Got caught in a rainstorm today.

[conuly]

We were at soccer (soccer!) and there were only 10 minutes left, but it was getting dark out. I took out my phone to call my mom to ask what the forecast was for rain. She gets on the phone, I go "Hi, I was just-" and I see the lightning in Jersey, between two buildings. I hate lightning, and right on the water, too! "Nevermindgoinghomebye!"

Grabbed Ana up, assured her that soccer was over for everyone and got approximately 200 feet before the sky opened up.

40 minutes later or so, it finally stopped. I'm actually glad I decided not to wait at the Hunger Memorial - a tiny, cramped spot, open on both ends, with two young children and a whole crowd of people? If the baby, at least, were older it might be kinda fun, but as it was... I prefered getting soaked. Ana got soaked and loved it (mostly). The baby did not get totally soaked, being up on me (we kept each other dry where it touched, and her back stayed mostly dry as well, god knows how), but she alternated between terrified sobbing (aw) and what sounded like genuine laughter. Maybe she was putting on a brave face, I don't know.

Naturally, of course, this all happened only half an hour after I caved and bought a pair of sunglasses for Ana to replace the ones I left at home.

And here's a question. Ana has been complaining a lot lately about the light hurting her eyes. Given that her mom and my mom have a history of migraines and light sensitivity, I naturally take this very seriously, and was careful to tell her parents. But I'm also pretty sure that some of it, she's complaining because she likes the reaction - like when she said the light from the ceiling hurt her eyes, I don't think she was serious. I've instituted a new rule for our trips that on sunny days, she wears her sunglasses and they stay on (or if she takes them off, she brings them directly to me so they can't get lost), but I'm wondering - how sensitive is it possible or probable that her eyes are? It's not anything that ever bothered me, brightness of lights, so I don't know how to gauge this.

(This enforced sunglasses-wearing is bound to come in handy, anyway. Everybody on Jenn's side of the family (that's my side!) has bad eyes, at least, and that's genetic, isn't it? So if she ends up needing real glasses (and she ought to get her eyes checked sooner than later, Jenn, weren't you on top of that?), she'll be in the practice of wearing them anyway.)

Comments

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

If she's one of those kids that stares directly into the sun (or other really BRIGHT objects) she could have retinal scarring that makes her more painfully sensitive to light levels. If you honestly think it hurts her and she's not just internally giggling with glee for making you run around and make sure her glasses are on, maybe a trip to the family GP? He can take a quick peek for anything obvious and if he thinks something's up he can recommend a good ophthalmologist or other such.

When I was a kid I was told repeatedly you could NOT stare into the sun. I, of course, took this as a challenge (they made it sound impossible, not bad for you) and stared at the sun every chance I got for a while. Turns out, I'm now sensitive to light. OOooopse.

Also, I remember getting severe (I'm talking full blown, I wish I'da known about morphine pushes through IV kinda pain and agony) migraines when I was in junior kindergarten (4 years old) and SCREAMING about the light hurting my eyes.

Anything is possible, and if you think she's actually suffering a quick trip to the GP to assuage your fears and make sure she's in tip top shape seems like a small price to pay. And if she's just faking it for attention, sometimes the trip to the doctor scares them straight.

[collectonian.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...and interesting question indeed. I'm not sure how they actually can gauge it, especially in a child, but I know it is possible to be at least somewhat sensitive to brighter lights. I usually keep my shades on while in most stores because my eyes tend to be light sensitive, and at work I have a lamp in my office that I use instead of the big overhead lights. At the same time, I wouldn't say it hurts for a short period of time. When I had the big lights on all day, I got more headaches and felt horrible by the end of the day. A few hours under most store lights without my shades will also give me a headache.

I also can't drive at from dusk to dawn unless my glasses have anti-glare coating, because lights from other cars and even street lights really hurt my eyes (and even with the coating, I often have to look away from car lights that have been ramped up *insert rant about overly bright headlights*).

I'm trying to remember if my eyes were as sensitive when I was younger. I know I had the issues with headlight sensitivity, but I vaguely remember playing outside as a kid without shades and not getting headaches or anything. I've been wearing glasses since 2nd grade, but not sure the two are related.

