febrile seizures?

saunderslm2

Anyone else had any experience with these?

D had one 5 days before his birthday and then on Monday he had one at 7:50am and then again at 11:15 while in the Peds office. He was transported by ambulance to the local children's ER and then admitted to the hospital. We spent 28 hours in the hospital before being discharged yesterday with Dx of viral infection and ear infection. He is fine now but I'm not real excited about the, 'he will grow out of these by the time he is 5" statistic.

klingb52

I am so sorry you are going through this!  Although I do not have first hand experience with this, both my younger sister (now an adult) and nephew (her son) have febrile seizures.  Basically, anytime my nephew gets a fever that isn't caught or goes above 102.0 before meds kick in, he ends up having a seizure.  My sister has to keep a really close eye on him and when he does have an illness, give him alternating doses of tylenol and motrin to be sure the fever stays at a reasonable level.  When he has had a virus, she has had to do lukewarm baths and wake him up in the night if he is due for fever meds.  The good news is that my nephew hasn't had any seizures recently and is 3 1/2.  His pedi said that a lot of children outgrow them well before five, but that five is the age when they start to become concerned if they haven't ended.  I am sure you have done your research, but at your LOs age, the brain doesn't have a lot of extra room to expand inside the skull.  When a young child has a fever, his or her brain swells and the brain pushes on the skull, causing pressure that causes the fever.  As children grow, there is more room between their brain and skull, and thus, even when the brain swells with a fever, it doesn't cause pressure anymore.  Best of luck to you and your LO.

runnergrl6675

My coworker's son has had two febrile seizures in the last year.  The first time it happened, she called the ambulance at 2 AM.  The second time, she took him to the emergency room.  She said if it happens again, she'll know how to respond to get him through the seizure.   I know it has to be frightening for you, but rest assured it's going to be okay.   Easier said than done, I know. 

M&M227

So sorry, I have no advice but I'm sure it's scary.

DD had a virus (roseola) and had a really high fever - around 104.5 and I was so scared she would have a seizure.  After she threw up the motrin we went to the ER because I was so scared the fever would get higher since she threw up her medicine. 

 

thatgirl84

I read about this on one of my baby/toddler updates. I found it very odd & interesting that even if you catch the fever before it gets up to a dangerous level, and give a fever reducer, it does not mean that you will not have a febrile seizure, so it isn't fully understood. The NINDS says there are no conclusive studies to show fever reducer=no febrile seizure. I just wanted to say this, so that you didn't get your LOs fever down, then experience a seizure, and assume his Dx was incorrect. Of course, you would still give him a fever reducer, as that makes your LO less uncomfy during a cold.

I am so sorry that you are experiencing this. I hope it resolves soon. I can only imagine how terrifying a seizure is, and how helpless it would make a parent feel. Lots of T & Ps for you and your LO.

saunderslm2

thatgirl84:

I read about this on one of my baby/toddler updates. I found it very odd & interesting that even if you catch the fever before it gets up to a dangerous level, and give a fever reducer, it does not mean that you will not have a febrile seizure, so it isn't fully understood. The NINDS says there are no conclusive studies to show fever reducer=no febrile seizure. I just wanted to say this, so that you didn't get your LOs fever down, then experience a seizure, and assume his Dx was incorrect. Of course, you would still give him a fever reducer, as that makes your LO less uncomfy during a cold.

I am so sorry that you are experiencing this. I hope it resolves soon. I can only imagine how terrifying a seizure is, and how helpless it would make a parent feel. Lots of T & Ps for you and your LO.

From what I understand from the handful of Drs we've talked to - it has to do with the sudden rise in temp. So even giving tylenol when you first notice it doesn't mean that it won't go up quickly before it kicks in. Unfortunately he had just woken up when he had the first two, and the 2nd one Monday was when the Tylenol wore off.

 He seems to be doing great now. Thanks for all of the thoughts.

akayf

My older son has had them several times.   He had the first ones while we were staying with family out of state when he was a little over 2 years old in July 2010.   We knew he had an ear infection since he was at the rural clinic 2 days earlier.    We went back to the clinic and he had a 2nd seizure there.   So we were transferred to the regular hospital over an hour away.    He had a 3rd seizure right after being admitted to the peds floor.....3 seizures in 5 hours.   

They did a ton of bloodwork and wound up giving him iv meds for his ear infection(which had gotten worse).   Since we had to fly home a couple days later, they did an EEG to see if there was any abnormal brain activity(the plan was if there was any blips, they were going to put him on anti seizure meds just for a couple days so he wouldn't have a seizure on the plane).   EEG was normal.   We spent 2 nights at the hosptial.   They wanted us to spend an extra night just to be on the safe side since we were over an hour away from them.

When we got home, we followed up with the pedi.   He sent us to see the neuro just to be safe since he had 3 seizures in such a short period of time.    She agreed they were febrile seizures.   We were given a script for an anti seizure med to give him rectally if he had a seizure that lasted over 5 minutes.

In Dec 2010, he was sick with a stomach bug and had another febrile seizure.    Spent several hours in the ER getting fluids and bloodwork.   Ruled another febrile seizure.   Saw his neuro a couple weeks later for our scheduled 6 month follow up.   She said once again he should outgrow them.

June 2011...the weekend before I was being induced with A....another seizure.   This one freaked me out.   No fever.   We went to the ER.   They did a CT scan and decided to admit him for observation.    He spiked a fever soon after being admitted.   Spent the night on the peds floor and was discharged the next day.   We saw his neuro the following day and she said once again it was a febrile seizure even though he didn't get the fever until later.

Oct 2011-he had a seizure while we were at the farm picking apples/pumpkins.   No fever again.   Spent a couple hours in ER before they sent us home with orders to get an EEG the following week.   He spiked a fever a few hours later.   I spoke to his neuro and we cancelled the EEG.

I am please to report that he has been seizure free since then.   He's been sick with a fever 3 times and no seizure.    We last saw the neuro soon after his 4th birthday.   She wants to see him again after he is 5 and if he remains seizure free, she will be discharging us from her service.   

Febrile seizures are very frightening but very common.   They do eventually outgrow them.   Both my brother and I had them several times as kids.    And we're both fine now.

Like you said, the seizures tend to occur when the temp suddenly rises.   Their little bodies can't change the quick sudden change.   D's temp when he had his first seizure was only a little over 101 but it was normal only 30 minutes or so before it happened(I know because I was checking it due to his ear infection)  I was baffled since he has had much higher temps than that but that was a slow steady rise, not a sudden spike.

I hope that your little guy feels better soon.   And that you get some peace of mind soon...I know all too well how frightening these seizures can be.