Advice About Febrile Seizures

Hi Molly

We had a son who started out having febrile seizures--we dreaded when he would get a fever. At some point he began having the seizures before he would get a fever and upon further exploration (EEG etc) we found out he has epilepsy. I'm not saying this to scare you, but to encourage you to document what happened and if it happens again to make an appointment with a neurologist.

From our research febrile seizures are a common thing with younger kids and most never have any other neurological problems. Visit with your pediatrician if you have more concerns!

Good luck

Please go take him to an upper cervical specialist in your area. The one that I have found is Dr. Drew. His contact info is:
http://www.nucca.org/user/2832/profile
The body is attempting to fight something within it. However in little ones, it can get serious pretty quick. It seems like you are proactive in seeing what is going on. At the very least give him a call. He Graduated just ahead of my husband and I and has little ones as well so I am sure he will give you his full attention.
Let me know how it goes, even if you just call him. I always like to get feedback on referral I give.
Blessings, Dr. C.
PS, be cautious with the recommendation of giving your child medications at the slightest sign on a fever. Not that I do not beleive in Rx, I do. But if we condition our little ones body to need Rx this early, it will set them up for a life time dependancy. You little tike's body is much smarter than that.

Molly-

I know you have already gotten alot of advice, but this subject is dear to my heart. I would say by far, this was the scariest thing I have had to deal with. My 15 month old had a febrile seizure, with no warning or symptoms either, I rushed her to our peds office and on the way to the office, she had another one. It was very scary, but luckily, she is now 5 1/2 and never had another one. We just watched her very closely, if our other two were sick and pumped her with medication if she had any kind of fever. Good luck!!!!

S.

We experienced the exact same thing in late March with our then almost 15 mos. daughter. It was terrifing. She also had no symptoms but fever, which reached 105 and then she had a seizure. She broke out in a rash all over her body when the fever was done. It took a few days for her to recover but she is just fine. Fever seizures run in my familiy so they tell me that she could/will have another one. Usually they happen at the beginning of the illness when the fever goes up really fast. It doesn't really matter how high it gets, but how fast it goes up. I am pretty diligent now about taking her temp if she feels warm or is acting unusally tired. I also ibuprofin vs. tylenol or rotate both when she does have a fever. Give one every three hours(the er dr told me to do this)...although the ibuprofen works so much better. I was told by the paramedic who came to our house that he always used ibuprofen with his kids to bring down the fever because it works so much better. I am still terrified everytime she gets sick though but at least if it happens again I will know what to expect. They usually grow out of it by age three or so. Its unheard of after the age of 5. Email me if you need to talk to a mom who has also gone through this. I know how you feel.

My 4 year old daughter had a febrile seizure. She was ghost white and looked awful. It is caused by a rapid rise in temp and not normally harmful (although very scary to see!)

Just to give a different perspective from many you have received, I rarely medicate for a fever, allowing the child's body to defend itself. My daughter has had high fevers occasionally since then, and has never had another seizure. The fever is a sign that the immune system is working, and not something to be repressed.

My daughter Claire whom is now 30 mos. had two febrile seizures after a year long bout with fevers. The first time it happened her fever got up to 107. The next time it was 104. She would get fevers so high it seemed like she was getting electric shocks to her body.
Children's hospital whom I trust to be the authority would just dismiss it, not do any testing and call it a febrile seizure and a virus. I didn't understand how they could call it a virus without doing any testing. We were referred to an ENT after the 6th time of having enlarged infected tonsils and a "virus."
She literally was in the doc office once to twice every month for the last year and was diagnosed with cronic tonsilitis. Her first ENT was not a pediatric specialist so we were finally reffered to Dr. Beste at Children's hospital, Milwaukee. She had her tonsils out in April and hasn't been sick since.
As for the seizures they say they can happen until age 5. They say if they are under 5 minutes not to worry. I just laid Claire on her side during the last one and kept her mouth clear. I still freaked out the first time and ended up calling the paramedics. I know how hard it is to see your child helpless! I would also strip her down and give her a bath to try to keep the temp down. Don't be afraid to be persistant with your doc if you feel something still isn't right or even get a second opinion.

my neice started doing the same thing at about 9 mos. even the slightest cold would bring fear of another episode. she eventually grew out of it. at 3 years of age there haven't been any more episodes of siezures. best advice is follow natural instincts and do bring him in when he has a fever, not every one will cause a siezure, but the best place to be is the hospital if it does happen....the doctors may be able to find the "trigger" easier that way.

