Re: Voices? Whispering?

[Guest guest]

Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They can cause hallucinations.

( ) Voices? Whispering?

So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard time yesterday (freaked out when getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him home for part of the morning. He struggled a lot at school… had his head on his desk, laid down in the principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the other kids and wanted to stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after using the bathroom after lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the floor in the hallway. I kept him home today

[Guest guest]

I was thinking that, too, Debra. Also, if he had a fever, that can also cause halluci's.

I would TRY to not worry about this and assume it's a situational thing, due to him not feeling well.

(Has he seen a cartoon or something lately that might have been "stuck" back in his head?). Did that make sense?

Robin

From: Debra Balke <dlbalke@...>Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering? Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009, 7:20 AM

Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They can cause hallucinations.

( ) Voices? Whispering?

So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard time yesterday (freaked out when getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him home for part of the morning. He struggled a lot at school… had his head on his desk, laid down in the principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the other kids and wanted to stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after using the bathroom after lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the floor in the hallway. I kept him home today.

However, what has me concerned this morning, is the fact that he had GREAT difficulty sleeping last night (And with that, I mean greater than NORMAL. He *ALWAYS* struggles with bedtime). Last night, after I had gone to bed, I woke up to the sound of him SCREAMING. I ran to his room, and he was shaking, crying, so scared. He told me that he’d heard the voices of two people, and they were telling him to “KILLâ€. He came to sleep in my bed with me, and was awake for a long time, whimpering while I rubbed his back. Finally he fell asleep, and I let him sleep in this morning, and he’s relaxing, colouring a picture right now, curled up in his pajamas and a blanket.

Should I be concerned about this “voice†thing? Has anyone else’s children experienced this? I know that voices are often linked to schizophrenia, however he hasn’t had this be a persistent problem… so I’m not about to start worrying just yet.

Thanks in advance for any and all info you might have to share !!

=)

[Guest guest]

Wow, thats a really scarey one, poor boy must have been really frightened. Was he on any cough medicine? Anything that may have either caused a vivid dream or hallucination? If it was a one off it more maybe its more likely to be because of his cold/treatment.

Hope this is the 1st and last for this.

Lor B

From: Debra Balke <dlbalke@...>Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering? Date: Tuesday, 20 October, 2009, 13:20

Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They can cause hallucinations.

( ) Voices? Whispering?

So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard time yesterday (freaked out when getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him home for part of the morning. He struggled a lot at school… had his head on his desk, laid down in the principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the other kids and wanted to stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after using the bathroom after lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the floor in the hallway. I kept him home today.

However, what has me concerned this morning, is the fact that he had GREAT difficulty sleeping last night (And with that, I mean greater than NORMAL. He *ALWAYS* struggles with bedtime). Last night, after I had gone to bed, I woke up to the sound of him SCREAMING. I ran to his room, and he was shaking, crying, so scared. He told me that he’d heard the voices of two people, and they were telling him to “KILLâ€. He came to sleep in my bed with me, and was awake for a long time, whimpering while I rubbed his back. Finally he fell asleep, and I let him sleep in this morning, and he’s relaxing, colouring a picture right now, curled up in his pajamas and a blanket.

Should I be concerned about this “voice†thing? Has anyone else’s children experienced this? I know that voices are often linked to schizophrenia, however he hasn’t had this be a persistent problem… so I’m not about to start worrying just yet.

Thanks in advance for any and all info you might have to share !!

=)

[Guest guest]

Hmm… it *IS* common to ASD’s when children have a hard

time making the difference between “real or fictionâ€, no? He has been telling

me since he was younger that he could “see bad things when he closes his eyesâ€.

This is the first time he’s EVER said anything about voices, and I know that it’s

also the only time he’s heard them (Asked him, and he also told me he’d NEVER

heard them before). But he HAS talked to me about things he’s seen. A lot of

the time there is a direct connection between something he’s watched, or seen,

or read, or heard… and these “visions†of his. He wouldn’t go past the dark front

entrance last night through the WELL LIT kitchen into the WELL LIT bathroom…

because he could “see scary things†in the dark front entrance. When I asked

him what he could see (today, after our “voice†discussions), he said “I could

see a mean man with a knife, cutting off the head of another personâ€. And THAT

rang a bell in my head… then I remembered!!! We had been watching YTV (kids

show channel in Canada) and they are playing lots of Halloween programming

these days, movies, etc… and he watched about 10mins of the movie “Beetlejuiceâ€

the other night. You all remember that movie… yes? Not scary… REALLY over the

top silly. But for him? Those are “REAL PEOPLEâ€, so it has to be “REALâ€. One of

