Seizures Due to Illness

My son has febrile seizures. He is 2 years 4 months now. He had his first one at 17 months. He has had 5 so far. It's not epilepsy, but still really scary! I took him to a pediatric neurologist and they said there is nothing to do short of medication, which I'm not comfortable with. I'm dreading this cold & flu season, too. Does she have febrile seizures or epilepsy?
I'm not 100% sure this is what is helping, but I take him to the chiropractor once a month, and when I miss a month he gets a fever and has a seizure. Maybe it's just a coincidence but, hey, I'm not going to take that risk!

Your message brought back a ton of memories for me. My daughter started having seizures right before her second birthday, every time she vomitted and had an ear infection. They believe that they were caused by a sharp body temp. change, there is a term for this but I know I can't spell it, sorry. After a year of this they put her on meds for seizures and she never had another after that. Every year they did a sleep test that test the brain waves and each year the test showed "seizure tendencies" this went on for about 5 years. Around second grade we were seeing side effects of the meds so they decided to do a final sleep test and if there was no change they were going to try her off the meds, this test came back clean so they took her off the meds and I am happy to say that she is now age 24, a nurse and has never had a seizure since. I hope this helps. One side note when she was having the seizures they are very scarey as you know and I had talked to a friend who's adult sister had seizures all her life due to a medical condition and the one thing she would say is, "if I'm having a seizure first make sure I cannot hurt my self and no matter what keep talking to me", she found she could hear conversations while she was having the seizure and it gave her something to focus on during them making them easier to come back from. My daughter certainly doesn't remember having them so I can't tell you what she felt like during them but I always kept this in mind.

Hi L.,
My name is L. Bavota. My son, now age 28 (married with a son), had very similar seizures. As a new infant he was hospitalized with 'illness unknown' several times. I now believe he was having seizures as a two week old. When he was 4 he had his first seizure that we saw. It came with a very high spiked feaver, but was determined that it was not a 'farebal' (sp) seizure. We took him to Children's in boston. The best of the best. After having tests it was determined he had irregular brain waves. He was on phenobarbitol since that age til he out grew this at age 14. He would go to childrens every 6 mos for testing (EEG). That first test was his baseline. They could see his irregular scan was changing as he grew. When we gave him his phenobarbitol we would crush it with apple sauce to help him get it down. He had two other seizures that we know of. One when he was ill, age 4 1/2 and had a temp of 107 (can you believe it), they threw him into a bucket of ice, poor kid. Then it was over as quickly as it had started and they sent us home. The other one was when he was 9 or so. We had somehow forgotten his med the night before. He went to a 'dance' for young preteens and there was a strobe light. He had a seizure. Strobe lights, blinking lights... are seizure causing to those who are prone. also, check with your dr's, possibly some video games.
I kept his records from childrens, and just handed them over to him. Could be important for him to have these records for his son, for his own health records.
The medication, phenobarbitol, made him sleep very deeply. So, as he got older and out of diapers, I would pick him up around 10 pm and put him on the toilet to pee. Otherwise he'd always wet the bed.
He had some difficulty in school with concentration. They tried to tell us he was ADD...no way... tried those meds and he hated how they made him feel. so, he just went thru school 'au nataural' and eventually did just fine. Graduated from Mass Maritime and has a great job, lovely wife, and adorable son.
So, hang in there. Go with your gut. Its scary I know. Go to the best dr's you can.
With Regards,
L.

I just wanted to mention that the flu vaccine is one of the least effective vaccines, and that sometimes vaccines have seizures as a side effect. It may be worth doing some research into that...just a thought. It must be so scary and my heart goes out to you!

Sounds like the key is to prevent the illnesses to begin with. Have you tried Reliv International's nutritional product for kids? It's a great support of the immune system and really does wonders to reduce colds & flu, often eliminating ear infections and all that other nasty stuff. Are the seizures due to ear disturbances/balance/equilibrium, or something else? Either way, preventing illness would be the key. Email me for more info - the products aren't available in stores but they are patented and from a company with a 20-year track record and great reviews from business magazines. There's a new product coming out on November 8th which promises to make medical history - if you haven't heard of Reliv now, you will soon. Most of the parents of young kids that I know say that their kids are virtually illness free. I'd love to connect you with some of them so you can hear their stories.

Hi L.,
My daughter had her first seizure a year ago when she was 4.5 and her 2nd this past August. After the first, she had several EEGs and the neurologist determined that she does not have an underlying seizure condition (i.e., epilepsy, etc.). They determined the cause was a rapid change in temperature, i.e., febrile seizure. That was the case again with her 2nd seizure. She is also on Trileptal (for something else) so we thought we had an added insurance policy against seizures, but not so. The ER doc explained that Trileptal would protect her if she had a seizure condition but NOT if she is prone to febrile seizures. We do feel that the Trileptal helped at least, because the second seizure lasted only a couple of minutes and didn't require intervention vs. an hour for the first and a truckload of Atavan that shut down her central nervous system.

