Febrile Seizures - Spanish Fort, AL

My good friend's son had one while they were visiting her parents (her father happens to be a pediatrician) and she was pregnant with her second child. That ended up being the only seizure he ever had, (he is 15 years old now) but she was fearful for a long time that he would have another. Her second child never had one. Her son had his from the sudden rise in temp while he had a virus. Her father said that he was so prone to them as a child, that if he got too excited, he would overheat and have one. It obviously did not affect him long term because he is a doctor now. Hang in there, this too shall pass.

My daughter who is now 13 suffered from the same seizures. Her fever would spike so quickly it was terrifying. I know that it is scary, but trust me, she will grow out of them. My daughter used to just get stiff as a board and stare straight thru you. The last seizures she had she ended up in the hospital b/c she had the chicken pox and of course that causes fever. She was 3 then and has never had one since then and has no lasting problems from them. Just be strong and in time she will outgrow them.

My son has also suffered from Febrile Seizures. I know it is just a miserable experience and I am so sorry you have to go through it. For us the seizures run in the men in BOTH sides of the family! yikes!

My son is now 7 and he has his most recent seizure February of this year. Everything I read says that the average age to stop the seizures is 5 but that is simply an average so I am not worried. The seizures have not affected his inteligence at all (sure, I am his mom, but he is brilliant!) and the only thing that has been difficult for him is those late nights keeping him cool.

It will be okay. I know it is awful but your little girl will be just fine. Learn the cocktail (Motrin every 4 hours Tylenol every 8 - they double up on the 8) and stick to it until fevers are gone. And yes, for moms like us, we get way less sleep. I check on my son every night, out of habit, and have woken up to phantom sounds to go rushing in his room to be sure he is okay.

A suggestion: To know when a night seizure is happening, make the bed loud when it moves. Put bells on it, make it squeak or bang the wall. Anything. This is sooo helpful and will actually allow you to sleep more peacefully.

Good luck and much strength. It won't last forever!
J.

Oh you have my sympathies! When my daughter had her first siezure, I was hysterical and went straight to the E.R.; took weeks of tests, including a neurological exam before she was diagnosed. The good news is that they do grow out of it and as you've already experienced, the effects are much worse for us than them! Something that surprised me was that this condition is hereditary and in speaking with my mother-in-law we discovered that my husband had "unexplained" siezures as a child. (Wouldn't that have been nice to know ahead of time?!) Try not to worry to much, I'm certain your daughter will be fine, but with summer on its way I would be extra careful about her being over-heated as this also seems to be an instigator. Good Luck! and God bless!

L.,

Our son had a febrile seizure last June and it scared me to death. We have four kids and I had never experienced anything like it in my life. I was terrified as I know you were. We called for an ambulance and by the time they got to the house I had gotten his fever down by placing cool rags on his body after removing all of this clothes. IT happened so fast. His fever spiked to the point were it felt like he was boiling. We took him to the doctor and they told us at the first sign of a fever to alternate Tylenol and Motrin every 21/1 hours until the fever broke. They said he will be more apt to these seizures until he is five. Luckily we have not had another one.

My heart truly goes out to you b/c I KNOW how scary those seizures are. Our daughter (who is now 3 yrs old) had four febrile seizures within about a year. Her last one was Jan. 07 right before her 2nd birthday. In every case she had an ear infection which caused the high fever. We would always try to treat her fever as soon as we noticed she was getting a fever with alternating motrin and tylonol every three hours. This was on the advice of her pediatrician. The Dr. also prescribed her Diastat in an injectable rectal gel just to have in case she had a seizure that didn't stop within 3 minutes. Thankfully we never had to use it! It did give us a little more peace of mind to have it on hand just in case. After the fourth seizure we made the decision to get ear tubes put in. (She had had I think 9 ear infections in one year) The tubes fixed the ear infection problem which fixed the high fever problem. The seizures can be soooo scary, but I think they really don't cause harm unless they last a long time. And most kids outgrow the febrile seizures by three years old. For me, I just had to make up my mind that I was not going to live in fear of her having a seizure and just trust that God is watching over her and that she was going to be just fine. Our daughter has had two high fevers since her last seizure and we were so relieved that she didn't have seizures with them. Sorry this is a long response, but I hope it helps. I hope that this was the last seizure for your daughter!

