Fever Seizures

My son had a fever (fibral)seizure when he was about 18 months old. He is now 11 years old and has never had another one since. It was very scary at the time, but it does not mean that it will ever happen again. Just keep a close eye on your daughter's fevers they can spike very quickly. Good luck!

My three year old son had his first about a month and a half ago. It was a horrible week for us that week. First our oldest complained of headaches that monday and she had a fever for about 36 hours but we were able to keep it low on our own. Then Tuesday our middle child/daughter got a fever and by evening she was throwing up. The next day she was able to keep her food down all morning. I thought she was getting better. And then an hour into her nap she called me into her room. Finally had to go potty but after using the bathroom she sttod up and almost collapsed and then had a moment that very much looked like a night terror. Doctor was convinced that she must not have been awake as much as i thought and that it must have been a night terror too because by the time i got her to the ped and she was seen 30 minutes later she was fine(I love my Ped). Friday night b4 bed my baby/son spikes a fever of 101. I give him meds and he goes to sleep. Sat. he was fine. no fever all morning. So daddy took him with him to pick something up from home depot and to have some boy time and get lunch. He calls me around 2 telling me ems is loading my son into the ambulance and to meet him at the hospital. As the story unfolds at the hospital hubby says they had gotten lunch in the drive thru and he heard our son let out a super weird gasping scream or squeal and thought he was choking on a fry. Pulled into a parking lot and yanked our son out of his seat. Tried giving him heimlich in both forms seeing as 3 yr olds are at an in between phase. Our son went completely limp in his arms and stopped breathing. My husband layed him down and was about to start CPR on him when he finally started that quiet slowed breathing they have at the end of a seizure or when their trying to calm little and then he started seixing and then my husband realized what was going on. It lasted a few minutes and EMS got there quickly. Our son had one more seizure in the ambulance and a very small one in the ER and everytime his temp would go from low or normal to super high super fast. the second and third seizures were not as bad as the first. But our son had everyone worried. He was dazed and confused and out of it for a good hour after all this. It was a scary day and I actually thank God he was with my husband during it because hubby is an Registered Nurse that manages an Operating Room. He was in the best hands possible right from start to finish in the ER with the Docs. My husband has not been the same since. He thought for sure in the parking lot that day when our son went limp that we had lost him. And he has been so glued to our kids since. I've had many close calls and scary things with our kids since birth and have been glued for a long time, but this as the first one hubby was present for.

These seizures are scary. They can be very bad. Our sons was so bad that we now have an emergency medication that we have to cary with us everywhere. It is his little bag. Contains a thermometer and Ibuprophen so that it at anytime he feels like he is warm we can get his temp and even with a low temp they want us giving him Ibuprophen just to play it safe and try to keep the fever from spiking high. If he has a seizure we have an emergency medication to be administered rectally during the seizure while EMS is being called and sent out.

Doctor says that the good thing is most kids grow out of this by age six so we are half way there.

My heart goes out to you. I know how you feel. And I hope that you don't have to go through it again. If your ped hasn't taken all the precautions mine has with us, then I would suggest you at least carry a thermometor and fever reducer with you guys and at least try keeping low fevers that come on down.

I will keep you guys in my thoughts.

I agree, my son is now 6 and it is still the scariest thing I have ever experienced!! He had a febrile seizure when he was about 1. He had a fever of about 102 on and off for about 12 hours, the doctors couldn't fit me in and kept telling me he would be fine. Well, when I finally got there,they told me it was just some virus going around and to try advil to bring it down...I already tried baths, motrin and tylenol. When I left the office, we were at a red light and I heard a noise, turned around and he had turned blue and was blowing bubbles. I whipped it around and ran back into the office SCREAMING. They explained what had happened and sent me home. It spiked again so I took him to ER where they did blood tests and found out he had pneumonia and gave me more details about the seizure. He has never had another one, thank the lord! Good luck.

Hello. I am a 23 year old mother. MY daughter just turned 4 a few weeks ago. My daughter has a rare disease called Tuberous Sclerosis. She has had siezures since she was 9 months old so i understand how you feel. My daughters siezures are not febral siezures. My daughter has had siezures that have lasted over 45 mins to an hour! One siezure she had around 1 year old ended her on life support for a few days. She has had facial siezures with chewing motions, gran-mal, peti-mal, and staring episodes. At first the siezures were extremely scary, but I am used to them now. I still get nervous when she has them, but am able to keep it under control. When my daughter first had a siezure, she had a fever and they were unsure if it was a febral siezure or from her disease. Just for piece of mind, I was told febral siezures are common, but dont usually happen many times to the same child. If in your case, they do, rest assured that they have a medication I have for my daughter called Diastat. It is almost like Valum that you administer rectally, and it stops the siezure almost instantly! If she has recurring siezures, i recommend taking her to a neurologist, because that could detect an underlying problem that regular medication could control. If she continues to have them, they will do simple tests like an EEG and MRI. When they are babies, they usually sedate the kids so they dont move. Do not be afraid of what I am telling you tho,,,,,its better to know whats going on with your child and its nice to be preparred. I wasnt and it was scary. If they would ever have to sedate your daughter, remember kids go under sedation very fast, and it was horrifying the first time, because i wasnt prepared. My daugher was crying from getting the I.V. and the next second, she was quiet and motionless. It took my breath away, but we are completely fine with the process now. I hope you dont need any testing, but I would make sure to document any siezure activity. Dr's will ask. It is probably just a one time febral siezure and she will be fine. Good luck. Dont panic. Just keep your eyes open.

**Also be aware that not all siezures are the same. Sometimes their whole body is involved, but other times it could be a simple twitch or a blank stare.