Hi Molly

My daughter had one and they are very scary. My ped. said that if she doesn't have another one in a year that she probably won't have one again and she has not had another one. She was around 14 months and she is know 9 years old.

So I just watched her when ever she had a fever and made sure that her temp was controlled.

Hi Molly,
My daughter also had a febrile seizure as a baby. Although a little younger than yours. I think she was about 7 months old at the time. It was very scary and called an ambulance and all. Most kids will grow out of them, my daughter hasn't has one since and she is now 4 years old. Just watch closely for ANY sign of a fever. Good luck.

My daughter has had several febrile seizures. She had her first one when she was about 13-14 months old and then has had one more since then. We found out after the first one that there is a family history of febrile seizures on my husband's side.

We also went to the ER after the first one, not knowing what it was. Once it was determined that it was most likely a febrile seizure, there wasn't much else to do except treat the fever and keep a close eye on her temp. When she had her second seizure, it was terrifying, but I knew that it was most likely another febrile seizure. We didn't go to the ER that time, but did immediately call our pediatrician and went in for an office visit.

Something our pediatrician told us about febrile seizures is that first of all, only a small percentage of children react to sudden fevers by having seizures. Out of those children, a small percentage will have more than one febrile seizure. The good news is that most children outgrow them by the age of 5.

I'm sorry that you're going through this with your son. Watching my daughter have a seizure out of nowhere has been one of my scariest parenting moments. I am slightly less paranoid about her having more seizures as she gets older, but I'll always be a little extra-cautious every time she starts to spike a fever.

Hi Molly, My now 3 year-old son had 3 febrile seizures, all related to ear infections. He had tubes put in and never another ear infection or seizure. Watch close, you might be able to see it coming. I could notice my son getting still and quiet, which is a rarity, and I could touch his back and know a fever was about to spike...then give tylenol immediately...this worked. All my best to you and your family.

Molly,
I know you've had a lot of replies but I thought I'd let you know how much worse it could've been. My daughter at 11 months (now she's almost 11 yrs)woke from her nap and "felt warm". The seizure started & wouldn't stop so paramedics came and by the end they gave her enough morphine to knock out a 250 lb adult and she still didn't stop -- after an hour they put her on life support and then air lifted her to Children's in Mpls. It was the most horrifying thing to go through. Turned out it was a febrile seizure and it never repeated in 10 years. The Dr told us at the time that they usually grow out of it by 4 or 5 yrs old. It has made me much more conscious of giving meds for a slight temp to avoid the spiking fever!
Good luck and keep in mind that even though it's scary your little one will be fine.

Molly,
My daughter had a febrile seizure at about 15 mo, after she got her DPT shot (after that she only got the Td).
A febrile seizure is not caused by how high the temp is (hers was only 101), but how fast it rises. She had another one when she was about 24 mo and was sick. Your daughter may continue to have febrile seizures or she may never have another one. If she ever has a seizure without a fever she needs to be checked out. And you should also be aware that there are different kinds of seizures, not just grand mal and petit mal.
I wouldn't worry about it unless she has another one.

My son will be 5 in August and he had a febrile seizure when he was 2 1/2. The evening before he was diagnosed with a double ear infection at Urgent Care. The next morning I was actually in the process of taking his temp. He had the seizure then. I did not know what was going on at first. It is so scary.
We went to the hospital and they checked him over. The doctor sent us home and said he could have another one within 24 hours. Well, he did have one around midnight that night.

The doctors say they are usually harmless and kids aged 6 months to 5 years can get them.

I have read a lot of information on this topic. Since then, if my son gets a fever, I give Tylenol or Motrin if it gets to 100 or higher. I ususally do not like to medicate a child right away, but in his case I do not take any chances. I try to control the fever and keep it down.
He has not had one since.

It is a very scary thing to go through.

I know how scary those are! My son had one when he was an infant. I've heard/read that once they have one they can have more, but he's 3 now and we've never had another incident!

I do know that this won't mean that he's at an increased for seizures and these don't affect brain function/developement.

Good luck to you!
K.