the scenes (and his shrill scream and my realizing they had skipped to that

channel) and the resulting response of me turning off the TV lol, was when the

couple figured out they were dead, and the new family moved into the house… and

they were trying to scare them? So as they were being toured through the house,

they opened one door, and the “dead†couple was there, she’d cut off her

husband’s head, and was holding his head up in one hand, and the knife in the

other, and were smiling. Then the “head†said “Honey, they can’t see us, I don’t

think this is working†LOL Ok, so I find it funny, but has NEVER been

able to make the distinction between REAL and FICTION. Not when “REAL†people

are involved. He prefers cartoon movies for this very reason.

Anyone else deal with this? Is this common to ASD’s?

=)

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Lorraine son

Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:52 AM

Subject: RE: ( ) Voices? Whispering?

The only thing I can think of is if he has had a really

vivid dream, sorry can't be of more help, I would keep an eye on it, or

gently ask him if he has ever heard any voices before, he may not have

thought to mention any voices if they have been friendly in the past. But as

you say hopefully a one off.

Lor B

From: O'Brien <nicole.obrien@...>

Subject: RE: ( ) Voices? Whispering?

Date: Tuesday, 20 October, 2009, 15:00

No, he wasn’t on any cough/cold

medicines, because I have a hard time finding any cold medicines that don’t

have decongestants (which aren’t very good to take while taking Concerta,

which he takes daily). I wish that was the cause Could it have been

anything else??

=)

From:

[mailto:AspergersSu pport@group

s.com] On Behalf Of Debra Balke

Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 9:50 AM

Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering?

Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They

can cause hallucinations.

( ) Voices? Whispering?

So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick

with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard time yesterday (freaked out when

getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him home for part of the morning.

He struggled a lot at school… had his head on his desk, laid down in the

principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the other kids and wanted to

stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after using the bathroom after

lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the floor in the hallway.

I kept him home today.

However, what has me concerned this

morning, is the fact that he had GREAT difficulty sleeping last night (And

with that, I mean greater than NORMAL. He *ALWAYS* struggles with

bedtime). Last night, after I had gone to bed, I woke up to the sound of him

SCREAMING. I ran to his room, and he was shaking, crying, so scared. He told

me that he’d heard the voices of two people, and they were telling him to

“KILLâ€. He came to sleep in my bed with me, and was awake for a long time,

whimpering while I rubbed his back. Finally he fell asleep, and I let him

sleep in this morning, and he’s relaxing, colouring a picture right now,

curled up in his pajamas and a blanket.

Should I be concerned about this

“voice†thing? Has anyone else’s children experienced this? I know that

voices are often linked to schizophrenia, however he hasn’t had this be a

persistent problem… so I’m not about to start worrying just yet.

Thanks in advance for any and all info

you might have to share !!

=)

[Guest guest]

You wrote: "... has NEVER been able to make the distinction between REAL and FICTION. Not when "REAL" people are involved. He prefers cartoon movies for this very reason."

My 14 year old would watch cartoon 24/7 if you let him. My husband (his step-dad) was very concerned about this until we found out that my ds had ASD. It makes sense now, though. So for this reason, I have always avoided scary movies because he couldn't seem to tell the difference between real and make believe. He still struggles with it today. We are still in the diagnoses stage and having a very difficult time getting all the testing done.

[Guest guest]

As for this kind of reality-discrimination problem, mine had a similar (but not

terrifying) incident. He LOVES nonsense humor and contradictions, so I thought

he would love Mr. Bean.

Complete disaster. My NT son thought it was hysterical, but my Aspie got all

stressed out about it and made us turn it off.

>

>

> From: O'Brien <nicole.obrien@...>

> Subject: RE: ( ) Voices? Whispering?

>

> Date: Tuesday, 20 October, 2009, 15:00

>

>

>

> No, he wasn’t on any cough/cold medicines, because I have a hard time

finding any cold medicines that don’t have decongestants (which aren’t very

good to take while taking Concerta, which he takes daily). I wish that was the

cause Could it have been anything else??

>

>

>

> =)

>

>

>

> From: [mailto:AspergersSu pport@group

s.com] On Behalf Of Debra Balke

> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 9:50 AM

>

> Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering?

