Febrile Seizures - Savage,MN

My son had a febrile seizure when he was 2 while my husband was driving him home from daycare. He pulled over to the side of the road and called the ambulance. That was the only one he's ever had and he's had several high fevers in his life. I think it had to do with how fast his fever climbed that day. He's a normal 8 year old healthy boy now.
Even though seizures look scary, I wouldn't be overly paranoid about them. Your daughter may not have another one even if she has a fever again.

My daughter had one that lasted 45 minutes and they had to put her on life support to get it to stop -- she was 11 months old. She was air lifted to Children's Hospital and stayed there the week. It was a Grand Mal Febrile -- never repeated and she's nearly 13 years old now.
At first I was afraid every time she'd get the slightest temp or cold symptom. But she had to be in daycare so she was exposed to germs. The thing the Dr told us is that if they're not exposed to anything they can't build up an immunity to "normal" germs. You can be cautious - not bringing her around kids who are very ill and contagious, but you can't try to keep them away from germs completely. What happens when school starts and it's cold season -- she'd be overwhelmed with germs and get it worse because her body wasn't used to it.
I'd suggest talking to your pediatrician and voicing your concerns -- see what they say you should and should not do.
Try to relax -- you don't want her to adopt your fear or misinterpret it.
Another thing to keep in mind -- sometimes kids get runny noses from teething so things that may look like symptoms of illness might not be at all! Hang in there!!

I would be careful when alternating motrin/tylenol. Motrin should be given only as soon as every 6 to 8 hours and alternating it every 2 hours you would be giving too soon. Try alternating every 3 hours at the soonest.

Febrile seizures are incredibly scary. My oldest daughter (almost 5) has had two of them and my middle son (2.5) has had one. We have a very strong family history of them. I take a lot of comfort in the fact that most kids outgrow febrile seizures by the age of 5 and that febrile seizures themselves are not life-threatening. Very scary to witness, but not life threatening.

It took some time for me to learn to relax about the next seizure. After my daughter's first one, I felt like I was one of those paranoid mother's that was hyper-alert to the smallest thing, just waiting to see if she was going to spike another sudden fever. As you gain some distance from the seizure, it gets easier to let your guard down. It has been a few years since my daughter's last seizure and the more time that goes on, the less paranoid I feel about her having another one. It helps that she is at the age where she has probably outgrown them. I find that I worry more about my son having another one because he is still young and tends to get sick more frequently than his sisters.

Logically and rationally, there isn't really anything that you can do to prevent a febrile seizure. A febrile seizure usually comes on suddenly, with very little warning. Keeping your kids away from every child that has the slightest runny nose is not necessarily going to guarantee that your child never experiences another febrile seizure. Not every illness is accompanied by fever, not every fever results in a febrile seizure. I don't go out of my way to expose my children to germs, but I also try to recognize that some exposure to germs is good for building a healthy immune system. It just isn't practical or realistic to think that we can prevent our kids from ever catching an illness. I know that there are parents that bring their sick kids out, but I'd like to think that the majority of parents know to keep a truly sick child at home. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of runny noses and coughs we see are just run-of-the-mill colds. We try to reduce our risks by washing our hands frequently and making sure that we take care of our bodies by staying hydrated and getting enough sleep. To me, that type of behavior is proactive without the paranoia.

Focusing more on how I would react/respond if my children have additional febrile seizures rather than trying to prevent them gives me more peace of mind than anything else. I have been certified in CPR and First Aid for many years and know that I have the skills to deal with an absolute worst case scenario should it happen. Since I can't prevent a seizure from happening, all I can do is arm myself with what I need to deal with one if it occurs again and do my best to keep calm in the moment. I also take comfort in knowing that in our family, everyone eventually outgrew their febrile seizures and nobody seems to have any lasting effects from having them as children. It helps me put things in perspective.

((hugs)) to you, I know it is a scary situation to go through as a parent.

My now 27 year old son had several febrile seizures. The first time it happened, I completely freaked out. Scared the living daylights out of me, I thought he was dying, etc. Well, the doctor explained that first off, the seizure doesn't hurt them and they don't remember it. It does no damage to the body, it sort of short circuits their nervous system for a very short amount of time. Similar to re-booting your computer. That is why it saps them so badly afterward and they sleep so deeply. You cannot shield them from everything, so shield them from the really TRULY dangerous things, like running in the street, or climbing onto buildings. Let your child be a child. Let them get sick, that is how they build their immune system to fight off bigger and meaner illnesses as they get older. When she does get sick, do your best to control her fever with tylenol and motrin alternating every 2 hours, and a room temp bath if needed. And then just don't stress so much about the seizure if/when it happens. They do outgrow them. I'm sure your doctor told you that when a seizure happens, don't try to hold her down, or put anything in her mouth, just move anything away from her that she might flail into and injure herself. Remember, as in any situation, if you are calm and in control, it won't freak her out as much either!

