Middle of the Night Housecall: Febrile Seizures

He ended up having another febrile seizure a year and a half after the second one. But in between he started having absence seizures. Last month he had another EEG and had two seizures while hooked up so was diagnosed with epilepsy. On the comments about their children and grandchildren passing away. MY beautiful grand son who was only 23 months old when he died in his crib in the middle of the night.

My daughter found him face down and he was ice cold. He had a history of febrile seizures and had all the tests done but the doctors said the same thing about this not being life threatening. If we only knew the danger he was in everytime he was put to bed. Me and my wife are very scared everytime this thing happened to him. Is there any alternative way for parents like us to avoid this seizure? Hi, a 10 year old child could experience a febrile seizure? For me, he was dead, I did cpr, and he started to breath, was the worst experience of my life and I would like to know what was it to avoid it again in the future.

My son was 7m when he got first seizure and now he is 3 years old and got second seizure for 2 — 3min because of high fever we took him to hospital and gave treatment but not satisfied with the details got by doctor does this come again in future how to prevent this. Our 2 beautiful, healthy 2. She had experienced three febrile seizures over the year prior to her passing, but had not had one for about 8 months prior to what we believe was her final, fatal event.

After the first seizure that we witnessed, we had her tested by a pediatric neurologist EEG and heart testing who explained she was just prone to febrile seizures, would likely have them again when she ran high temperatures. Whens she was checked in the night, she was not hot, and tucked back in. In the morning, she was gone. Face down in a light blanket she was only 3 months shy of her third birthday and had slept with blankets for some time , with mucus at her mouth, very similar to how she was found in her first suspected seizure a year prior.

Please be careful with your children when they have a history of febrile seizures. Generally not fatal does not mean they are never fatal. It is rare, but they can be fatal. Absolutely crushed, feeling that we could have done more had we know there was a risk of death, and we were already doing A LOT. We were paranoid about it. Please pay a lot of attention and look into options for avoiding this kind of tragic outcome if your child has experienced repeated febrile seizures.

She was 2 years, 2 months, 2 days old. She was healthy, developing normally.

Parental anxiety and family disruption following a first febrile seizure in childhood

She felt warm before I put her to bed the night she died, but was acting perfectly normally. I gave her a tsp of ibuprofen to be on the safe side, with febrile seizure in the front of my mind. I found her in her crib in the morning, obviously gone from us here on earth. I never even thought to ask the doctors, neurologist, etc about what if she has a seizure in the middle of the night.

Heartbreaking that any parent has to go through this. My thoughts are with you. Our grand baby died last year the same way. The information given to parents are not right!!! We would have done more if we had known. I am so very sorry for your loss.

Febrile Seizures Tip Sheet

I know exactly how you feel. Thank u for alerting me. I am extremely sorry for Ur loss. God give u strength. My daughter had a first febrile seizures when she was 10 month. She catched viral infection and suddenly fever shoot to She completed her course of antibiotics as prescribed by doc to prevent secondary infection.

I am already giving her homeopathic medicines to boost her immunity. One thing I learnt about febrile is that as soon as the fever reaches 99 degree fehrenheet start givin medicine along with saltwater sponges. Please I hope this can help SM children. Moreover add garlic to each food and vit c to boost immunity. May God bless all children with health. They dint tell you anything but they do all the tests not helping you prevent them!!! How long did these kooks know that this was inevitable How do we prevent them??? More info and strategy is needthey cuz they dont care! My grandson just had one this Friday that past he had two before that one when he was like 6 months than the next when he was 1.

They keep saying this is normal. I have done a lot of research hoping to get answers and how to prevent it from happening again and nothing comes up. When he has these seizures the really scare me and I get upset because there is nothing I can do to stop it. Question what should I have the doctor test him for so I can rule out any possible medical issues. This is my problem right now. My son had two Febrile Seizures within a two week period. Now we are literally on pins and needles watching him and his body temperature like crazy. All test and blood work show normal. All the docs can say is it must be a viral infection causing his fevers.

My child reach I really wish i could find more information as well. Good luck to you and your grandson.

Can Febrile Seizures be Prevented?

I know its scary. I wish I will find something more cause I know the feeling its terrible. I wish he will never expirenced it again. My son had his first seizure at Very similar situation; the highest we ever saw his fever was So not super high. We called and went to ER because we had no freaking idea what happened.

• Febrile Seizures: No Lasting Damage.
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Umm excuse me…I thought he was going to die. Wish they were as concerned as me. But my biggest worry is that his temp was never super high so now I really need to watch him. Just want you to know, you are not alone. I am so sorry that happen to you can your family I pray for comfortable for you and your family that you get through this hard time. I just wish that there were more answer available for the situation because it will sure help just to have some answers.

Parental anxiety and family disruption following a first febrile seizure in childhood

How I wish we had seen this site earlier. I answer a lot of questions on DrGreene.

Please keep that in mind when reading my comments and replies. Thank you for this informative article currently my wife and I are very frustrated with this condition my soon to be 12 month old has been having these seizures about once a month for the last six months. Most of his seizures have lasted 1 hour the shortest was 15 minutes.

Hi, I just read what was going on with you precious baby. I wanted to ask if you ever got any diagnosis? I have a 11 month old with exactly the same thing. Febrile seizures, lasting typically an hour, shortest lasting 21 minutes. She takes Keppra twice a day, but it is not working like I would hope. Diazapam does not work, Ativan is the only thing that stops them. They are currently doing some genetic testing, but thought I would see if you had any good news by chance.

