Febrile Seizure
A Febrile Seizure is often related to a sudden spike in temperature. It only lasts a short period of time, but during that time, the symptoms are scary. Convulsions, lack of responsiveness, eyes rolled back and staring blankly at the ceiling.
Our son had one last night, and it’s a scary occurrence, let me tell you, especially for folks like us who have never heard of it before.
I called 911 for the first time in my life, made sure they knew how to get to my house (it’s a new street, so I grilled them on the location to make sure they had it right – they did), and the 911 operator did a great job of asking questions and giving us instructions, and eventually said that he’d likely experienced a febrile seizure and that a paramedic would be here shortly, and then he let me go.
So the next step: Google It.
It was a huge relief, even before the paramedics arrived, to know that what Matthew was experiencing was not serious, relatively common, and had no serious long term consequences.
He’s still got a bit of a fever but he’s doing much better today.
March 20th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Steve, I can definitely relate; my son had a seizure last fall. This was the first time *I’d* ever had to call 911 and yes, it is horrible to see. Count your blessings, however: the cause of your son’s seizure was diagnosed. My boy was playing with his older brother in the living room when he suddenly dropped to the floor…no fever, no trauma, nothing. After a battery of blood tests, an EEG and a CAT scan (all of which came back normal), we were told that “sometimes it happens” and it would probably never occur again.
And then he had another, a couple of weeks ago as he was drifting to sleep in his bed. Once again, 911 was called and once again he had the tests…which told us nothing more than the first time. This time around, however, he was prescribed anti-seizure medicine which he has to take twice a day until we could get an appointment with one of only two pediatric neurologists in the city.
Watching your child have a seizure is a completely awful experience, especially if you’ve never been around anybody with epilepsy nor have observed one before. All you can do is ensure that they’re rolled onto their side and call for medical assistance. Let’s hope neither one of our kids experience this again.
June 2nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Just experienced our first one last night. never called 911 before either. scariest moment of my life.
October 16th, 2007 at 6:10 pm
My 5 year old had a seizure with my mom. The ambulance took him to the nearest hospital. I wasn’t present during the seizure, however I was very frightened when I got to the hospital and he did not recognize me and would not maintain eye contact. He did not speak for 8 AGONIZING HOURS! He has fully recovered, Thank the Lord. I feel your pain. It is scary but now that I am more educated about seizures, I won’t be falling apart like that day. Hands down the worst day of my LIFE!