My lil girl when she was 6months old out of the blue had her 1st Febrile Seizure she wasn't acting sick or nothing but the fever came on so fast i didn't know what was happening, but I knew it was a seizure for I've been around others with several different type of seizure disorders so I tried to help her the best as I could we ended up in an Ambulance to the ER where they said she had Febrile seizures it happen two other times it was something that scared us everytime but she's almost 5 yrs old now and she must of grew out of them, but when she has fevers to this day I get very worried and I promptly give her meds rotating them from children Motrin to Tylenol & back & forth which the Dr. said would help greatly and we lay cool luke warm clothes on her head & let be in her birthday suit, check her temp several times till the fever is gone. Our Pedrician said that alot of children have these to not worry that in time they will stop all together. Just be alert, stay calm & pray that your lil one grows out of them she should be fine. I'll pray for you & your family that she'll never have to have another one. God Bless, Hugs K.

Yes alot of children do have seizures because of a spike in temp., but not all kids do. My kids use to run 105 degree temp & never had a seizure. Most of all what does her pediatrican say about these seizures?? if you have not told the dr u should all medical info. needs to be in her chart. Good luck.

Our son is now 25 years old. When he was an infant until he was 4 years old, he suffered from febrile seizures. His last one was when he was 4. He never suffered any after effects. He was an excellent student, receiving mostly A's in grade school thru high school. He is now in college finishing a degree in business management. He has a memory that would probably be considered photographic. When he would get a fever we would give him tylenol and strip him down to just t-shirt and diaper or underwear, which was our doctor's advice. We also believe in prayer for healing, we had elders at our church pray for him and we said many prayers for him.
His last one was at age 4 with no known after effects! God Bless you and I will pray for your daughter.

Hi L.,

My family and I are very familiar w/febrile seizures!!! My 4 year old (Elle) has had 8 of them. Her first one was when she was 9 months old. Her last one was this past January.

Her first 2 lasted 45 min. When she had the first one, no one would say what they were since it lasted so long. Plus they gave her enough Valium for an adult before they got it to stop.

She has gone through tons of tests. At 9 months they did a ct scan, blood work, spinal tap, EEG, urine sample... Everything came back normal and still does. They told us they wouldn't do any damage to her brain unless they lasted longer than an hour. They were confused b/c they said normally the febrile seizures only last 1-5 min. So they didn't understand why hers were lasting so long.

Her 2nd one lasted that long b/c we were at a different hospital and they wouldn't listen to me. I kept telling them about her first one and how it didn't stop on it's own. They finally listened to me after watching her for 45 min.

All the rest of them last 5 min or longer. Depending on how fast we get the medicine in her. I'm not sure after what seizure, but a doc did give us a prescription for Dystat. It is the Valium medicine given to her rectally. WE don't wait, we give it to her as soon as the seizures start. Plus we give her Tylenol suppository.

They say to wait 5-10 min, but her neurologist did tell us we can give it to her as soon as she starts having one. We do. They also say it can cause her to stop breathing. Every seizure she has, it's like watching her for the first time....so we don't wait....we give it to her immediately. We freak out with each one and usually drive her to the ER. They are so scary!!

We pray everyone is her last one.

They've always called them febrile seizures (fever related). Her fever is always low though...it never spikes over 101.

It does go up to 102 being the highest after the seizure is over. They tell us she'll grow out of them when she is 5 or 6. They did tell us that if she continues to have them, she can develop epilepsy later on. We pray she won't. They have always told us they won't affect her brain in any way, but you do wonder how can it not after watching your child go through one.

Elle is very smart for her age and we can't tell they have affected her in any way. We are very thankful for that!! Every time she has one she always has an ear infection. So we wonder if the ear infections trigger the seizures.

