Febrile Seizures

[lil mermaid]

I know this has been discussed before - but for some reason I cannot get the search to work for me.

My DD (2 years old) had a febrile seizure yesterday. It was the most frightening moment of my life. We called 911, and they took her to the ER in the ambulance just to make sure she was okay - and she really was.

I know about febrile seizures - I have read about them, my DD's ped has told me about them before (she let me know that it was a possiblity one time when DD was in her office with a high fever - so I would be forewarned and not freak out) but I can't get my head around it. Will my baby really be okay? Does anyone have any experiences to share?

She is doing MUCH better today - as a matter of fact, as soon as they got her fever down at the hospital, she was playing and said "Mommy, this is a nice time...."

 

[taylor1293]

My youngest DD had one when she was 18 months old. It was the most frightening moment of my life. She also went to the hospital by ambulance.

From what I understand, they really are harmless. But scary as hell.

Now that you know she is prone to them, just use extra care to manage her fevers in the future. Rotate Tylenol and Motrin, using a washrag on the forehead, and a lukewarm bath are all great fever reducers.

Glad your DD is feeling much better today .

Teresa

 

[belle&beast]

My DS had one this winter at just over 2. I had just given him motrin for a fever of 103 and he was sitting on the loveseat watching a movie. I just happened to be home from work because DD had pneumonia. Of course we were all still in pjs and I was doing the breakfast dishes when DD4 yells, "Mom, he's puking!" So I run into the living room and he was choking on his vomit because of the febrile seizure. It was considered petit mal because he really just became stiff and unresponsive, with his eyes rolled back. Luckily I stayed calm and got him to the doctor's office very quickly. I called DH and told him to meet me at the pediatrician, DS had a seizure and I can't talk. My poor husband! He was there a lot faster than we were and was panicky. I held it together until I knew he would be ok and then the floodgates opened at home, especially when I called my mom. Why is it that talking to my mom seems to make me cry? The doctor said to be prepared for it to happen again, but he was old for the first one, so it probably won't be too common for him. I guess they usually occur between 6 months and 3 yrs. One thing she did tell us was that the seizure is caused by a drastic change in temperature- the motrin I gave him dropped his temp. very quickly and now I use tylenol instead.

I'm glad your DD is better today! I hope you never have to experience that again!

 

[sap1227]

I am sorry you had to go through that! Both my boys had them.

Just be aware, as long as they come out of them quickly they are not a "huge" deal. However, my older sons first febrile seizure lasted over 2 hours (most of which was in the hospital), he was air lifted and no longer breathig on his own. After a few days in ICU he was fine, but it is a day I will never forget.

The rest of the seizures my boys have had have been less than 2 mins long and they bounced right back.

As a side note, neither of my boys had a real high fever ever (the highest was 101.3) but that was enough.

Christy

 

[fabumouse]

Some kids are just more likely to have them, I guess. My DD had a temperature of 106!!! when she was about 3 and no seizure or even lethargy. She was just really really hot. She sat in a tepid bath with her dad until it came down out of the stratosphere.

But I have never heard of anyone having long-term ill effects from the seizures, except scaring the bejeezes out of the parents. So sorry.

 

[Steamboat Marti]

DS had one - truly scary - and when we got to the hospital is temp was 107.1 rectally. He came out of it quickly and the good news he hasn't had one since. He's now 8 and healthy as a horse (knock on wood!!!). The scary part is behind you - now you can look forward to the rest of your lives together.

 

[KathyTX]

That must have been really scary!! I'm so glad she's feeling better now.

 

[need_a_Disney_fix]

When our daughter was around 3 we visited my in-laws in podunk southeast Missouri. She spiked a very high fever and started to get delirious and spoke gobbledigook. It was one of the most frightening moments of my life. It was just a virus.

 

[j's m]

The seizures are not always harmless. My niece had one at age 2 1/2 with a virus, fever was not very high. They took her to the hospital by ambulance, she vomited and aspirated into her lungs. During a CAT scan, she went into a coma. Pneumonia came next, and she was declared brain dead. A beautiful child became an organ donor. They never did figure out exactly why.

Please don't ignore seizures, sometimes the unthinkable happens.

