Febrile Seziures

My son has a seizure disorder, how can I help.

Karla, 2 kids & married

Hi D.,
I adopted 2 little girls through foster care not knowing the midical history, and they both have seizures now, at first I wouldnt let them out of my sight, then realized I am holding them back from being a kid, I never let them swim alone or bathe alone and riding a bike I am there and they MUST wear a helmet. I hope this helps some!

if your child had a febrile seizure, meaning a seizure during a spike in fever, then they are not at any increased risk to develop seizures later in life (epilepsy). kids who have fever-induced seizures are at slight risk to have another seizure in the setting of a high temperature (about 20-30% of kids will have a second febrile seizure) the risk decreases the older the child gets.
the thing that seems to trigger them is a rapid change in temperature, not just the fever itself. so if they go from normal to 103 in a very short period of time then they are more likely to have a seizure than if the temperature just creeps up slowly.
it certainly is scary to see your child have a seizure, but if it happens again, try to lay them down safely (on their side is best), keep anything away from their head that might injure them, DON'T put anything in their mouth!, and just wait it out. if the seizure seems longer than 1-2 minutes (it will seem like forever) or if the child has more than one seizure in a row, then definitely see your doctor or go to the ER.
these kids usually do just fine, keep the fever under control with tylenol and ibuprofen and cool them down with damp washcloths or lukewarm bath.
again, a febrile seizure does not equal epilepsy.
good luck

My son also had his first seizure when he was 15 months old, don't panic, he is now 13 and perfectly fine, no more seizures. Actually he continued to have seizures until he was eight and was actually diagnosed with epilepsy. Just do some research and educate your family, friends and his teachers when he gets to school. He has a very high chance of growing out of them. It really isn't the seizure that can hurt him, just take the safety precautions and he will be fine. Febrile Seizures are only because of a fever getting high too fast for the body to adapt, nothing to worry about. If he continues to have them make sure you do a journal and record everything that was going on at the time it started, length and type of seizure. It will help your doctors a lot to have a journal of the types and duration to be better able to give him the best care possible.

For all you moms with children having seizures, I just read a great book called "Louder than Words" by Jenny McCarthy. The whole first half of the book is about her 2 yr old son having seizures and what all she went through to get this diagnosed and her pain and how scared she was...
It is a quick read and you won't be able to put it down.

Her son Evan has autism, which she was able to bring him out of through a special diet.

I have a 4 week old little girl that has been having seziures since she was born. I am scared out of my mind every second of the day. I have bought two different monitors. The angel monitor that goes under the mattress to alarm when there is no movement and also a handheld video monitor that I can keep on her any where in the house.

I have found keeping a journal of when the seziures occur to be helpful to explain detail to the doctors. The doctors will ask a ton of questions that I need details of what she was doing before the episode occured.

I would also be interested in any advice that other moms dealing with seizures may have. I wish I could give more advice myself but this is also very new to me.

My daughter started having seizures when she was 3 or 4 months old--she started out having small seizures, so it took us awhile to figure out what was going on. She had her first grand mal seizure when she was about 4 1/2 months old. It is such a scary thing--I can really empathize with you. My daughter's seizures weren't febrile, so the doctors weren't sure of the cause, and they got more and more frequent and more severe in the months that followed. Fortunately, the medication her pediatrician put her on stopped the seizures completely. She is now 4 years old and hasn't had a seizure since she was about 7 months old.

Right now you're living through the most scary part of something like this--dealing with the shock of something that is so scary, and feeling so helpless. My understanding is that, most of the time, febrile seizures won't harm your child or have any lasting effects. They sure do seem scary, though. Hopefully you have a good pediatrician who can answer all your questions and help you to know what to do when/if your son has another seizure.

My best wishes for you.

My daugter had one a few months back. I was at work and my husband had called me and told me to come home. Her temps would spike (at that time it was 106) and this happend so often that when the seizure happened we were freaked out. We called the fire squad and they took her to Children's. They dismissed it and said it was probably caused by a virus. I know it is very scary to see your child like that and feel helpless. Unless your child gets diagnosed with something else they say they grow out of these after 2. If your child gets a high temp we found soaking them in a cold bath works to bring the temp down. Don't be afraid to call for help if you think your child needs it. I was in my docs office every week for awhile there. My daughter has been fine for a few months now and I wish you luck!

