.

4

God, thank you both. Just the fact that I have a couple of “IANAD, it’s most likely OK” answers from someone other than my dad (who lies to me to keep me calm) is quite a relief.

Beatle, otherwise she’s doing fine. She played on her swing set with her sister until I left for work. Then she ate chicken and rice, green beans and French bread for dinner with her dad. Then my best friend took her and her sister over to meet said friend’s brand-new nephew. I know there’s no emergency…I’m just worried. And we will be OK. Thanks for reminding me. :slight_smile:

Robin, thanks for your story. I’m so glad your daughter is doing well. I told my mom exactly the same thing you said - how on earth could it just appear out of nowhere? We drove her sister to preschool today and everything was fine, she had yogurt, we watched Bob the Builder, we sang songs, we did our normal stuff, and all was fine. I’m hoping that the muscle strain idea is the ticket. It may sound weird, but I was actually kind of glad to hear it was hurting. I reasoned that it must be a temporary condition if it hurt (yeah, I know that’s lame. I’m grasping at straws here). I was also struck by how noticable it was, all of a sudden. Thanks again for the insight!

5

IANAD, jane, but I’m an RN. Also, my son has amblyopia, the result of a bad dog attack when he was two. He wears glasses and the problem will gradually go away. My brother also had amblyopia, wore glasses for a few years, and eventually attained normal vision.

Don’t take your child to the ER for this; they’ll think you’re overreacting and you’ll sit there forever for no reason. Reserve the ER for people who have real emergencies- even if your daughter has amblyopia, waiting a few days to be seen will make no difference at all.

I doubt that’s the trouble, though. Like robin said, your darling probably just discovered a new talent and overused it a touch. Pain is not normally associated with amblyopia, and the condition doesn’t crop up in one day unless some traumatic injury is involved.

I have the ability to wiggle my eyeballs so fast that they vibrate. When I was little and still thought this was interesting, I’d do it until my eyes ached. My son (not the same one as mentioned above) also has the eyeball-wiggling gene, and he also complains of soreness after overusing his skill. I’m reasonably positive your daughter isn’t defective, just talented.

By all means, see her doctor on Monday, if only to set your mind at ease. Until then, chill out and let Calgon take you away.

6

I have to admit it hurts my eyes when I do that. So her describing her eye as feeling boo-booish when she does it is no surprise.

As others have said, it’s probably nothing. If it’s not, waiting a few days to get to your doctor won’t hurt anything. :slight_smile:

(just another non-doctor offering a bit of mom assurance)

7

Thanks to you, too, Holly. I never go to the ER unless absolutely necessary. Our hospital is notoriously sucky, so unless it’s life or death, we try to wait till the doctor is in, or drive one town south if we can’t wait. Also very glad to hear your son is doing so well.

I will be able to sleep tonight, thanks to you guys. I was considering taking up drinking. :slight_smile:

8

Yes.

Let’s make a distinction between “amblyopia” and crossed eyes or “strabismus”.

http://www.strabismus.org/

http://www.aoanet.org/cvc-crossed-eyes.html

http://www.preventblindness.org/children/amblyopiaFAQ.html

Amblyopia is usually diagnosed during a routine visual exam of the older, school-age child. The doc says, “Hey, didja know the sight in her one eye is much worse than in the other eye? This is because she has amblyopia. Wear this eye patch.”

http://www.preventblindness.org/children/StrabismusFAQ.html

I believe strabismus can come on very suddenly. One fine day the already weak eye muscles just throw in the towel, and you look over at her and say, “What happened to her eye?”

I would definitely take her to an opthamologist on Monday. Not a pediatrician, who will just make soothing noises and tell you she’ll grow out of it, which if she really does have strabismus, she won’t.

Also, it’s genetic to a certain extent. Anybody else in your family have this?

9

Oh–your sister. Duh.

10

My daughter developed a crossed eye (sorry, but I don’t remember the medical term) when she was about four. Prior to our noticing it, she indicated that her eye was ‘buzzy’ (this had to do with the muscle tightening) and she actually enjoyed the feeling. When we finally realized that yes, her eye was crossed, we took her to a pediatric opthamologist who put a patch over the eye for several weeks, then had her wear glasses for about a year. This solved the problem and as a young adult, she has never had to wear glasses since and has perfect vision.

This isn’t major! It’s quite common and one that opthamologists can treat easily and successfully. Relax, have a nice weekend and don’t do anything to alarm her in what is a scary time for us right now.

11

Thanks to all of you, again. I have literally made myself sick over this. I have been unable to eat anything since yesterday morning.

Duck Duck Goose - an opthamologist as early as Monday is an impossibilty here (my mom and I both gave it a shot). Her appointment for Monday is with our family doctor. The only opthamologist who agreed to see her next week offered an appointment at 7:45 am Friday, two towns over. I’d have to get her up at 3:00 am to make the appointment. What I’m hoping for is soothing noises, to be honest. I’m turning into a regular head case here. I’m thinking that if the family doctor wants her to see an opthamologist, he’ll be able to get her in quicker with a referral.