Hope this info helps. My son also has experienced febrile seizure from that age of 4 months until he was 2.5 it is a scacry event, but common in young children that are prone to high fevers.

A febrile seizure is a convulsion in young children caused by a sudden spike in body temperature, often from an infection. Watching your child experience a febrile seizure can be alarming. The seizure may only last a few minutes, though it may seem like an eternity.

Fortunately, febrile seizures aren't as dangerous as they may look. A seizure triggered by a sudden fever is usually harmless and typically doesn't indicate a long-term or ongoing problem. Often, a febrile seizure occurs before parents even realize that their child is ill.

Febrile seizures affect 2 percent to 4 percent of children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. Although fairly common, a febrile seizure is still reason to seek medical attention, especially to check for any serious cause for the fever.

If your child is prone to febrile seizures, you might be able to prevent them by treating a fever early. However, most febrile seizures develop suddenly and without warning. Being sure the child is safe during a seizure, offering comfort afterwards and following up with a doctor's visit are good approaches for handling a febrile seizure.

good luck, and hang in there I know this can be very scary.

Hello,
I can't even imagine how worried you must have been!!!
I just wanted to ask if your daughter had her DPT shot within the last month. I know that the P (polio) portion of the shot can cause feveral seizures. My oldest sister had 3 shots with 3 seizures, and my other sister had 1 shot with 1 seizure. For the remainder of the series my mom just had the doctors do just the DT. (for me she did not do any shots with the Polio). Just something to research and ponder. If your daughter did have the shot within the last month feel free to email me... I of course am getting this info from my mom and will gladly ask her any questions you may have.
Regardless of the reason hopefully your daughter wont have any more!!

Hello J.
Both of my children have had them. My oldest had his when he was about 18 months old and never had another one. He is now 11. My youngest is 23 months and he had 2 just last month. He had 2 in one day. I found out that they can be heridatary (sp?). I found that it has skipped a generation in our family. And after talking with another friend the same thing happened in her family (skipping a generation).

Hi J.,

My daughter is 21 months, she had one about 3 months ago. Hers happened at 8 pm. It was very scary she was sitting in my lap when it started. When we got to the emergency room the Dr there was so nice and helpful. He told us that it is very common for children to get them. I am thinking yeah right, I've never seen this before! He said the prime age is 12-24 months but can happen from newborn to up to the age of 5! The reason that this happens is because of a viral infection. The virus causes the body to have a very rapid change in body temp which our little ones try to fight off and that is how the body fights it. He also told us that there are 2 main times of day when the body changes its temp. Early morning, between 7-10 and in the evening 7-10. Our daughter was prime candidate, he said straight out of the text book. He also told us that a seizure can only happen in the first 24 hours of the virus and would only happen one time per virus. He told us that the chances of her (or any child) having a second one is a 30-50% chance she will ever have another one. We were also told that with these types of seizures there is no chance of any mental damage that can occur since they are not of a disorder. Part of the reason our children get these is genetic. You may want to find out on either side of the family if anyone had EVER had one. I didn't know that until I had called my mom (who lives out of state) and told her and then asked her if anyone on one of their sides has had any, come to find out both my mom and dad have each had one! When you notice that your baby is getting a cold, just watch her temp closely, as soon as you see a fever give her some fever reducer and a popsicle. We like the flavor pops in those little plastic tubes. They are easy for her to hold and the least messy. I wish you the best of luck to your family and your daughter.

J.,
I hope you baby is okay. It is the scariest thing. My son had one when he was about 2 1/2. He went the hospital by ambulance. His fever was actually coming down. Any way they checked him out said he was okak ( his cold had turned into pnuemonia) They warned me not to let his fever's get high or it might happen again. When ever he is sick we keep a close eye on him and make sure he stays cool. It has never happened again!
Take care,
J.

Hi, Even though febriel seizures are not epilepsy they still have info on them. These are some good sites. Sometimes they will have them again and sometimes never again. When they start getting a fever give the childrens motrin or tynol sp? to help reduce the fever before a seizure happens.
Hope this helps
jo

http://www.paceusa.org/indexframe.html

http://www.epilepsy.com/

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/

hi, i am so sorry you had to go through this wiht your child. my son had one when he was just over a year old. we are kind of confused about his because he was getting a virus when he got it. and it was at 800 in the morning . but i read in one of the replys that the dr said they will only get one per virus. this is untrue. at least in my case. my son got two more with in the 12 hours and he did not have the fever( but he was sick and it was the first 24 hours of the sickness) well 3 months later, he was getting sick again and he got 2 more sizures. so they told us that we should put him on meds for epilepsy . so we did . well like another couple of months he did it again . at this point we have valem to give him right after the seizure. because they last less than five min. and that makes him not have the one or two after ward. this went on for about a year and we switched meds to topamax. he has been on it for two years and thank god not had no more seizures. he is almost four and half now. and in janurary the dr wants to slow his meds down. because they say after a child on meds don't have a siezure for 2 years that they take them off slowly to see how they do. but the thing is these siezures only took place when he was getting sick so we don't know if they are fibreal or if he actually has epilepsy ,so not to scare you. i hope and pray your baby was just a one time thing. my son is deaf and has some other issues and i can get thru them when i seen him having his first seizure i thought i was just going to fall apart and it was not happening. the worst is seening your baby laying there and there is nothing you can do about it. good luck

M. s

Hi J.,
My son had a fever seizure right before his second birthday. His doctor said that it was completely normal for young children and they usually out grow them. He hadn't had another one, but that could be because the second his fever reaches 101, I start the motrin/tylenol rotation and he sleeps in our bed that night.