Hi there,

gosh it just really is one of the most scary things a parent can experience that has a seemingly healthy child. My son had a seisure when he was about 15 months old and it was awful, we called the ambulance and took him to emergency. Of course it thankfully turned out to be a viral bug that did no further damage other than making his fever spike. Well my advice is that unless you see a child that truly is very sick and should be home in bed (i.e. not just a runny nose) then you are probably wiser to let her be around the other children, it will help to build her immunity.

All the best

L.

Our oldest daughter had a febrile seizure when she was about 20months old and it way by far THE scariest thing we had ever experienced. I'm sure u know tht #1 they r harmless #2 there aren't any preventative measures except for controlling the fever so tht it doesn't drop or spike too quickly. Our daughter was constantly getting sick + we couldn't figure out y. We were told to have her allergies tested and we did. It turned out she had a few food allergies+environmental allergies as well once we had tht info, we took steps to keep her away from the irritants + she was suddenly MUCH more healthy! I don't know if you have had your daughter's allergies tested or not, but tht might be something to think about. Obviously, u can't keep her away from EVERY sick person, but u CAN keep her away from irritants/allergies, keep her toys+hands clean,change sheets frequently,feed her healthy foods,give vitamins if/when she's old enough, and avoid very ill people as much as possible. I'm sure u already know most of this, my point is:u can't control everything, but u can control some factors tht would contribute to her getting sick. Find out what those things are, and do them. Other than that, try not to be too paranoid about it, or u may end up making her nervous + paranoid too.

Our four year old daughter has febrile seizures. One time it was so bad that she was hospitalized for six days because it temporarily left the left side of her body paralized (which is fine now!). We work with a neurologist and have to keep siezure meds with her at all times for the rare ones that last more than 5 minutes. She is currently in Head Start (preschool) and we work with the teachers and school nurse for what to watch for and I now feel that she is safe at school. What I have learned is that you can prevent them. You can't protect her from every bug and germ. She wants to and needs to socialize and interact with kids and that she will outgrow them. Oviously you want to keep her away from anyone that is REALY sick, but you can't always tell. Instead focus on what you can do. You can educate your child, other parent, teachersn friends, and family. You can promote good hand washing, covering your mouth when you cough, and staying home when your sick. You can carry hand sanitizer and clorex wipes in your purse for shopping carts and stuff. Shop at super targets! They have wipes to sanitize carts right by the carts up front and hand sanitizer dispensers throughtout the store for employees and customers to use. While there is nothing scarier than your child having a seizure and being able to do nothing to help, you can't let the fear of it might happen today run your life either. This is something I have learned over time. Use a lot of antibacterial cleaners and soap, be aware and pro-active, educate those you are around on a regular basis, but don't forget that childhood is fast and fleetly and that you and your child still need to enjoy it before its gone. Feel free to contact me if you need to talk, becuase really I do understand and have been there, done that, and we are still living through it. Hang in there!

My son had seizures at birth due to a virus (not febrile, but still awful to watch) and my nephew also had many febrile seizures. Both children were preemies. With my son, we were nuts about going out in public in the beginning (this was right around the giant H1N1 outbreak) and our family was virtually under quarantine from the outside world because of our fears. Since he's been able to get vaccinated against the worse types of illnesses, we've let down our guard a bit. He seems to get EVERYTHING that you can possibly get, and really has been sick quite a bit, but we haven't seen any more of those terrifying seizures, thank goodness. You don't want to shelter your little girl too much from all the little bugs out there - her immune system will be so much better off when she starts school some day if you let her play with the occasional runny nosed child than if you keep her home and away from that all the time. I'm not saying you need to have a "chicken pox party" or anything like that, but don't fret over the little things. Just make sure to control any fevers with Tylenol and Ibuprofen, and hopefully you won't ever see those seizures again. Best of luck!!

Our son had febrile seizures from 15 months. We quickly learned all we could about febrile seizures and what we could do to control fever if one started. It isn't very comforting to know that seizures are usually harmless--they are very scary to go through and there isn't much you can do when one is happening.

But I have to agree with the other posters that you can't live in a rubber room and never expose your daughter to germs--the world just isn't created that way and she will be worse off for not building immunity.

Our febrile seizures were a clue that our child does have epilepsy. He has a low threshold for fever and it is the fever that sets off seizures in him. I hope and pray that your little girl will outgrow her febrile seizures. Always have tylenol and ibuprofen on hand and with you--for a short period of time (like when a bug is coming on) you can alternate them every 2 hours--this is what our doctor recommended for our son. Also, if she ever does have a five minute seizure there is a medication called Diastat (a rectal valium) that is recommended.

Knowledge is power S.--learn all you can, be prepared, and hope for the best. I will pray for peace for you.

