Febrile seizures (day care, baby, average, toddler)

[Icemodeled]

My 19mo old had a seizure Wednesday. We were at the playground, he had been fine all day long nothing out of the ordinary. He collapsed and was limp. I went to pick him up and he was lifeless. I turned him around and his mouth was wide open. Then eyes rolled back and his body began shaking. It was terrifying! Never happened before so we called 911. It lasted I'm guessing 4-5min but Im not sure. He was awake by time EMT checked vitals and his temp was 102. They put ice packs on him, checked his heart and took him to hospital.

An ear infection was found by the doctor(not one sign of this prior) and he was keeping a fever of 101 even after an hour and ice packs. She said seems likely to be febrile seizure which was told is different from epilepsy. Said the seizure happened from the temp change of the fever setting in(actual temp didn't matter, just had to be a spike). I seen though that some kids do go on to have epilepsy after.. if you've ever seen your child seizure you'll understand how awful it is and never want to see it again. I'm so afraid of it happening again without fever(which would then likely be epilepsy).

Since the ER visit, we were told to do Tylenol and Motrin rotating every 3 hrs and antibiotics 2x a day. So far that has worked and kept the fever down(yesterday morning he was crying and very hot.. over 100 again). It came down quickly after undressing, a cool cloth and Motrin dose. We have a follow up Monday to see if ear infection is clearing up. This is also his first illness.. besides a minor cold.

Anyone else have a child who experienced a febrile seizure and what was the outcome? Looking for some experience and how to cope with such anxiety of it happening again. Doctor said it's a wait and see for now.. but hopeful it's just febrile.

[DubbleT]

I wish I had more to give you but I will say that back in the eighties I had a friend who went through this with her very young daughter. I'm not sure but I think it happened twice. Today that little girl is a happy healthy woman with kids of her own. Wishing you the best OP.

[UNC4Me]

My youngest had a couple when she was young. Both times were fever related just like your son. She still tends to run higher than average fevers when she gets a cold or flu, but she hasn’t had any more seizures. She’s now a healthy, married woman with a toddler. Your son will be ok!!

[gentlearts]

I can imagine how frightening this was for you. One of my children had one throat infection after another and this was in the era where taking out tonsils at the drop of a hat had gone out of favor. The poor kid had several febrile seizures. She is grown up now, and perfectly fine.

[Sarahsez]

My baby is now 21. He had one when he was 20 months old. He had a fever and I called the doctor and was told to watch him. He had stayed home with my husband all day and needed a bath. The bath changed his temperature too much. He seized up and turned blue. It was scary. We got the ambulance ride to the hospital. Turned out he had a double ear infection. We had no idea. He has a high tolerance for pain.

The doctor did tell me that febrile seizures run in families. Apparently, some of my cousins have had febrile seizures also. It's scary to watch, but most of the time, everything ends up being ok.

My second child has the fevers that suddenly spike. He is the type who will go wrap under a blanket and so then the temperatures get really high. We were lucky that he never had a seizure although we did have a trip to the emergency room for one that got up to 104 degrees.

Fingers crossed. Hopefully, this is a one time thing for you.

[bus man]

My daughter had a febrile seizure when she was about age 2.5. Sure enough, it was a big spike in temperature that caused it. She was at day care at the time, so they called an ambulance and then called my wife, who then called me. We all rushed over to the hospital as quickly as we could. When I walked into the room and went over to the bed, my little girl clung tightly to me.

She was discharged later that day. For about a week, she was kind of our of it, but not too bad off. Every time she'd awaken in the night, she would cry out for me. After about a week, she was fine. And that was the end of it. She's approaching age 13 now, and has never had a recurrence.