There is no way of preventing them. We have sure tried. We watch her attitude if it changes or if she is acting like she doesn't feel well..like being cranky..we automatically start alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours. She seems to be cranky or in a bad mood for 3 days max after a seizure. I'm sure her muscles are sore and she probably doesn't feel well with the ear infection or whatever she is going through.

Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, you can email me at ____@____.com

Thanks, Sydne

My little brother had them until he was older. He outgrew them and never had any problems. He's 31 now. When he was about 7 or so, he had a seizure, and it was the first one he'd had since being very small. He was put on some kind of medication for a long time, but stopped taking it as a teenager because of the mood swings and pimples that he thought it caused.

Anyway, the real point is, he went through it and he is fine today. He never had any major issues with it, although I'm certain my parents both worried about it a lot.

Good luck to you and your daughter.
MM

my son, 17months, had a "fever virus" a couple weeks ago and when I called the Dr. to tell them he was 104.4, the nurse who called me back said to keep his fever down because her son, same age, spiked so fast that he had a seizure and took him to children's hospital and they told her she would have to bring him in any time his fever got above 101 and that once they have a febrile seizure, they were more prone to keep having them. i never looked anything up, but i'd just try to keep that fever under 101...hope this helps!

Hi L.-

I have a 5 1/2 year old and a 2 1/2 year old, and neither has had a febrile seizure. I know some kids that have them frequently when they are sick. I think once a child has one, they are more likely to have more.

On a different note, my youngest at 6 months started having Breath Holding Spells, which occur mostly when he gets hurt. Do you know how kids get upset and cry REALLY hard, without sound and you're waiting for that next breath/cry? Well, my son never does that. He just turns blue, passes out and sometimes has 10+ minute seizures afterwards. We have grown accustomed to them (as much as a family can), but nothing ever takes away that initial panic and helpless feeling when you see your child seizing. There were times when my son had 12 or so spells a day (mostly without seizure activity). Just know that you are doing the best you can and realize that this too will pass. I'm not trying to make light of the situation or even compare to see who has the most dramatic, but I am trying to just keep it in perspective.

I pray these seizures resolve without lasting impact to your family. Just always trust your mothering instict. Remember that God gave it to us for a reason!

J.

L., I know you are scared, but from everything I have read on the Internet, these seizures will not cause lasting damage. My son, now 3, has had several febrile seizures, the 1st when he was 2 months old, and thankfully, we were in the presense of our doctor. It has now been a little over a year since the last one. It doesn't get any less scary with each one they have, however, I think you will find comfort if you read up on the Internet. I understand each child is different, so I would definitely follow up with your doctor during or after each seizure, and closely watch her development. My heart goes out to you. Good luck and congratulations on the new baby!

L.

My son had febrile seizures from 1 year until he was three. If his fever rose over 102, he was in a seizure. They were mild at first, but then became more convulsive. He had severe ear infections for three years and was finally diagnoised with cancer in the ear and mastoid. After a radical mastoidectomy at the age of three , we never had another seizure, even with fever over 102. He was on seizure medication for those three years, but I slowly took him off them about three months after his surgery.He is now 36 and doing fine. We continually had EEG for possible brain damage, but he never had any and he had many seizures a month for three years. Most times they just out grow the febrile seizures. The biggest side effect after a seizure with my son, was being very tired. Seizures are very scary and you never get used to them, you just learn to deal with them. As she grows, her body will better learn to fight illnesses off, and hopefully you will not have to worry with seizures. Good Luck

S. MIller

Hi,
I had a few febrile seizures as a child due to spiking fever. I am now 25 yrs old and I had a normal childhood. I am not saying this to scare you but I did start back having seizures at about 20 yrs old. My neurologist said that having febrile seizures as a child can sometimes cause you to have seizures as an adult. I do have to take medication and do not have them as long as I take the medication. I lead a normal life other than taking the medication. Again I do not say this to scare you but it is something you should know. Hope everything works out with your daughter

--J. C

My brother and I both had them. We are now healthy, intelligent young adults.