My baby had a febrile seizure once at daycare when his fever spiked from normal to over 105 in a matter of minutes. The daycare called us, we rushed to the hospital and my poor little baby was just way out of it and he had to have all these tests done, IVs stuck in him, meningtis test which included poking a needle in his back, etc. b/c he had RSV and couldn't even breathe properly w.o an oxygen mask! He was about 7 months old at the time and as I'm typing this, my eyes are welling at teh very thought of it so yes, I know how you feel. It's so incredibly frightening to have a child who's susceptible to febrile seizures but as long as you know what to do when they do happen (i'm sure you've done your research about what to do when an attack occurs) there is no lasting damage to the child. As you said, it's not a possibility to guard your baby from getting sick b/c thats jsut what kids do and unforunately if you don't let her get sick now, when she enters pre-k or kindergarten, she might get sick more often b/c her immune system is not as developed. Unless a child is very actively sick, I wouldn't pull your daughter out of playgroups. She's having fun and she needs social experiences! Kids get runny noses all the time and its not necessarily anything that your child can catch. Talk to your pediatrician about febrile seizures and try to take comfort in the fact that its not something that will hurt your daugther no matter how scary it may seem. <hug>

My nephew had a febrile seizure at 18 months - he was playing on his own, had no symptoms of any infection and spiked a fever above 104, was rushed to the hospital for several days of observations.

He's now 11 and doing really well.

In all honesty, I understand the concern about germs because I had no immune system when going through 5 months of chemo 2 years ago. It didn't help that I had an infant, a 2 year-old and both were in day care + my job in pharmaceutical sales had me in and out of doctor's offices all day.

The advice from my oncology team (because I could literally die from a minor infection) was to be diligent with hand washing and anti-bacterial products.

In all honesty, the only way to develop an immunity to bugs is to be exposed to them. By keeping your child away from other children in fear of developing another infection that leads to febrile seizure, you may actually be inadvertantly suppressing their immune system.

Good luck - I hope these were isolated events!

My son had them also. It was the most terrible thing I think I had ever gone through in my life. I tried to protect him too; I walked around with the moltrin bottle. Any sign of fever I gave it to him. But I can reassure you that they do go away. And they do not hurt your baby. They told me my son should not have them past age 5, well he had one 1 month before he turned 5, but none after and he is going to be 7 in a few months. My prayers are with you, I feel your pain. But don't let it control the things you do with your child, they need to be exposed to the germs to grow their immune systems.

Hi S.,

I was right where you are 15 years ago. No one, not even my close friends understood. My daughter did finally outgrow them, but I waited and waited scared there would be another one. She was three years and three months old. The last one she had was while I was delivering my second daughter. Talk about panic, I wasn't even there for her!

I've learned a lot since then and have learned how to keep my family healthy. My girls are actually the only ones that will babysit a sick kid...any kind of sick because they know they won't catch it. We have built our immune systems to work to their optimum level and have really enjoyed not having the stresses that are associated with illness.

Get back to me if you want to talk. I'll be glad to help if you want it.

God bless,

M.

First this type seizures can be very frightening but normally not life threatening and not exposing her to normal germs is only going to make the situation worse. With that said, under the circumstances exposing to a child with a contagious diease can be terrifying for all you. At 18 months of age most children don't need a lot of socializing on a regular basis, when they get older yes but I would relax about it and take her only when you feel comfortable. She may develop a fever or infection that can come on when she is cutting teeth, exposed to a cold that you may bring home or just by going to the grocery store. We can not completely control exposure but the sooner her body grows the antibodies to the normal virus and germs the better she will get. You can talk to your ped's dr but I will believe he will say, as mine did, do not over sanitize your life children need to develope immunities to the normal germs/virus's that are out there. I hope your child out grows them as mine did. Good luck.. relax a bit more and things will be much better for all of you.

BTW they are finding that using antibatrical gels can actually be dangerous for children under 6 as some of them contain things children under that age can't handle and children at that age tend to put their hands in their mouths alot, you don't want them to ingest it. Also if you so protective about exposure to germs that a normal cold will be much worse because they haven't developed the correct immunity to fight off the bugs. Try good old fashioned soap & water when washing your hands, it is alot safer for the both of you.

My son has had one febrile seizure just before he turned 2. I agree they are very frightening to witness, but it's comforting to know that they are harmless and they will grow out of them. We've had a couple of very high fevers since then, but no seizures, though of course I was paranoid while he had the fevers and watching his every move thinking it was about to happen. But like Lynsay said below, I have focused on me and what I can do. I've read a lot, I got certified in CPR and talked to our doctor so I feel ready for if it happens again. His two minute seizure was the longest two minutes of my life and the instantly falling asleep when it stopped was equally as scary, but now that I know what is happening with his body and why, if it happens again I will be able to deal with it better. I was suprisingly calm the first time, partly because I was in the middle of my CPR training and I knew if push came to shove, I could jump in (that CPR knowledge was empowering and I'm so grateful I had it). I'm not worried about keeping him away from other sick children or everyday germs. Certainly if he is sick, we keep him home, but other than that he lives his life the same as he did before he had the seizure simply because I think he needs to, run-of-the-mill illnesses boost his immune system long term and not every illness comes with a fever and not every fever will result in a seizure. Best of luck. Again, I highly recommend CPR training.