>

>

>

>

>

> Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They can cause hallucinations.

>

> ( ) Voices? Whispering?

>

>

>

>

>

> So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard

time yesterday (freaked out when getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him

home for part of the morning. He struggled a lot at school… had his head on

his desk, laid down in the principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the

other kids and wanted to stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after

using the bathroom after lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the

floor in the hallway. I kept him home today.

>

> However, what has me concerned this morning, is the fact that he had GREAT

difficulty sleeping last night (And with that, I mean greater than NORMAL. He

*ALWAYS* struggles with bedtime). Last night, after I had gone to bed, I woke up

to the sound of him SCREAMING. I ran to his room, and he was shaking, crying, so

scared. He told me that he’d heard the voices of two people, and they were

telling him to “KILLâ€. He came to sleep in my bed with me, and was awake for

a long time, whimpering while I rubbed his back. Finally he fell asleep, and I

let him sleep in this morning, and he’s relaxing, colouring a picture right

now, curled up in his pajamas and a blanket.

>

> Should I be concerned about this “voice†thing? Has anyone else’s

children experienced this? I know that voices are often linked to schizophrenia,

however he hasn’t had this be a persistent problem… so I’m not about to

start worrying just yet.

>

> Thanks in advance for any and all info you might have to share !!

>

> =)

>

[Guest guest]

,

Sorry about my earlier message, just saw where you said he

wasn’t on cold meds when it happened. About the movies, seeing things

like you’ve described, that is my son exactly. It’s scary

sometimes because he will be really upset and start telling me about what he

saw. I’m trying to figure out where in the world he came up with it,

then I will figure out it was something he saw on tv, or heard on the radio

(right now is bad because the radio ads for haunted house attractions are really

creepy). But sometimes it will be from something he saw over a year ago. His

memory is incredible. He also has a really hard time telling the difference

between real and fiction.

[Guest guest]

Thats funny, I thought the same with my Aspie son, he loves things like Mr Topsy Turvey, who does everything up side down and back to front, hated Mr Bean.

From: <ladle24@...>Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering? Date: Wednesday, 21 October, 2009, 13:19

As for this kind of reality-discriminat ion problem, mine had a similar (but not terrifying) incident. He LOVES nonsense humor and contradictions, so I thought he would love Mr. Bean.Complete disaster. My NT son thought it was hysterical, but my Aspie got all stressed out about it and made us turn it off.> > > From: O'Brien <nicole.obrien@ ...>> Subject: RE: ( ) Voices? Whispering?> > Date: Tuesday, 20 October, 2009, 15:00> > > > No, he wasn’t on any cough/cold medicines, because I have a hard time finding any cold medicines that don’t have decongestants (which

aren’t very good to take while taking Concerta, which he takes daily). I wish that was the cause Could it have been anything else??> > > > =)> > > > From: [mailto:AspergersSu pport@group s.com] On Behalf Of Debra Balke> Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 9:50 AM> > Subject: Re: ( ) Voices? Whispering?> > > > > > Was he getting any cough/cold medicine. They can cause hallucinations. > > ( ) Voices? Whispering?> > > > > > So my son (9yrs old, AS/ADHD) is sick with a nasty cold. He had a REALLY hard time yesterday (freaked out when getting ready to get on the bus) and I kept him home for part of the morning. He struggled a lot at school… had his head on his desk, laid down in the principal’s office, refused to eat lunch with the other kids and wanted to stay in the office alone, and didn’t return after using the bathroom after lunch, and his teacher found him crawling around on the floor in the hallway. I kept him home today.> > However, what has me concerned this

morning, is the fact that he had GREAT difficulty sleeping last night (And with that, I mean greater than NORMAL. He *ALWAYS* struggles with bedtime). Last night, after I had gone to bed, I woke up to the sound of him SCREAMING. I ran to his room, and he was shaking, crying, so scared. He told me that he’d heard the voices of two people, and they were telling him to “KILLâ€. He came to sleep in my bed with me, and was awake for a long time, whimpering while I rubbed his back. Finally he fell asleep, and I let him sleep in this morning, and he’s relaxing, colouring a picture right now, curled up in his pajamas and a blanket.> > Should I be concerned about this “voice†thing? Has anyone else’s children experienced this? I know that voices are often linked to schizophrenia, however he hasn’t had this be a persistent problem… so I’m not about to start worrying just yet.> > Thanks in advance for any and all info

you might have to share !! > > =)>

[Guest guest]

Hi, I have a 13 y/o AS son and he went thru something similar when he was between 9-11. He would get mad at something that either his sisters or I did (sometimes even my mom) and tell us he hated us and wished we were dead. Sometimes he would wish he was dead. Later when he calmed down and I asked him why he said that he would say a voice told him to say that. At one point he even grabbed a knife. I talked him down and with ALOT of prayer he got thru that phase of his life. Of course there ended up being some other health issues happening, but he is a lot better now.

