Febrile seizure

Description

A febrile seizure is a convulsion in a child caused by a fever. The fever is often an infection. Febrile seizures occur in young, healthy children who have a normal development, and I have not had neurological symptoms before.

It can be frightening when your child has a febrile seizure. Fortunately, febrile seizures are generally harmless, only last a few minutes, and do not usually indicate a serious health problem.

You can help keep your child safe during a febrile seizure, and offering comfort after. Call your doctor for evaluation of your child as soon as possible after a febrile seizure.

Symptoms

Usually, a child has a febrile seizure shakes everything and loses consciousness. Sometimes, the child may get very rigid or contraction in a single area of the body.

A child who has a febrile seizure can:

  • Has a fever of more than 100.4 ° F (38.0 C)
  • To lose consciousness
  • Shake or jerk of the arms and legs

Febrile seizures are classified as simple or complex:

  • Simple febrile seizures. This most common type lasts from a few seconds up to 15 minutes. Simple febrile seizures do not recur within a period of 24 hours and are not specific to one part of the body.
  • Complex febrile seizures. This type lasts longer than 15 minutes, occurs more than once in 24 hours or is confined to one side of the body of his son.

Febrile seizures occur most often within 24 hours of the onset of fever and may be the first sign that a child is sick.

When to see a doctor

See your doctor as soon as possible after your child's first febrile seizure, even if it lasts only a few seconds. Call an ambulance to take her son to the emergency room if the seizure lasts more than five minutes or is accompanied by:

  • Vomiting
  • Stiffness in the neck
  • Breathing problems
  • Extreme drowsiness

Causes

In general, a higher-than-normal body temperature of the causes of febrile seizures. Even a low-grade fever may trigger a febrile seizure.

Infection

Fevers that trigger febrile seizures are usually caused by a viral infection, and less frequently by a bacterial infection. The flu (influenza) virus and the virus that causes roseola, which are often accompanied by high fever, appear to be more frequently associated with febrile seizures.

After vaccination seizures

The risk of febrile seizures may increase after some childhood vaccines. These include diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and measles-mumps-rubella vaccine. A child may develop a low-grade fever after a vaccination. The fever, not the vaccine, the causes of the crisis.

Risk factors

The factors that increase the risk of having a febrile seizure include:

  • The young age. The majority of febrile seizures occur in children between 6 months and 5 years of age, with the highest risk between 12 and 18 months of age.
  • The history of the family. Some kids inherit a family's tendency to have seizures with fever. In addition, researchers have linked several genes of susceptibility to febrile seizures.

Complications

The majority of febrile seizures do not produce long-lasting effects. Simple febrile seizures do not cause brain damage, intellectual disability or learning difficulties, and does not mean that your child has a more serious underlying disorder.

Febrile seizures are provoked seizures, and does not indicate epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition characterized by the recurrence of unprovoked seizures caused by abnormal electrical signals in the brain.

Febrile seizures are recurrent

The most common complication is the possibility of further febrile seizures. The risk of recurrence is higher if you:

  • Your child's first attack was the result of a low-grade fever.
  • The febrile seizure was the first sign of the disease.
  • A member of their immediate family has a history of febrile seizures.
  • His son was under the age of 18 months at the time of the first febrile seizure.

Prevention

The majority of febrile seizures occur in the first hours of fever, during the initial period of increase in body temperature.

Give your child medicines

Give your child infants or children acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) in the beginning of a fever can make your child more comfortable, but it's not going to prevent an attack.

Use caution when giving aspirin to children or teenagers. Even though aspirin is approved for use in children older than 3 years of age, children and teenagers recovering from chickenpox or flu-like symptoms should never take aspirin. This is because aspirin has been linked with Reye's syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal in these children.

Recipe prevention of drugs

Rarely, the prescription of anti-seizure medications are used to try to prevent febrile seizures. However, these medications can have serious side effects that may outweigh any possible benefit.

Rectal diazepam (Diastat) or midazolam nasal may be prescribed to be used as needed for children who are prone to long febrile seizures. These medications are typically used to treat seizures that last more than five minutes or if the child has more than one seizure within 24 hours. That are not typically used to prevent febrile seizures.