This happened to me in almost the same way. My son was out trick or treating (he was 2 1/2) and without any symptoms of illness when out of the blue he started seizing. I happened to be 4 blocks from our hospital (someone was looking out for me)and immediately took him to the Emergency Room. He had a fever of 101 degrees, which is not extremely high for a younger child, but they did a CAT scan and found nothing abnormal, so it was determined to be a febrile seizure. He is now 15 and never had another one. I just watched really carefully when he was a younger child that if he ever had a fever above 100 that I was giving Tylenol. Hopefully this was an isolated incident for you. Good luck.

My child starting haveing febrile seizures after she turned one. it was so scary the first time it happened. She is now six and hasn't had one in over two years. Her doctor thinks she may have just outgrown them. For my piece of mind I always carry motrin with and at the first sign of illness give it to her right away. Good luck

Molly-
I have two daughters who have both had febrile seizures. My 4 1/2 year old had her first at 15 months and her last at 26 months. My almost two year old had her one seizure and only at about 22 months. Supposedly, my husband had some as a kid, too. We were quick with the tylenol/motrin, but it could still be hard to catch. The last two for the 4 year old were at daycare. As I am sure you learned, there are no long lasting effects, and they outgrow them by age 5 (and possibly sooner!)When my second kid had one a couple of months ago, I had the attitude of "Oh, man, not again", but I was not especially stressed. As far as medical things to be wrong with your kid, it is manageable. It is just hard psychologically, especially at first. Good luck!

Molly -
I sorry to hear about your son's seizure. Fortunately the likelyhood of it happening again are slim. A febrile seizure is a body's way to react to a quick change in temperature. The body doesn't know how to handle the high temp and seizes. This is common in children mostly under the age of 3years.
It is very likely that your son will not react this way to a fever again, however it is not a guarantee. Bringing him to the emergency room was the best thing you could have done.

This happened to 2 of our children. The first, it turned out, had roseolla, indicated by a rash that appeared a couple days after the fever spike (like was said below though, it doesn't matter so much how high the fever gets, but how fast it rises). She was about your son's age. We did find out at that time that there was a history of seizures in a cousin of my husband's. This puts all of our children at a slightly increased risk. The fact that our oldest had a febrile seizure puts all the rest of our children at a more significant risk of experiencing the same. And yes, your son is at risk to have another.

The doctors told us to just always be proactive about treating any illness in our children, not being afraid to medicate with Tylenol at the slightest sign of fever. Also, keep them cool during illnesses with cool clothes or tepid baths, etc. We were good about this with our 1st & 2nd, with no more seizures. Then I got kind of lax with our 3rd. She was about 15 months old too, when on a VERY hot & humid day she had a febrile seizure--turned out she just had an ear infection, but that, coupled with the hot day (no air conditioning in the house), I think her body just couldn't handle the temperature rise. She only had the one, & our 4th has never had any (he's 4 now). The doctors told us that the risk decreases after age 5.

Hello - Very scary for you - I am sorry you had to experience it but hopefully it will not happen again! I would just keep a really close eye on him when there is any virus in the house. We have three boys three and under so when one gets sick I watch the one who gets seizures like a hawk. He had febrile seizure at 22 months. It was horrible - his breathing was so shallow he turned blue - the ambulance came and he was taken to emergency with a temp of 105 - I had given him tylenol about 45 minutes before he had the seizure but it did nothing for him. Now the second he feels warm I med him up. I also sleep with him on our couch to watch him at night when he does have a fever in case he has a seizure. With any fever I strip him down to pants only and wipe his head neck and back with a wet washcloth. We have also given him tepid baths if he is up to it. These both seem to help keep his fever from spiking. He has had two fevers without seizure since his first episode.

Also - check with your doctor on meds schedule - our doctor recommended motrin and tylenol alternating. I know there some controversy over whether to do this or not so talk to your doctor. For my son tylenol alone does nothing for a fever and with motrin alone his fever spikes as the motrin is wearing off so three hours after he has motrin we give him a does of tylenol. This really works for him.

Our doctor said most febrile seizures are usually caused by a rapid change in temperature so you may never know if or when he will have one. Just be prepared if he does have one - keep him still - make sure he is breathing okay and that his tounge has not fallen back blocking his airway - use cool compresses to help bring stabalize his temp. Uur doctor said that if they last longer that 15 minutes to bring him in but who can wait that long? My son breathes so shallow when he as them that he turns blue so I call 911 to have them watch him and give him oxygen. Maybe I should just wait it out but if something should happen and I did not call I could never forgive myself. That is what the first responders are for.

Hopefully he will out grow them soon! Take care~