 

[belle&beast]

The seizures are not always harmless. My niece had one at age 2 1/2 with a virus, fever was not very high. They took her to the hospital by ambulance, she vomited and aspirated into her lungs. During a CAT scan, she went into a coma. Pneumonia came next, and she was declared brain dead. A beautiful child became an organ donor. They never did figure out exactly why.

Please don't ignore seizures, sometimes the unthinkable happens.

I am so sorry for your loss and I don't think anyone is saying to ignore the seizures. Your neice's viral seizure sounds different than a typical febrile seizure. Febrile seizures really do not have long term affects and are usually short. I also had them as a child and that meant my kids were more likely to have them. Our pediatrician said that if DS would have another, we need to get him to the office or ER right away to be checked. Again, I am so sorry for your family's tragedy- I can't even begin to imagine...

 

[lil mermaid]

Thanks to all of you. I really do feel better now.

j's m, I am so sorry for your family's loss.

 

[tinaluis]

My eldest DD had 2 febrile seizures -- one when she was about 2 and another when she was almost 4. She's 9 now and hasn't had one since 2000. Thankfully she's had no long term effects from them. As others have posted, be sure to treat any future fevers aggressively with a motrin/acetaminophen rotation.

 

[mom2taylorandemily]

My youngest DD had her first febrile seizure at the age of 18 mos. She had a virus, and a fairly high fever (102 +). She was delerious and crying uncontrollably, she didn't recognize me. From then on everytime she got sick, she would have a seizure similar to what the first one was. Then she began to have them in her sleep at the age of 2, and they were diagnosed as night terrors, because she seemed to be sleep walking and carrying on coversations and never remembered them. We began to track them and noticed that these "night terrors" happened when she was sick, really tired, or overly stimulated during the day. Then the day came in Kindergarden, she had a full blown gran mal seizure in her classroom. 2 weeks later she had another walking down the hall after getting off the bus. Each of those times she was seen by Ped and then EEG's conducted. To break it all down, she was having petit mal seizures for a long time (during a 10 min. EEG, she had 60 petit mals), all this time it was completely unknown to me or DH, we just thought she wasn't paying attention to us, and therefore, spent alot of time in Timeout (Guilt all over that for both of us). She is now on Depakote and has been diagnosed as having a Seizure Disorder or more correctly Epilepsy. She will probably grow out of it, but it is still very scary. The main reason for my reply is this. Every time a seizure occurs it is like inflicting a small bruise on the brain. If it is just one time, the bruise will heal, but if more than one occurs, the bruise will get bigger and at somepoint eventually cause a possibility of brain damage (quoted by a Ped Neurologist at the Medical College of Virginia). I don't want to scare anyone, just help to keep you informed, that if there are more seizures occuring please have a formal check up done and verify that your child is only experiencing febrile seizures and not something more serious.

 

[aprilgail2]

My daughter had her first one in preschool, I will never forget that call telling me to get to the school right away and what was going on....on the way there I called her ped who said to go straight to the hospital, she was fine but they just wanted to check her over. After that whenever we went to the hospital for high fevers we never had to wait in the waiting room, the would has if she had a history of Febrile seizures and as soon as I said yes they would just rush her right into the back! She only had 2 others after that and none for the past 3 years.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Two of my children have had febrile seizures. My DS9 has the more complicated history--he can just go down for the count for no apparent reason. It's not epilepsy and not harmful, but about a 9.5 on the "scary scale"! The seizure coems on due to a rapid change in temp., not the actual temp--his first, he was only 101 AFTER the seizure. For DD3, she goes unconcious (petit mal) rather than the shaking and eyes rolling back like some (including DS9) do.

After every incident, we've taken our kids to the hospital. They give us Tylenol and send us home. We feel a little silly, but you can't be too careful. Before DS's first incident, I was fairly blase about giving kids Tylenol/Motrin. Certainly, I wouldn't have for a 99 fever. I do now, though.

I was an EMT before we had kids, knew all about febrile seizures. Let me tell you, no amount of training in the world prepares you for it. Having been through it with DS, it was slightly easier with DD. Emphasis on slightly.