4 Yr Olds Has Seizures

Hi Ulla,
my daughter had a seizure when she was 6 1/2 years old, and it was a very scary moment. At the time we were in a shop at a mall and she had been playing with an Ab Master which was on the floor for demonstration purposes. Normally, we do not allow her to touch things at stores, but in this particular store it was permissile to sample diferent gadgets and so we relaxed a little. Perhaps we relaxed a bit too much, because everything happened so quickly we did not catch when she gotr on the floor to roll out with the excersice equipment. SHe rolled out too far and flopped on her tummy. Next thing I knew she faintly called out to me, although I was only about four feet away, but it was really a weak call. SHe tried to stand up but went into a seizure.
SUbsequently, I took her to a child neurologist who checked her out, but basically said the samee thing that your niece's parents were told; that tey would go away as she got older.
SHe is now 11 years old and has never had another episode of seizures, although she did have a brief fainting spell.
I would personally be more concerned about the medications than the possibility of more seizures, so in that respect I agree with he doctor, however, but just to be on the safe side I would want to have my child checked with the MRI.
Another thing to consider is whether this child was vaccinated or not. Many vaccines are laced with heavy metals which can create many hidden health problems including seizures. However this should not be cause for alarm, there are many things that can be done to naturally chelate heavy metals out of a body. I give you this just as food for thought.
Taurine is supposed to be very beneficial for persons with a history of seizures. Perhaps your niece can begin taing this in small dosages suited to a child, it certainly can't hurt.
The best to you and your family, I hope and pray that these episodes wil be a distant memory.

My son had his first seizure right around 6 months of age (he is now 8 mos and hasn't had one since). His seizures landed him in the PICU for five days. He did have an EEG and a MRI. His neurologist decided to put him on phenobarbital for a year and then wean him off. There are different kinds of seizures though, but the fact that she had seizures while on the medication would usually mean that she will need to be medicated for a longer period of time. There really is no harm in getting a couple of tests just to make sure there is no nuerological reason for the seizures. You may want to get a second opinion.

My son is now 15 months old. He had his first seizure when he was 9 months old. He was in the hospital for 3 days, and went through so many tests, but we came out with a diagnosis of Febrile seizures. When they have this condition, they get seizures from a fever (he has never had one because of seeing blood). The reason I mention the Febrile seizures is because the doctor said they should be gone by age 6. All research that I have done points to no more seizures after the age of 6. My son has never been on anti-seizure medication, we just have to watch really closely that he doesn't get a fever and if he does we have to alternate Tylenol and Motrin. Don't know if this helps, but hope that it does.

Hi Ulla,

It's so funny that I happened to come across your article as I am almost never online anymore. Anyways, to get to the point...my daughter is almost 3 and had a seizure about 8 months ago (her first and only one). I can't really offer much professional advise, however, I would recommend maybe going through with the EEG & the MRI, it wouldn't hurt to just have a confirmation that she does have a seizure disorder or does not. If she does, I wouldn't necessarily jump to medication either. I have heard one of the side effects of the medications is to get seizures. If she has only had 2 mild seizures, I would think it's safe to say (if she is under supervision 100% of the time) that she would be fine w/ medication and like the dr overseas says, she may outgrow it in a few years. I don't have all the answers, I just really do not want to put my daughter on the medication unless it is something that was happening frequently. Dr's like to overprescribe medication for everything and then later down the road, the kid has worse problems like drug dependency, liver problems, heart problems, etc.

I hope this helps...I am Christian so I would say to pray about it, see what God leads you to do! I hope and pray that she grows out of it, along w/ my daughter!

Take care and God bless!
S.

Are you sure they are seizures and is the neurologist calling them that? My son, now 18, used to do what looked like a seizure to me and everyone else...........he'd fall to the floor (it looked like he fainted), he'd turn blue, his body would stiffen and his eyes would look like they were rolling.......and they looked petrified! We had test upon test done and it was determined to be "breath holding spells" and that he would outgrow them. He had EEGs done and was never put on meds.........I also have to state that each incident was precipitated by something stressful, ie: a fall, not getting what he wanted, etc. My nephew who is 18 months old has the same thing, neither child has had any problems. My son outgrew them by the time he was 4.

Ulla,

My brother had siezures when he was a child and was on medication for years. He did eventually grow out of it, but I think it was more around the age of 8 or 10. You may want to get a 2nd opinion just in case.

No I dont agree, get another opinion! Stress can trigure episodes, but not be the cause. It is true she may outgrow them. I strongly suggest getting a different Dr.

If she's having seizures while on medication and NOT accompanied by a fever, then she needs to see her neurologist. While seizures in children are common when experiencing a high fever, I'd be suspect when a seizure is caused by stress (in a child...)

Her doctor may be right, but why play a game of chance with a child's life? I don't advocate medication for a child when it's not needed, but there is no harm in testing to make sure. A MRI and an EEG are both non-evasive tests, and long as she's not frightened by the MRI, there should no reason for her not have the diagnoses verified.

My seizures started when I was a teen, and isn't epilepsy (caused by a brain tumor...) but I went through a plethora of tests to determine the cause...

Also, the baseline tests may be different overseas than in the states. You didn't mention whether her doctor was a neurologist or her pediatrician. It could make a difference in diagnosis.

Good luck!