Any one else's twins have febrile seizures?

I am so worried. DD had her first after 12-mo vaccine. She had her 2nd after 15-mo vaccine. She also held her breath and passed out before seizing, so it's unclear what actually caused this seizure.

Tonight, DS had his first febrile seizure after a fever of 102.5. We are very freaked out right now. I know they're not damaging, and they're supposedly "no big deal" (according to the docs we've spoken to), but it's terrifying as a parent to watch this. Now that it's affecting another child, it seems even scarier now.

Have any of you dealt with this?

What did your docs say?

Did you consult w/a neurologist?

I appreciate any advice!!!

 

Since it happened after the vaccinations, it sounds like a vaccine reaction. The MMR vaccine is known to have side effects of febrile seizures.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/combo-...effects_mmr.pdf

 

I know that Kate has dealt with that. I haven't. I would check normal resources like "what to expect - first year" and other books like that you have lying around. :hug99: I'm really sorry! It must have been SO SCARY!!! I have nothing of substance to offer, just :hug99:

 

I’m so sorry you had to deal with seizures with both of your kids. And the people/docs that say it’s no big deal have never experienced their child convulsing, it’s awful and terrifying. We had this problem with our oldest, the twins have been fine so far, but are only one.

We did go right to a pediatric neurologist and had a battery of tests done (including a few sleep-deprived EEGs—which suck). Our DD had a very low threshold for seizing—her temp would get to about 102 and she’d have a seizure, it takes most kids getting to 104 before a seizure is induced. We battled ear infections and as you know fevers are a by-product, which I think was a main culprit of our problems.

Anyway—we tried lots of alternatives and ended up putting our daughter on meds after she had one in the middle of the night with no fever. I woke up during the seizure and that was my final straw. We had her on the meds for a little over a year and weaned her off before the twins arrived. She is going on two years seizure free (she’s now four).

In all of my research (and I did a ton when we were battling this), they can be “familial”, so I guess it makes sense both of your kids had them. My unprofessional advice would be to at least do a consult with a neurologist. And in terms of fevers—treat them aggressively—we do a combo cycle of Tylenol and Motrin—so the fever never spikes up or down.

Good luck….I know it’s scary.

 

We dealt with it, like Diane mentioned. It only happened once though but it was incredibly scary. I wanted to add that the seizures were not caused by the vaccines, but rather by the fever that resulted after the vaccine. I would hate for people to think that vaccines directly cause this (although they do indirectly, one could argue).

A few things that we have done since Ben's episode:

1) Give a double dose of Tylenol at the first sign of a fever.
2) Alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen every three hours around the clock.
3) Do not layer with blankets when they get the chills. That just raises their body temp. It is horrible having them cry that they are cold, but they cannot be covered in tons of blankets.
4) Strip them down to their diaper to keep them cooler.
5) Put them in a lukewarm bath. (Yeah, word of warning, this is like trying to bathe a cat.)
6) Apply cool towels to the forehead.

The seizures are caused by a sudden spike in fever. So when Ben had his seizure, I had taken his temp maybe ten min. previous to his seizure and it was only 99.5*. Last month he had a fever of almost 103* but never seized. The good news is that he will grow out of it.

I know how hard it is...every time they are the slightest bit ill, it causes tons of worry and concern. Hang in there. :hug99:

 

I think Kate has given you some terrific advice. No words of wisdom here, but I can imagine how scary it is to watch your child go through that. :hug99:

 

Blake had a febrile seizure when he was 10 months old. The doctors said his was not due to vaccinations as it had been over a month and half since his 9-month well baby visit. Like Kate mentioned, it is very scary to experience.

Basically with Blake his fever spiked very quickly and went very high. At the time I did not know about the Motrin/ Tylenol trick so I was giving him Tylenol, had him stripped down to a onesie, had give him a lukewarm bath and was just trying to keep him comfortable. Basically his temp got too high and the body answers by shocking it into a seizure which then makes the body cool down. Blake's was not a shaking seizure but rather one that puts him very limp and lifeless. It scared the you know what out of DH and I and we called 911 and took him to the ER. Everything turned out to be fine, but his temp had gotten really high-- over 104. The good thing like Kate mentioned is there are ways to try and prevent their temps from spiking by doing the things she listed and the doctors also told us that febrile seizures do not cause neurological damage. It is just simply the body's way of responding and some people are more prone to them than others. We have not had any other episodes.

I know how scared you must be. Many :hug99:.

 

QUOTE(twoin2005 @ May 28 2008, 10:55 AM) [snapback]797195[/snapback]
We dealt with it, like Diane mentioned. It only happened once though but it was incredibly scary. I wanted to add that the seizures were not caused by the vaccines, but rather by the fever that resulted after the vaccine. I would hate for people to think that vaccines directly cause this (although they do indirectly, one could argue).

A few things that we have done since Ben's episode:

1) Give a double dose of Tylenol at the first sign of a fever.
2) Alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen every three hours around the clock.
3) Do not layer with blankets when they get the chills. That just raises their body temp. It is horrible having them cry that they are cold, but they cannot be covered in tons of blankets.
4) Strip them down to their diaper to keep them cooler.
5) Put them in a lukewarm bath. (Yeah, word of warning, this is like trying to bathe a cat.)
6) Apply cool towels to the forehead.

The seizures are caused by a sudden spike in fever. So when Ben had his seizure, I had taken his temp maybe ten min. previous to his seizure and it was only 99.5*. Last month he had a fever of almost 103* but never seized. The good news is that he will grow out of it.

I know how hard it is...every time they are the slightest bit ill, it causes tons of worry and concern. Hang in there. :hug99:


First off I just want to say that I am right there with you in terms of it being the scariest F'n thing I have EVER seen/experienced in my life. Lorien had a seizure while she was in my arms. She was 18 months old and fortunately, I just happened to be on the phone with the nurse from the peds office making an appt. to bring her in because she had a high fever for several days when she started siezing. The nurse was able to calm me down and talk me through it. I was terrified for weeks afterwards. Everytime her eyes looked a little funny, I thought she was going to sieze. Every hour, I would check her head to see if she had a temperature and I cried for days just trying to get the picture of her little body convulsing out of my head. As I did more and more research about it and spoke to the doctors, I felt more and more ok with what had happened. The most important thing for me that really made me ok was when they told me that they become unconscious right before it happens so they don't know that it is happening to them and don't really remember any of it. The thought of thinking that she was scared and didn't know what was happening to her was the hardest part for me but that fear has been put to rest. Whenever Lorien gets sick or catches a virus, it seems to ALWAYS become a high fever with her. She just recently had the stomach virus. She was throwing up for 2 days and had diarreah and she was fine for the most part but then a fever kicked in and that slight panic mode comes in. And the fevers are always like 102 and higher. But we just treat her around the clock with tylenol and motrin. Unfortunately, the tylenol doesn't do much for her and they told me recently that when she has a fever over 101 that I can just do Motrin every 6 hours. I find for her that the luke warm bath and the cold wash cloth on her head really help the most. It's also so tempting to want to cover them up when they are shivering but as pp said, you want to actually dress them down.

I'm so sorry you too have been through this. Lorien actually recently (they believe) had a second siezure but it happened in her crib in the middle of the night. We heard some wierd sounds on the monitor and ran in and thought she was having another night terror but when we described how she was acting, the doctors said it sounded like she had a siezure. There is nothing we can really do to prevent it and there is no damage to her brain and development from these types of seizures. They are just scary as $hit to watch and I pray everyday that I never have to experience it again! But, if I do, I feel I am ready to just be there for her and be calm and "talk her through it." Stay strong for your little sweetie. That's all you can really do.