I also appreciate the kind words for parents in there. My son had two fiberal seizures the other night and this article was very informative and reassuring. My daughter had febrile seizures when she was 1 yr plus — she was getting them often at least once for the month but due to the flu or some sort of infection when she was 2 yrs plus it stopped. On December 04 she got another seizure. Will she out grow this?

Your doctor should help you come up with a strategy for dealing with them so you know what to do in the future. My 3 year old had febrile seized last Friday My son had 2 febrile seizures when he was 3 years old in one morning within an interval of about 2 hours. It lasted less than 2 mins and is due to high fever.

It lasted less than 2 mins. He complains headache and neck pain. He got his blood test done and LP test which to extract his fluid from his spinal cord. The result shows normal and rule out possible meningitis. What could be the reason for him not able to outgrown seizure?

And what are the other factors that I need to watch out on him? I am very afraid due to doctors are not giving me right suggestion. Please help me and suggest me. Hi our daughter to our knowledge had her first at 14m and 3 within a few days. She then had one 6m later then 3m later then a further Ur later and now tonight that we have witnessed or witnessed the after effects: Greene, my daughter 5 years old has brain damage due to a surgery when she was 5 days old.

In she suffered a big seizure. Neurologist told me she had a prolonged seizure. She is on seizure medication. Despite the fact that a febrile seizure is one of the most common neurological symptoms in childhood, few studies have assessed parental reactions associated with febrile seizures. Shuper et al 8 reported high parental anxiety in a prospective study of children presenting to the emergency department with a simple febrile seizure; however, they did not assess other measures of anxiety or family function.

Balslev 6 reported increased sleep disturbance and dyspeptic symptoms in parents who witnessed a febrile seizure; however, the predictors of adverse parental reaction were not studied.

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The present study is unique in several aspects. No previous study has addressed the predictors of parental anxiety and family dysfunction following febrile seizures; however, Mitchell et al 9 studied the predictors of parental anxiety in children with epilepsy and concluded that socioeconomic factors were the most significant predictors. A second strength of the present study is its population-based, prospective design.

We surveyed emergency departments from the only three hospitals in the Saskatoon area and, therefore, included all children in this region brought to emergency departments with their first febrile seizure. However, the study did not include children who were taken to their family doctors or a walk-in clinic. We interviewed all families within seven weeks of presentation to minimize recall bias. Several weaknesses of the present study are also evident. We did not assess whether hospitalization of the child at the time of presentation with a febrile seizure or whether the extent of laboratory investigations performed affected parental anxiety or family dysfunction.

We also did not assess the effect of counselling and information given to parents during the emergency room visit, nor did we assess whether parents who were taught to administer rectal benzodiazepines in the event of a subsequent febrile seizure coped better. Finally, we measured family function and parental anxiety using a series of variables that were summated into an Anxiety and Dysfunction Score.

These variables have not been validated, and the use of a known scale of parental anxiety and family function would have strengthened our results. Finally, our patient numbers were small, which may limit the strength of our results. Although it is important for families to be told that these events are generally benign, with a minimal risk of brain damage or subsequent epilepsy, written information should be provided and a routine follow-up visit scheduled one to two weeks after the seizure to review these facts and first aid steps in the event of a subsequent seizure.

At the follow-up visit, it can be acknowledged that significant anxiety is a normal reaction and inquiries about current family functioning can be made. Given that febrile seizures are such common occurrences in young children, they should also be discussed at well-baby visits, particularly in children known to be at higher risk for febrile seizures Further studies using greater patient numbers and validated measures of parental anxiety and family dysfunction are warranted.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Paediatr Child Health v. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Telephone , fax , e-mail ac. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Febrile seizures, Parental anxiety. Details about the presenting seizure complex features, preceding illness or fever and subsequent seizures since presentation.

This included gestational age at birth, neonatal problems defined as the need for hospitalization beyond seven days, excluding infants hospitalized solely for maternal reasons , previous medical illnesses requiring hospitalization, previous surgeries and developmental history. Socioeconomic status of the family.

The socioeconomic status was assessed by maternal and paternal education levels no high school, high school only, vocational school, some college or university, graduation from college or university , maternal and paternal occupation unemployed, househusband or housewife, unskilled labour, clerk or apprentice, middle managerial, upper managerial, professional or other , and gross annual income of the family.

Parental perception of the risks associated with a febrile seizure.

This included the risk of epilepsy, death and brain injury with brief febrile seizures, and the risk of recurrence. Information about parental awareness of appropriate first aid measures to be taken in the event of a subsequent febrile seizure was also collected. Family function and parental anxiety during the two weeks immediately preceding and the two weeks immediately following the febrile seizure.

Mild stress was defined as being equivalent to that experienced after being involved in a minor motor vehicle accident without sustaining personal injury. Moderate stress was defined as being equivalent to that experienced following the loss of a job. Severe stress was defined as being equivalent to that experienced after a life-threatening illness is diagnosed in an immediate family member. Statistical analysis Data processing and analysis were performed using Epi Info Version 6. Family function and parental anxiety two weeks after compared with immediately preceding a febrile seizure With the exception of monitor use, significantly greater anxiety and dysfunction for all factors assessed were experienced after a febrile seizure compared with before the seizure Table 1.

Open in a separate window. Factors affecting parental preseizure Anxiety and Dysfunction Score. Prevalence of febrile seizures in Dutch schoolchildren.

Many parents think their child is dying when having a first febrile convulsion. Dev Med Child Neurol. Epi Info Version 6. A word processing, database and statistics system for epidemiology on microcomputers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Rutter N, Metcalfe DH.