Febrile Seizures - Streamwood,IL

My now 11 year old son had a febrile seizure when he was 9 months old. We had just flown to Las Vegas for a convention, and he has a slight cold and congestion when we left. They think the pressure in the plane and his cold helped in him getting a double ear infection.

In the middle of the trade show his temp spiked and he had a seizure. Luckily for us there were attendees who were nurses and EMT's,and they took him from my arms and put him on the ground, and worked on him.

One of the scariest moments as parents. He was taken via ambulance to the closest hospital and we were out within 4-6 hours.

We were told that it was somewhat common and he had a slight chance of having more during his childhood.

That was the only time he ever had a febrile seizure. He recovered rapidly and we were able to fly out as planned 3 days later.

We did watch him very carefully every time he had a cold or fever when he was younger. Think helicopter parents : ) Don't think we fully relaxed until he was back to normal. We never wanted to go through that experience again!

Hope you child is feeling much better!

My daughter had them and they are scary as anything. She was 16 months when she had her first one and Advanced Life Support had to stop the ambulance because she had been seizing for so long and she needed valium to make it stop. I was also about 2 months pregnant with number 2. So I was an emotional wreck. She was so small and she seized for so long the doctors were worried about brain damage. We also had waffles for breakfast so her sugar levels were high (syrup) so they thought she was diabetic...ugh!

She had one on Christmas Eve when she was 2, a little more than a year later. We had just finished doing Christmas Cookies at my parents house and she was watching Christmas movies on my brother's lap when she started. She had been fine. No cold or anything.

The next March she had one. I don't remember her being sick then either, but it was the end of winter, so she probably was. So she had 3 before she was 3.

Her last one was when she was 5. We thought she had outgrown them and she had an allergy shot earlier in the day. She was laying on the couch with me, I was doing my homework, and she started to seize. I threw my laptop, hubby jumped up from here he was working and ran over to us. He immediately picked her up and ran her up to the bath (to cool her down) and I called 911. No words were exchanged because that's just what you do.

She saw neurologists at Children's National Medical Center for years and we had very strong meds to give her if we noticed a seizure coming on.

My mom had them when she was little and so did my husband. They are scary. But you did the right thing by calling 911.

I would also recommend a cool bath...because that brings the temp down quickly.

Stay strong, mama. He will hopefully out grow them. We still to this day (and she is 8) alternate Tylenol and Motrin with any fever. Seizures are scary to me and if I can do anything to prevent them, I will.

ETA: The doctors at the emergency room told us just to get her body temp down and give her meds. We always went to the ER though. She would stop breathing and turn blue (my kids are mixed so it took more for her color to change) so we wanted oxygen for her. My husband worked in the medical field in the Navy for 21 years, and he had no problem with me calling 911 every time.

They also said my other two would be more susceptible to them and neither of them have had them. Thank God.

Look at his eyes though, that's how we could tell with our daughter and I'm sure we stopped some before they happened.

It hasn't happened to us, personally, but I do know that it happens randomly. Once your child does it, they may or may not do it again if they have a fever. They are usually harmless, but so scary.

My oldest had febrile seizures frin the age of 14 months until 3 years 3 months. I had febrile seizures. I'm convinced they are not hereditary but a severe reaction to a stimuli. Fevers really shouldn't spike if the body is working correctly. A fever is meant to burn the sickness away but it shouldn't "combust" which is in essence what it is doing. My mom found out later that the town we had just moved to when my seizures began had an iffy water supply. When we moved, my seizures stopped. My husband and I found out there was standing water under our rental house and when we moved, my daughter's stopped. I believe it was the mold.

I wouldn't say they are harmless but most are not life threatening, as they look to be while you are in the midst of them. I believe building the immune system so it can properly fight off illness can be a way to prevent them. The immune system has gone hay wire when fevers spike. We detoxed our home, detoxed our bodies and ate better foods. I hope this helps.

It's a scary, scary thing to watch your child going through this. It made me appreciate my mother even more than I already did! Hang in there. You'll get through this!

M.