I know it is not an answer for your question, but sometimes it helps to know someone has had a similar situation.

[Guest guest]

My 14yr old is the same.. for the longest time my husband (also my sons step-dad) was amazed and worried that DJ actually thought there were superhero's.. now we laugh at it all but for a while there we were even concerned about bring him to church because he was talking about God, etc walking around on the streets and helping people... it was difficult for us to understand. Good luck with the diagnosis process and the testing.. it all comes to light once you start reading the books and posts from others ( ) Re: Voices? Whispering?

You wrote: "... has NEVER been able to make the distinction between REAL and FICTION. Not when "REAL" people are involved. He prefers cartoon movies for this very reason."

My 14 year old would watch cartoon 24/7 if you let him. My husband (his step-dad) was very concerned about this until we found out that my ds had ASD. It makes sense now, though. So for this reason, I have always avoided scary movies because he couldn't seem to tell the difference between real and make believe. He still struggles with it today. We are still in the diagnoses stage and having a very difficult time getting all the testing done.

[Guest guest]

We definately are in the same boat. We have to monitor what my 10 yr old watches because many times he is "inspired" to become that character. It can be concerning with all the crazy stuff on TV and espicially this time of year with Halloween being so close.

Good luck and it is always comforting to know we are not in this alone!

Lori "... has NEVER been able to make the distinction between REAL and FICTION. Not when "REAL" people are involved. He prefers cartoon movies for this very reason."

My 14 year old would watch cartoon 24/7 if you let him. My husband (his step-dad) was very concerned about this until we found out that my ds had ASD. It makes sense now, though. So for this reason, I have always avoided scary movies because he couldn't seem to tell the difference between real and make believe. He still struggles with it today. We are still in the diagnoses stage and having a very difficult time getting all the testing done.

[Guest guest]

I thought I replied about the voices issue before but I can't find my post

anywhere.

My son had a couple of times when he said something similar. A man was on the

ceiling at school saying he was going to kill my daughter. came home and

hugged his sister so hard! He really did think there was a man there. The

teachers thought he dozed off and had a dream. My son's counselor thought it

was a psychotic episode and said we should get him on medication immediately. I

didn't want to do that after only one incident. We saw another counselor who

said he didn't know if was having a hallucination or if it was just an

active imagination. He said if we wanted to know try the meds and see if the

problem disappeared. Except that the problem never has happened again without

the medication. So how to know if meds are working when there's only been two

incidents. 's special ed teacher thought they'd moved him to the general ed

math class (and out of the special ed classroom) before he was ready. They took

him out and he started doing math in the special ed room again. He never had

the same problem again, he went to the general ed room for math the next year

and did great because he was ready.

This was in Texas. In 2007 we moved to New Hampshire and found a new

developmental pediatrician. He was amazing and knew stuff nobody else did. He

worked with Dr. Volkmer at Yale doing research on aspergers and working with

kids who have aspergers. He KNOWS his stuff. He answered questions I've been

having for years. I talked to him about a speech issue and he said, " I've seen

this in other asperger kids, it's kind of an anxiety thing and maybe a kind of

speech dyspraxia. " I've never had anyone say that before. The school in TX

said it wasn't a speech issue!

During our discussion we talked about stress and meds and environment. He said

kids with AS are very sensitive to their environment and that sometimes

co-morbid conditions will develop during a time of stress and go away once the

stress is gone. So I mentioned the " man on the ceiling " and psychotic episodes.

He said, " That's exactly what I'm talking about! You expressed it better than I

ever could. " The problem never came back because never experienced that

much stress again.

Anyway, this was my experience. This is not to say that comorbid conditions

don't develop and stick around. Only that there are times with asperger kids

when changes in the environment will cause something weird and then reducing the

stress will get rid of the weird thing that was caused by the stressful

environment.

Miriam