Febrile Seizures - Are You Going Through This Too?

Hi. I have had no personal experience with this with my own kids but my sister's little boy did the same thing when he was just over 1 year old. I know it may not be much but I can tell you that it only happened that one time he was sick and he has been happy and healthy ever since. It has been a little over a year. Hope it helps to know it happens to others and they are no worse for the wear!

Tracet

I've never had this happen to me with my kids. Of course i'm still pregnant so thats probably why. ;-)

I, However, have responded (as an EMT) to these- in one case the mother put her feverish 1yo in an ice cold shower and it came in as a pediatric in respiratory arrest. When we got there- it was a *thank heavens its "just" a seizure*. I know how scary they can be as a nonparent.

As long as you've taken him to be evaluated then you're doing all you can. I hope whatever is causing the fever has been taken care of. Good luck!

My daughter had a febrile seizure at 21 months old. She stopped breathing briefly as well, which scared the living daylights out of us! We also called 911 and went to the ER by ambulance. She spiked a fever of about 107 at home, and was still 105.5 by the time we got to the hospital. However, she never had any aftereffects - she was fine by the next day. She's 13 years old now and we never saw anything happen as a result of the seizure.

take care

My friends' son just had that happen and he is just fine now. My niece also had that happen. Hers continued for quite a few months, like it triggered something. They ran all the normal tests and everything always came back fine. It's been 2 years since that happened to her and she hasn't had anymore seizures. That would be totally scary but just know that other kiddos have made it through that will no lasting problems. It will be fine!!

I went through this with my son, just after my daughter was born. He was about 2 1/2 and spiked a 104 fever, followed by a seizure. I, of course, freaked out. Thank goodness my husband is a paramedic, he immediately stripped all his clothes off, got some cool rags, gave him some Tylenol and when he was alert a little more, we immediately put him in a cool bath to bring it down. I would have taken him to the ER, but my husbands quick actions and calmness took care of the fever and the seizure. I was scared to death. We continued to monitor him, but once the fever broke, he was fine. My husband knew immediately what it was, however, I was still a nervous wreck.
I am sorry anyone has to go through seeing their kids that sick. Good luck and hang in there.

R., My kids are grown, but when our oldest was 10 mos., she spiked a 106 temp and convulsed. It was incredibly frightening, but now that we are long past it I can say it went away fairly quickly. She had petite(sp) mal siezures for a couple of weeks, but they never really bothered her. She has always gotten high fevers and even now does as an adult, but I was always very concious of the degree of them and at 103-104 always took her to the doc to be taken care of. I hope your sons siezures turn out the same way and that he doesn't have any more trouble. Just use good judgement and you will do great. S.

My husband deals with this all the time. The seizure is the bodies deffence against the body temperature getting too high. If the baby is getting a fever, reduce it. Fever reducers, strip the baby naked things like that help. The body seizes when the brain gets to hot inorder to try and reset the bodys thermostat.

I, myself, have never had to deal with this problem, but I do listen to a podcast called Pediacast that mentioned this particular subject not too long ago. You can download iTunes for free then download the free podcast. This Dr. talks about everything.

Not with my children, but with my two youngest siblings. When my sister had her first one, my older sister and I were babysitting her, and totally freaked out! But the family soon got used to them. What my mom would do is this: when she noticed that they would get that "look" she would make sure they were in a position where they couldn't hurt themselves (laying down on a flat, but not hard, surface; or she would hold them on her lap), and make sure there was nothing in their mouth to choke on. She would also try to cool them down with wet cloths. Once the seizure was over, she would give them Tylenol to bring the fever down, and just watch them carefully for a while. Try to notice fevers before they spike and you can sometimes prevent a seizure. But when one comes, just stay calm, keep him safe, and try to bring the fever down. The good news is that, while these seizures are pretty scary, they aren't likely to cause any damage, and your son will grow out of them.