Febrile seizure

Diagnosis

Febrile seizures occur in children with normal development. Your doctor will carefully review your child's medical history and of the history of development in order to exclude other risk factors for epilepsy. In the normal development of children, the identification of the cause of your child's fever is the first step after a febrile seizure.

Febrile seizures simple

Children who are up to date with their vaccinations which have a first febrile seizure simple does not need proof. Your doctor can diagnose febrile seizure based on the story.

In children with a delay in the timing of vaccination or a compromised immune system, your doctor may recommend tests to look for serious infections:

  • A blood test
  • A urine test
  • A lumbar puncture (lumbar puncture), to find out if your child has an infection of the central nervous system, such as meningitis

Febrile seizures complex

To diagnose the cause of a complex febrile seizure, your doctor may also recommend an electroencephalogram (EEG), a test that measures brain activity.

Your doctor also may recommend a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to check the brain of your child if your child has:

  • A head unusually large
  • A neurologic examination is abnormal
  • The signs and symptoms of increased pressure in the skull
  • A febrile seizure, which lasted an unusually long time

Treatment

The majority of febrile seizures stop on their own within a couple of minutes. If your child has a febrile seizure, stay calm and follow these steps:

  • Put your child on its side on a soft, flat surface, where he or she will not fall.
  • Start measuring the time of the seizure.
  • Stay close to see and comfort your child.
  • Remove hard or sharp objects near your child.
  • Loosen or restrictive clothing.
  • Do not hold your child or interfere with the movements of your child.
  • Do not put anything in your child's mouth.

Call emergency medical attention if:

  • Your child has a febrile seizure that lasts more than five minutes.
  • Your child has repeated seizures.
  • Your child take lasted less than five minutes, but your child does not improve quickly.

More severe episodes

A doctor may order medications to stop a seizure that lasts more than five minutes.

Your child's doctor may hospitalize the child for observation if:

  • The prolonged convulsion
  • The child is younger than 6 months of age
  • The seizure is accompanied by a serious infection
  • The source of the infection cannot be found

But a stay in the hospital is not usually necessary for simple febrile seizures.

Preparing for your appointment

It is likely to start by seeing your child's family doctor or pediatrician. Then, you may be referred to a doctor who specializes in disorders of the brain and nervous system (neurologist).

Here's some information to help you prepare for your appointment.

What you can do

  • Write down everything you remember about your child in the attack, including signs or symptoms that occurred prior to the crisis, such as a fever.
  • List of medicines, vitamins, and supplements you are taking your child.
  • Write questions to ask their doctor.

For febrile seizures, some basic questions to ask your doctor include:

  • What is the most likely cause of my child's seizures?
  • What evidence does my child need? Do these tests require special preparation?
  • This is likely to happen again?
  • Does my child need treatment?
  • To give my child fever-reducing medications for a disease to help prevent febrile seizures?
  • What should I do next time that my child has a fever?
  • What can I do to help my child during a febrile seizure?
  • My son has another health problem. How can we manage together?
  • Are there brochures or other printed material that I can take? What sites do you recommend?

Do not hesitate to ask other questions as well.

What to expect from your doctor

Your doctor may ask you a series of questions, such as:

  • Does your child have a fever or illness prior to this seizure?
  • Can you describe your child's seizures? What were the signs and symptoms? How long did the seizure last?
  • Has this happened before?
  • Does someone in your family has a history of febrile seizures or seizure disorders?
  • Your child has been exposed to the disease?
  • Does your child have a history of head trauma or neurological disease?

What you can do in the meantime

If your child has another febrile seizure:

  • Do not hold your child, but instead of he or she, on a surface, such as the floor.
  • Put your child or to your side, holding the face to the side and the bottom of the arm's length under the head, to prevent your child from inhaling vomit if vomiting occurs.
  • If your child had nothing in his mouth when the attack began, remove it to prevent suffocation. Do not put anything in your child's mouth during a seizure.
  • Seek emergency care for a seizure that lasts more than five minutes.
Symptoms and treatment of the Febrile seizure