Perhaps they could test by gauging her reaction to the light in the eye thing they do? Hopefully all that rambling has something useful in it :)

[leora.livejournal.com]

I've had migraines for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed at about age three and a half, but I'm fairly sure I had them much earlier. It just took time for me to have the vocabulary and understanding to tell people about what was going on and for my parents to figure out that it was a continuous problem. Light sensitivity is very variable with migraines. And migraines themselves are fiendishly variable - you can have some of the symptoms without others, that is you can have things light light sensitivity and nausea and be having a migraine without even having any headache (the part everyone thinks of). With a bad migraine, any light can cause pain. I would lie down in total darlkness. As an adult, I bought myself an eye patch, which I have lost and perhaps should replace, but it was more useful when both of my eyes worked, because my migraines will often be on only one side (which is common with migraines), and while it'll vary which side, it means if I can cover the affected eye, it can get some relief while the other allows me to be more functional.

But this is with migraines, not just light sensitivity. Are there other symptoms of migraine? Terrible headache, headache with nasuea, seeing weird visual things light flashing lights or things that look kind of like "snow" on a television set or such. Obviously you won't know directly, and if you suggest the symptoms she might decide to report them, but has she said anything?

It's really hard to diagnose migraines, as it pretty much goes by self-report. I'm not sure they can test for it. Part of what made mine clear was their frequency, and that I needed to not do things I wanted to do, not just stuff I didn't want to. That and they ran in my family, even though neither of my parents had them. For that I am grateful, as having them diagnosed, accepted, and accomodated for made my life so much easier than the lives of so many other migraineurs who I have read comments from.

My eyes are also light sensitive, but I'm a tangle of eye issues. Thewre is the migraine photophobia, which is variable. My eyes have always been a touch light sensitive, and then after each eye surgery my eyes became quite light sensitive constantly. Normal sunlight is a serious problem for me, and I have to wear a hat to function in most daylight (grey cloudy days are great though). Sunglasses weren't working well for me, because too much light got in over the tops. Hats are good though. A simple baseball cap might help out a lot. But most indoor light isn't an issue for me unless it is flickering or flashing, which may be an entirely separate issue altogther.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I recognise you! *waves*

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

My eyes have always been sensitive to light. It sounds like you have it figured out, though. Any kid will put it on a bit.

[conuly]

I have noticed her staring into the sun, but not *that* often. Hm...

I do think it hurts her somewhat, but I do not know if it hurts her as often or as badly as she would have be believe, y'know? I'm not setting up any doctor's appointments, anyway - not my job.

[conuly]

She hasn't said anything about the other symptoms of migraines, and I certainly am not about to bring it up with her :) Though she *did* tell me yesterday, while staring directly at the sun (at least her glasses were on...) that she liked to see the "colors". Not sure what the heck she meant there, unless it was "The sun looks funny through tinted lenses".

A simple baseball cap might help out a lot.

That is a good idea, and if this keeps up, I might invest in one for the kid.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

soccer? what day was that? I was in battery park with the boys on tuesday. Because Seth's littel friend left, and Topher ws getting cranky, we left. about a minute after we got into the terminal, it started POURING. Stopped by the time we got to the island, we walked to gramma's, got inside, and BOOM!downpour

I have great timing. Not a DROP on us. :-p

[conuly]

Tuesday! We must've missed you :(

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Ah, figures. :(

[kayt-arminta.livejournal.com]

If she's one of those kids that stares directly into the sun (or other really BRIGHT objects) she could have retinal scarring that makes her more painfully sensitive to light levels. If you honestly think it hurts her and she's not just internally giggling with glee for making you run around and make sure her glasses are on, maybe a trip to the family GP? He can take a quick peek for anything obvious and if he thinks something's up he can recommend a good ophthalmologist or other such.

When I was a kid I was told repeatedly you could NOT stare into the sun. I, of course, took this as a challenge (they made it sound impossible, not bad for you) and stared at the sun every chance I got for a while. Turns out, I'm now sensitive to light. OOooopse.

Also, I remember getting severe (I'm talking full blown, I wish I'da known about morphine pushes through IV kinda pain and agony) migraines when I was in junior kindergarten (4 years old) and SCREAMING about the light hurting my eyes.

