Seizure Out of Nowhere

My daughter had almost the exact same thing happen and I completely fell apart. I got home in the afternoon and put her down for a nap, she felt fine, just a bit crabby. When she woke up she felt warm so I gave her some Tylenol and took my son to football practice. She was laughing and playing while we were there. When we got home and I was getting her ready for bed, she felt fine. About two hours or so later she wakes up crying, which is rare(she's been a sound sleeper since she was born)so I went in to soothe her thinking maybe she had a night terror or something. She couldnn't seem to settle down so I took her into our room thinking maybe she would if she was laying down with me. When her Dad got home at about 1145 we had been asleep for about 20 minutes to a half hour, she was burning up! We took her temp and it was 103. We gave her some more Tylenol and called the doctor. While we were waiting for the doc to call us back she started to seize. At first, I didn't even know she was because she was facing away from me on her side, I thought she was play snoring. Thank goodness her Dad can stay calm in stressful situations. He called the paramedics and they came and then he basically had to tell me what to do because I was in a panic. He rode with her in the ambulance and thank goodness for my 6 year old who kept me distracted enough on the way to the hospital. They tested her for everything because her white cell count was extremly high, chest xrays, CT scan, urinalysis, everything. They kept telling us what it wasn't but never did nail down what it actually was. In the end they just kept sending us to have her fingers poked, to ensure that her white cell count was returning to normal, which it did. They told us that most likely the reason for the seizure was due to not how high her fever got but because it shot up so quickly. Also that kids who have febral seizures young like that, could possibly have them in the future but tend to out grow them by age 6. They don't do any damage to them, just scare the parents silly. She's fine now, however I think that any time she gets a fever, I will probably hover. Here's to neither one of them ever having another one. At least that way maybe we'll keep some of our sanity. :)

Hi,

I am currently working on a degree in Paramedic. Febrile seizures just mean a seizure caused by a fever. Febrile and Fever are basically the same thing. This is actually more common than you may think. The stats are 1 in 25 kids will have one in their life and 1/3 will have another one before they outgrow them. There is some great info on this site about febrile seizures:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/febrile_seizures/detai...

I hope this helps.
:)T

My oldest son, who is now 11, had this problem from 18 months to 9. They also could not find any cause for them but he was medicated and has since outgrew them. So, it is actually a GOOD thing that they could not find the cause of Charlee's seizures. The best thing you can do is just to find out what to do if she has another one. Keep her away from anything that she could get hurt by and put her on her side. Don't hesitate to call your doctor with any concerns, that is what they are doctors for!!! My prayers are with Charlee and I wish you all the best Christmas.

M.-

You just need to make sure, if she is running a temperature you just keep an eye on it like you guys did. Make sure it does not go over a certain temperature, and if it keeps going up make sure to call her in like you did or take her into the doctor or hospital asap! So sorry to hear about this scary situation. With my daughter her temp. kept going up and up even after we gave he med. It turned out she had an ear infection in both ears. What a horrible thing! Did she get checked out for an ear infection? That could do it too? You just need to check her through the night when she is not feeling well. Take her temperature every couple hours or so through the night. It is a scary situation, but it is important you get your rest as well. Maybe turn the baby monitor on as well and you can hear everything going on in the room and you are still getting the sleep you need too. I wish you the best of luck. Take care and god bless, C.

My son had one of those when he was very small and when the parametics got there and did those test to see if he would respond, he didn't, my heart dropped to the floor when they put him in the ambulance they were going to call him in code blue they thought he use dead. And just as he picked up the c.b. to call it in to the hospital he snapped to and started crying and then and there I realized just how precious of a gift god had given me. they also told me that if he's had one he will probably have another. He is now 6 years old and doing fine. Once they get past a certin age they are less likly to have them and he hasn't had one since. But now when he gets a fever I am very careful I give him tylenol and motrin first tylenol and then 3 hours later motrin and then 3hours later tylenol that way he gets each of them 6hours from the first dose but he always has something fighting the fever. That is what my doctor said to do and if it is still not going down then I say screw the bath and take him to the hospital but my doctor said that at the age he is now hes pretty much out of the woods so keep up the faithit will get beter after the first one he never had another.. I hope things get better and if you ever need anything I'm here

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, I could imagine that would be terrifying.

Just to answer one of your questions; white blood cells counts go up as a defense mechanism when there is an infection. Had your daughter been sick? Did they have any idea at the hospital why she had the fever? Like the other responder asked, did they check her for ear infections (or any other kind of infection for that matter)?

I'm also just curious, what did they do for her at the hospital and what did they have you do for her at home?

My mom said I had some of those when I was small, but I grew out of them. It was maybe 3 or 4 total. My daughter did have a high fever once at about a year old. and I remember we took her to the clinic, they thought it might be a UTI, but that came back clear. They did give her some antibiotics and within a day she broke the fever. Our doctor did tell us something that to this day I don't quite get, but sometimes when they teething and having an especially hard time (as we know teething can create some fevers), that they spike. I do know that she was teething at around that time. And it was her last set of teeth to be coming in. She got all of her teeth, (except 2 year molars) by her 1st bday....first ones came in at 3 mos.

We just be sure that if they start acting "sick-like" we start monitoring and give them children's tylenol/motrin. as you get to you kids you learn their signals. and she hasn't had anything like that since.

sorry it's probably not much help. I stayed up with my daughter to watching and checking her. Cool cloths on the nape of her neck. Somewhere someone told me that if a fever starts that keeping that area cool helps slow down it's "progression" long enough for the medicine to take effect. I don't know if that actually works other than we have had very few fevers since that one incident.