Last night her eye became runny on the trip out with my friend. She woke up about 2:00 am to go to the bathroom and said her eye was hurting. She has also been talking about double vision since then. Now I’m truly worried. OTOH, the severity of “crookedness”, if you will, seems to have lessened slightly.

Thanks to everyone once more for the helpful advice and support.

12

Aw, don’t make yourself sick over this, dear. :slight_smile: Kids have weird things happen to them all the time–in the “real world”, that is, not in “Jane’s World”, where the kids never get sick. :smiley:

What’s it like, anyway, to have kids who never get sick and to be new to all this “doctor stuff”? :smiley: Now me, I’m used to it, it’s second nature by now, “bring something to read 'cause he never has any good magazines…”

Okay, Sissy’s eye isn’t an “emergency”, but it isn’t something you should just shrug off. I was just advising you to bypass the baby doctor so as to save you an office vi$it.

Yeah, the degree of “crossed-ness” gets to an equilibrium, as the muscles on either side of her eyeball adjust. It’s not going to get worse and worse until her eye disappears completely into the side of her head, it doesn’t work like that, so don’t worry.

She’s NOT going to go blind–okay? :wink:

It’s just because one set of eyeball muscles is pulling harder than the other, so the eyeball is skewed in the socket. And yeah, the double vision goes with the strabismus. The eye muscles aren’t working together properly to coordinate her vision. It’s like working with a pair of binoculars to get them to make one image. You have to fold the two sides up and down. Eyeball muscles do the same thing, moving the eyeballs into position, working with feedback from the brain to get a single image.

I’d guess that her runny eyes are because of all the extra attention focused on them, she’s been rubbing them and maybe has a bit of pinkeye? (staph germs on the fingers, go into the eye, conjunctivitis). As long as you’re seeing a doc next week anyway…

13

Everything will be ok. She might need glasses, or the muscles in her right eye might need to be adjusted, but she’ll still be able to see as well as anyone else.

My left eye started to drift outwards when I was twelve. The correct glasses prescription (in the correct frames, don’t get frames that are too narrow or too small) kept it from drifting until I was about sixteen. Then it had to be operated on. Don’t worry though. The operation is safe and can be done under general anesthesia. Afterwards my eye hurt a little, but not as much as I’d expected. It took a few days to recover, but my mom bought a bunch of books to tempt me into using the eye soon after surgery, and that helped. I’m twenty-four now, and just went to the eye doctor last week. My left eye is still perfect, doesn’t drift a bit. So even the worst case scenario, surgery, isn’t so bad.

If she needs the surgery, I recommend Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia. They are the very best. If your health insurance wants you to choose a local eye surgeon, see if that doctor can talk the insuance company into letting you go to Wills.

I wish I could give you more advice, but I haven’t really thought about this in eight years, that’s how perfectly everything went. I know you can’t help worrying, because that’s what mothers do, but everything is going to be ok.

14

Thanks, yet again, to everyone for their support and personal stories. I’ve thought about you all over the weekend.

Emmie went to the family doctor today, who nonchalantly diagnosed her with strabismus. He phoned the opthamologist’s office, but she couldn’t be seen sooner than Friday. We’ve decided to do whatever it takes to keep the Friday appointment. My health can’t take much more waiting.

I really appreciate all the help and information. I have to keep reminding myself that even if she has to undergo surgery, it’s a relatively minor thing. I feel guilty for worrying so much about it. I know there are a lot of parents with kids who are truly sick who would give anything to have this be their biggest problem. I can remember all that until I look into her big old eyes.

15

Progress, jane. I’ll hope that having a diagnosis drops the stress level a (big) bit. You still have to deal with it, but now you know with what you’re dealing. Thanks for getting back with us and good luck to your daughter (and you).

16

I know it is scary sounding, to think of surgery on your daughter’s eyes, but we went through this with my oldest son when he was first diagnosed through his school at age 7. They tried treating him with bifocals, but he finally DID have the surgery when he was 12. He did great, and we took him home the same day.

Don’t feel bad for being scared, it’s not like these lil monkeys come with their owner’s manuals, we have to fly by the seat of our pants being parents. You’re doing great, and so will she.

17

I just came across this on the wire: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA5MRS91SC.html

18

Jane,

I recommend that you not get up so early and drive the two towns over. Drive over the night before and spend the night in a motel. Go out for dinner and ice cream. Make it a special girl’s night out. You know, mother-daughter. Your daughter will like that. Remember, kids are sharp. She may have picked up on your mood of the past few days. She’s probably a bit afraid herself by now.

Remember - “tomorrow” she’ll be eighteen, and you’ll be glad you did it.

P.S. Don’t get there more than 10 minutes early either. They always make you wait…