Anything is possible, and if you think she's actually suffering a quick trip to the GP to assuage your fears and make sure she's in tip top shape seems like a small price to pay. And if she's just faking it for attention, sometimes the trip to the doctor scares them straight.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm...and interesting question indeed. I'm not sure how they actually can gauge it, especially in a child, but I know it is possible to be at least somewhat sensitive to brighter lights. I usually keep my shades on while in most stores because my eyes tend to be light sensitive, and at work I have a lamp in my office that I use instead of the big overhead lights. At the same time, I wouldn't say it hurts for a short period of time. When I had the big lights on all day, I got more headaches and felt horrible by the end of the day. A few hours under most store lights without my shades will also give me a headache.

I also can't drive at from dusk to dawn unless my glasses have anti-glare coating, because lights from other cars and even street lights really hurt my eyes (and even with the coating, I often have to look away from car lights that have been ramped up *insert rant about overly bright headlights*).

I'm trying to remember if my eyes were as sensitive when I was younger. I know I had the issues with headlight sensitivity, but I vaguely remember playing outside as a kid without shades and not getting headaches or anything. I've been wearing glasses since 2nd grade, but not sure the two are related.

Perhaps they could test by gauging her reaction to the light in the eye thing they do? Hopefully all that rambling has something useful in it :)

[leora.livejournal.com]

I've had migraines for as long as I can remember. I was diagnosed at about age three and a half, but I'm fairly sure I had them much earlier. It just took time for me to have the vocabulary and understanding to tell people about what was going on and for my parents to figure out that it was a continuous problem. Light sensitivity is very variable with migraines. And migraines themselves are fiendishly variable - you can have some of the symptoms without others, that is you can have things light light sensitivity and nausea and be having a migraine without even having any headache (the part everyone thinks of). With a bad migraine, any light can cause pain. I would lie down in total darlkness. As an adult, I bought myself an eye patch, which I have lost and perhaps should replace, but it was more useful when both of my eyes worked, because my migraines will often be on only one side (which is common with migraines), and while it'll vary which side, it means if I can cover the affected eye, it can get some relief while the other allows me to be more functional.

But this is with migraines, not just light sensitivity. Are there other symptoms of migraine? Terrible headache, headache with nasuea, seeing weird visual things light flashing lights or things that look kind of like "snow" on a television set or such. Obviously you won't know directly, and if you suggest the symptoms she might decide to report them, but has she said anything?

It's really hard to diagnose migraines, as it pretty much goes by self-report. I'm not sure they can test for it. Part of what made mine clear was their frequency, and that I needed to not do things I wanted to do, not just stuff I didn't want to. That and they ran in my family, even though neither of my parents had them. For that I am grateful, as having them diagnosed, accepted, and accomodated for made my life so much easier than the lives of so many other migraineurs who I have read comments from.

My eyes are also light sensitive, but I'm a tangle of eye issues. Thewre is the migraine photophobia, which is variable. My eyes have always been a touch light sensitive, and then after each eye surgery my eyes became quite light sensitive constantly. Normal sunlight is a serious problem for me, and I have to wear a hat to function in most daylight (grey cloudy days are great though). Sunglasses weren't working well for me, because too much light got in over the tops. Hats are good though. A simple baseball cap might help out a lot. But most indoor light isn't an issue for me unless it is flickering or flashing, which may be an entirely separate issue altogther.

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I recognise you! *waves*

[ser-kai.livejournal.com]

My eyes have always been sensitive to light. It sounds like you have it figured out, though. Any kid will put it on a bit.

[conuly]

I have noticed her staring into the sun, but not *that* often. Hm...

I do think it hurts her somewhat, but I do not know if it hurts her as often or as badly as she would have be believe, y'know? I'm not setting up any doctor's appointments, anyway - not my job.

[conuly]

She hasn't said anything about the other symptoms of migraines, and I certainly am not about to bring it up with her :) Though she *did* tell me yesterday, while staring directly at the sun (at least her glasses were on...) that she liked to see the "colors". Not sure what the heck she meant there, unless it was "The sun looks funny through tinted lenses".

A simple baseball cap might help out a lot.

That is a good idea, and if this keeps up, I might invest in one for the kid.

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

soccer? what day was that? I was in battery park with the boys on tuesday. Because Seth's littel friend left, and Topher ws getting cranky, we left. about a minute after we got into the terminal, it started POURING. Stopped by the time we got to the island, we walked to gramma's, got inside, and BOOM!downpour

I have great timing. Not a DROP on us. :-p

[conuly]

Tuesday! We must've missed you :(

[lizziey.livejournal.com]

Ah, figures. :(