Hi R.,

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I know how scary the seizures are. Our daughter experienced her first febrile seizure at 12 months in the middle of a blizzard when we thought for the ambulance would not make it to our house. She had been sick that day but her temperature wasn't that high (about 101). A few months later she had two seizures even though were we alternating ibuprofen and tylenol every 4 hours throughout the day. Since then I have learned that the seizures are caused by a rapid CHANGE in temperature, not by the temperature itself. In our daughter's case, she seems to get them as her temperature drops, even when her temperature was never that high in the first place. I have also learned that the dosages on the medications are conservatively low, and you can alternate ibuprofen and tylenol every 3 hours (our pediatrician recommended 4 hours). You can find the dosages for your child's weight at askdrsears.com (no need to sign up for their newsletter). Now when our daughter seems ill or has a slight fever, we start giving her ibuprofen/tylenol and we watch her closely until her temperature is stable. Then we continue to give her the meds about every 3 hours (around the clock) until we feel confident that she is feeling better. She has not had another seizure since then.

Also, please note that if your child has a seizure between ages 18 months and 3 years, then there is a chance they will have another one, but the risk will probably be gone by their third birthday. If a child has a seizure before 18 months then they will almost certainly continue to have them, and they can occur up to age 5 or 6.

I hope this helps!

Dear R., Wow I really thought that my kids were the only ones to experience the horiifing feeling of feberial seizers. Both of my daughter had them. My oldest has had 4 she is now 13 and is clear of them, my little one has had 2 but is now 9. They say it is heridiatary, me or there dad has never had one so i cant understand why they got them. but the eaisest thing to do is get the fever down asap. do not put him in an ice bath to bring the fever down, use cool clothes, also i used childrens motrin. it brought the fever down fast and keep it down for hours. what causes the seizer is the body temp goes way up in a matter of seconds. its is nothing you do or can prevent. did he have a cold or ear infection by chance? usually infection will cause fever of course but he dont have a seizer just for the heck of it for the day. I no it is scary. going through it once but going through it with both kids was unbearable hang in there they do grow out of it !!!!!! let me no how things go

My daughter, now 24, had febrile seizures when she was young. She was allergic to Tylenol so trying to keep her fevers down was tough back then. We resorted to using suppositories and she did much better on those, but still occasionally would run a fever high enough to start the seizures. I completely understand how frightened you become as I made many trips to the ER also. Luckily my daughter grew out of the seizures by the time she was 3 or 4 years old and has never had any problems since. I will hope the same for you.

I haven't had this happen to my kids, but my brother and myself use to get febrile seizures very often as young kids. I was the oldest, and very young the first time it happen to me. My parents were entertianing guests and heard me crying, and by the tone knew something was wrong. They came into my room and I was shaking, eyes rolled back, and vomit, coming out of my mouth. They ran out of the house, without saying a word to there guests, and raced to the hospital. Once I stopped shaking in the car I became very quiet and still(which scared them even more)but ended up being fine. I can say that no matter how many times we got a febrile seizure, it was always scary for my parents and we were usually brought to the hospital. I remember watching my younger brother go through seizures when he was sick and having my parents race him to the hospital each time.

I feel for you, and I'm sorry you had such a rough week. For some reason it seems that once they start, your more likely to have a seizure with even a low grade fever. I know, I'm not giving you great news, but they do go away (I think ours did around 3 or 4) and I'm hear to say that we are both fine.

It's hard to stay calm, but try to remember that some kids bodies just react differently to fevers and that he will be ok.

K.

Hi there...sorry to hear that you are going through what I went though last Monday with my 16 month old. It scared our whole family as i was trying to get the other older children to school and keep the newborn calm from colic. After 911 responded and took her to Childrens hospital I was still very freaked out and feel like there should have been something else to do...even though I have been trained to help ppl in these situations and have cared for older adults with epilepsy I can't believe I freaked out so bad. I guess it was seeing my own little one like that. Sophia's fever was 104.6 in the night and we took her to the hospital after not being able to get it down...then after coming home she had the seizure 2 hours later. Honestly i feel for you as we are now worried at her every blank stare like she was when it had ended. SCARY...

My son had the febrile seizure when he was sick about 1 1/2 year ago. I just got home from the doctors and was gave him some ibuprofen, but in the mean time the fear spiked to high and he had the seizure. It freaked me out so bad that we called 911 and the came to help me out. My son was taken to the ER and said he would be fine but to keep an eye on when he has fevers and not to let them get to high. He hasn't had one since. Our peditrican said it would be fine and if kept having the seizure he would do some testing. But we never had to go that far. I would say when you think your son has a fever I would make sure you give him ibuprofen or tylenol. Good luck I know how scary it is.