What we've learned from our experiences is that children with febrile seizures outgrow them when their body mass becomes heavy enough (usually around 5-8 yrs. old) that their body temperature cannot change as rapidly. With febrile seizures, it's not necessarily how high the temperature goes, but how quickly it rises. We also learned to treat a rise in temperature aggressively: Treat IMMEDIATELY and with an appropriate dose. Check with your pediatrician for the appropriate dose of Advil (ibuprofen) and Tylenol (acetaminophen) for your child's weight. The doses on the packages are conservative estimates. We check our daughter's temp repeatedly after we notice a fever to make sure that the medicine is working. You can alternate Advil and Tylenol more frequently than giving just one and waiting the 4-6 hours for the next dose. We also learned the first aid for seizures: Clear the surroundings to make sure she's safe, roll her on her side so she doesn't aspirate (breathe in) her frothiness at the mouth. (The first time, she aspirated, needed to be intubated, and ended up with pneuomonitis and a 7-day hospital stay.) Her pedi prescribed Diastat (a suppository) to help stop the seizure if she can't come out of it on her own within a few minutes.

I know it's soooo very scary when it happens. Try to stay calm and keep your wits about you. Our pedi and neurologist have assured us that there is no lasting effect and/or damage to the brain. Feel free to contact me if you want to know more. Good luck to you and your family! May you all have a healthy winter!

I am so grateful to mamasource because I needed to hear from other mothers going through the same things as I am. Also to help others makes me feel so good. I am a SAHM of a almost 4year old daughter and a beautiful 9 month old son. Last January when he was born was to be the most wonderful time. But the day we brought home my son from the hospital we all witnessed the siezures. It was scarey I had never seen one before. And almost didn't know he was having one. Thank God for mommy instinct. Because that was the only way I knew. We took him to Childrens in Hartford. Mind you he was having a siezure every 4 hours. They immediatly put him on Phenobarb. They stopped for a while but then started up again. This time every hour on the hour. So he was also placed on Topamax. Ever since he has not had a siezure. They did every test known and there is no sign of anything wrong and they don't know why he is having siezures. When he was put on the medication he was 6 pounds. They mentioned that they wanted to start taking him off around six months but it was summer and we were traveling alot so I said lets wait until things slow down and we can focus on him 100%. We have never increased his meds. He is on the same dose at 23 pounds now that he was at 6 pounds. So he is growing out of the meds. We are going to see his neurologist tomorrow. I am expecting good news. But I am so glad that I read all the posts because I can ask even more questions and be even more active in my sons full recovery.
But one thing for a mother to see there child have a siezure I think is awful. I am not sure If I can recover. And to watch your one week old have a spinal tap,MRI,EEG,Cat scan and tons of blood work was the most devatating. I know that I am standing today only because my son needs me. But on the inside I have fallen apart. I would love to find a support group. I think we all need it. Just knowing I am not alone has helped. Thank you all.

L.,

I know what you are going through. My daughter had a similar experience. When she was 18 months old, got an ear infection in both ears and collapsed in her crib with a seizure (almost died on us.) 7 ear infections, tube insertion surgery, and 6 seizures later, we found that the reason for her seizures while she was sick was due to a low normal body temperature. Dr. was seeing a temperature of 100 degrees when she was sick and thinking no big deal, but found out her normal is 94 degrees, so 100 was critical for her. Thought this might give you some insight and a possible avenue to check on.

Hi L.
Yes I am currently going through this. My son had his first sezure about 3 months ago. He had a temp caused by the imunizations. Hes undergoing tests right now to see how we can treat them.
They are genetic. When I was an infant I had them and so did my brother. We both have out grown them and are fine! My brother went on to get a Political Science degree from B.C and I have two beautiful chidren. I guess my point is that children do out grown them.
That dosent minimize how difficult it is for you right now. If you want to e-mail me to ask me any thing my adress is ____@____.com would be nice to talk to someone who has been going through it for a few years since we are at the beggining.
Good Luck!
K.

Dear L.,
My heart goes out to you. My son started having seizures at 16 months after an illness. He was put on Topomax and two years later switched to Lamictal. He's been off meds for three years and has had seizures ONLY in the presence of a fever so they feel he doesn't need the meds. His EEG is a abnormal which means in face of an illness, he is prone to having seizures, but he's much better off the meds. Do they know the cause of the seizures, anatomical (MRI) metabolic or genetic (various tests)? I hated the winter season for they very same reason. When they first started, I was even diagnosed with PTSD for the seizures. I was always on high alert especially at night and often could not get a good night sleep. With some guidance I am now much better about dealing with them. I'm sure you already know about altering Motrin and Tylenol when they get sick and Diastat of she does have a seizure. The Dr. told me the kids often outgrow seizures. If you'd like to talk my email is ____@____.com luck to you.