My 13 month old daughter just had a febrile seizure while I was driving down the road. She started screaming frantically and then starting convulsing. Of course, I didn't have my phone, so I pulled over and yanked her out of the car, she was unresponsive and blue, so I ran to the nearest building and they called 911. The ER said she had a mild ear infection and chest infection, but it was Viral, so they couldn't prescribe anything. They explained it was her body's way of telling us something is wrong and to cool her down, and they are quite common. Ever since she has been sick with colds, and recently she developed a rash the DR just told me was Roseola. I agree with the woman who said to document what you see, because I couldn't even remember 1/2 of what they were asking me until later. I guess I was in shock. They also said just to make sure to lay her on her side, not to feed or give her drink, and make sure that she is where no objects can harm her, then if it lasts longer than 1 minute to call 911, if it is shorter, just take her back to the ER. It isn't necessarily the seizures that are bad, it's whatever is wrong with the body to make the baby have the seizure. I was also told there is a 30-40% chance of a reoccurance, so just be prepared this time. As long as you are doing everything you can to be a good mother, I wouldn't worry too much, that doesn't help anything, just live your life and deal with things as they come! :)

i am not dealing with siezures, no- but i am a mom of a 15 month old, and am curious as to how you know this was a siezure, did you have to go to the ER??
why were you neurotic about him before? did you fing out what this siezure was from? did he have a high fever?

would like more info.

Hi D.,
I have a 2 year old son and was completely paranoid about having children because I was diagnosed epileptic when I was a child. I am one of the lucky ones that grew out of it. However I am still very causious with my son. Here is a website that I think might help you a little bit. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/febrile-seizure/DS00346

Good luck and I think you little one will be fine. Just do what your doctors said. =)
J.

Our daughter had a febrile sezuire at 14 months, now is 22 months and has not had one since. After talking to several mothers I was suprised to find out more kids then I realized have had these seizures, but only had one and that was it. I think it is very important to talk to your doctor about the seizures if you have not already. Just important to stay ontop of the fevers, follow exactly what the doctor recommends for doses of tylenol and ibueprophen. Febrile seizures are caused by a sudden spike or drop in fever.

Hi D.,
Our oldest son (now 4) had his first febrile seziure at 6 months and they continued quite often until about age 2 1/2. Some quite severe. They are scary, but most of the time harmless. Remain calm and unfortunatly after a few you will become quite acustomed to them. We did go see a neurologist after his 2nd one b/c our ped. recommended. They just made sure there was nothing else going on. Happily there wasn't. What I would recommend is try to keep him away from anyone who is sick. Even a common cold can turn into one. What we learned was that it wasn't the # of the temp but how fast it went up or down. Anything over 100 degrees could cause one. At the first sign of a runny nose, cough, or fever we alternated tylenol and motrin every three hours for a few days. ( of course check with your doctor first). That seemed to control a fever and in some cases prevent one. Our son had them real bad but everyone is different. Some children get one and then never get another. Most children grow out of them around age five. Under advice from our doctor we could not send Jim to daycare b/c of all the germs. He was actually just allowed to go to preschool this year. I was a nurse before I had my children so I had some knowledge of them, but they are still scary when it's your own. We seem to be experts now so if you have any questions or you are just totally scared, please feel free to email me anytime.
____@____.com some of this helps,
R.,32, Sahm to Jimmy (4) and Jack (5 months)!

D.,

I am the mother of 4 biological children and 100 plus foster children(over the years). I had never experienced a febrile seizure until my less than 2 year old (at the time) oldest son (twin) had one. I was scared spitless to say the least. The doctors assured me they were benign and he would outgrow them. He had a total of three and then before his 3rd birthday had outgrown them. I monitored his fevers closely and any time he got hot I put chopped onions in his socks. I know it sounds yukky but it seemed to do the trick for us. Best of wishes and they really do look worse than they are. As long as your pediatrician says he has no other reason for having them just try to be calm and they will pass. Just for informational purposes his twin brother never had a seizure, they are healthy 13 year olds now. None of my other children had them either so I guess they are not familial-at least in this family.