FYI, today I’m sharing something a little more serious with you guys; mainly because I think awareness is a good thing…
I can’t believe it’s already been a year since one of the scariest days of our lives. Back in March of last year, Brody had a severe febrile seizure. Most of you probably don’t have a clue what this is and I didn’t either until it happened to us. I had planned to share more about this last year after it happened, but I honestly felt like my life was in a bit of shambles and I probably wasn’t completely ready to open up about it. I shared a little bit in this post and then never got around to posting any more.
Here’s the definition of a Febrile Seizure from the Mayo Clinic:
A febrile seizure is a convulsion in a child that may be caused by a spike in body temperature, often from an infection. Your child’s having a febrile seizure can be alarming, and the few minutes it lasts can seem like an eternity.
Febrile seizures represent a unique response of a child’s brain to fever, usually the first day of a fever. Fortunately, they’re usually harmless and typically don’t indicate an ongoing problem. You can help by keeping your child safe during a febrile seizure and by comforting him or her afterward.
He woke up from his nap and Matt arrived home soon after. They started playing together and I had gone up to give Madelyn her bath and put her down for bed. I wish I had given him some more medicine (Motrin) at that point, but I didn’t realize his fever was spiking again. While I was putting Madelyn down for bed, Matt was giving Brody his bath. He actually requested a shower and then wanted to get in the bath. Probably because he was achy from the fever. While he was in the bath, Matt noticed him starting to go out of it.
He pulled him from the tub and came into Madelyn’s room to get me. As soon as I saw Brody, I knew something wasn’t right. He was super lethargic and his speech was all over the place. We weren’t sure what was going on, but we knew we needed to get to a hospital. A neighbor came over and sat at the house while Madelyn was asleep and Matt and I drove Brody to the hospital. I called my pediatrician in the car and told her the symptoms. She knew immediately that it sounded like a febrile seizure. We didn’t guess seizure because he wasn’t shaking yet or necessarily looking like he was having a seizure. He was just out in space (so it seemed). It wasn’t until Matt was carrying him through the halls to the Pediatric ER that he began seizing. It was so scary to watch.
He continued to seize for about 15 minutes (I think) which is the amount of time they consider it a severe case. The doctor was worried that his body was working too hard, so they put him on a ventilator. That was super scary. We waited on tests to be run as they ruled certain things out and had to watch him on this ventilator for an entire day. There is so much unknown when you are in these situations and you feel at the mercy of the doctors. We are so thankful for his recovery and that we have not had to go through this again. They had him on so much medication, it took him days for all of it to wear off.
Symptoms
A child having a febrile seizure may:
Have a fever higher than 100.4 F (38.0 C)
Lose consciousness
Shake or jerk arms and legs
Febrile seizures are classified as simple or complex:
Simple febrile seizures. This more common type lasts from a few seconds to 15 minutes. Simple febrile seizures do not recur within a 24-hour period and are generalized, not specific to one part of the body.
Complex febrile seizures. This type lasts longer than 15 minutes, occurs more than once within 24 hours or is confined to one side of your child’s body.
What to do in the event of a Febrile Seizure:
Stay calm and follow these steps…
Place your child on his or her side on a surface where he or she won’t fall.
Stay close to watch and comfort your child.
Remove hard or sharp objects near your child.
Loosen tight or restrictive clothing.
Don’t restrain your child or interfere with your child’s movements.
Don’t put anything in your child’s mouth.
Time the seizure.
Thankfully, there were no lasting effects from the seizure and he was back to his old self in just a couple of days. He was evaluated after his seizure to see if this was something that he would be prone to and thankfully there were no signs of that. They do believe these seizures are hereditary and I have one brother that had one around 10 months old. That made a little more sense. I think awareness is so important, so I wanted to share this journey with all of you. I hope none of you have to go through it, but hopefully now you will understand it a little better!
Have you ever heard of a febrile seizure before or known anyone to have one??
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Oh friend, how scary!!! My niece had one when she was a baby and actually my girlfriends son has had 3 this year. I’m
So terrified of fevers for this reason. Thank you for sharing and so glad he hasn’t had another!
Goodness Annie I can only imagine how scary that would be if you were prepared much less out of the blue.
That is so scary. I had never heard of febrile seizures before. Hopefully if doesn’t happen again.
This had to have been so scary. Fevers scare the daylights out of me. I can deal with the stomach bug fine but fevers are a different story. Thank you for this post so we know what to look for. Bless his little heart. Glad he hasn’t had once since!
So scary! I’m so glad he is ok!
Thank you for sharing your story! I know a few people who’ve dealt with these febrile seizures with their kids and it sounds so scary. I teared up just reading about your sweet Brody. Thank you for all the tips although I hope to never need them.
thank you for sharing this!! I have a couple close friends who have dealt with this. I will share with them. thanks for being so open. I am so glad that sweet boy is well and there was no lasting damage! PTL
Gosh momma, bless you and sweet Brody. I am so so thankful you haven’t had to go through this again. I cannot even imagine how hard it was to watch your baby
My son recently started having febrile seizures at 6 years old. We were prescribed Kepler. We decided NOT to take the medicine and go with a Modified Atkins Diet that entails feeding our son 15 carbs a day with lots of healthy fat. He eats a lot of grass fed beef, free range eggs, organic low crab veggies and is doing fantastic! We could tell a difference in him by the 3rd day. This is not alternative or junk science. Dr. Lewis hill at Johns Hopkins has been championing this diet for years and has been really successful. Doctors are really resistant to this therapy but it works!. Read “Grain Brain” for why it works. He also takes taurine which helped stop the night time teeth grinding, jerking, and unrest in his sleep (also known to stop seizures). And he takes cur cumin as a brain protestant that raises seizures.one day came across Albert post thanking Dr Lewis hill for curing his son seizure problem, and i got the contact of Dr Lewis hill i quickly contacted him then he made me to know that the medication is 100% permanent cure, and that was how i got the medicine which i used for my son, after which i took my son for medical test It worked! Over a year now, my son have not show any symptoms of seizure and I believe my son is cure if you need his help email him on drlewishill247@gmail.com
Oh my goodness, I am so sorry this happened to you guys. Awareness is huge and thank you for sharing because I know that I would have never known anything about this otherwise.
Your story sounds so similar to my son Hudson! Hudson was 14 months old and on antibiotics for an ear infection.. I was pushing him in the stroller and when I got him out he could barely stand and his eyes were not focusing. We immediately ran to a neighbor and he began to seize for 15 minutes as well.. Intubation, EEG followed. He had another simple febrile seizure exactly one year later but that one was only 4 minutes. I’m happy to say he turned 5 two months ago and he has not had a seizure since the last one at 21/2. He is completely healthy. Hang in there! also my youngest son has not had any seizures and my neurologist said that there isn’t a familial connection or high risk for siblings. She also told me that fever reducers will not prevent the seizures so don’t feel guilty or like you could have prevented it.. I know I struggled with that. I pray he stays seizure free!
Thank you Katie. I so appreciate hearing your story and experience. It’s such a scary thing. I’m so happy to hear Hudson is doing great and seems to have grown out of his!