Yesterday was simultaneously the worst and best day ever. The entire story of how the day unfolded could be told in many ways, all of which would take quite a long time, but I will sum up by saying in short, that Gwyneth had a Febrile Seizure, and it was the scariest thing my husband and I have ever witnessed!
I wanted to provide parents with some information on Febrile Seizures, what they are, and how to cope if one happens to your child. The paramedics and doctors all told us the same thing “they are so much more scary to witness than they are to experience” but that almost seems like cold comfort after seeing the condition of our young daughter yesterday morning.
Febrile seizures occur most commonly in very young children, usually between the ages of one year and six years of age. They usually come on suddenly following the rapid increase in a fever. The fever does not necessarily need to be extremely high, but it is the actual sudden increase that appears to cause them to happen.
There seems to be more instances of Febrile Seizures within families (there are seizures on both sides of our family) and eventually, they are outgrown.
In Gwyneth’s case, she had two “mini-seizures” as I have been calling them, followed later by a massive Febrile Seizure in which she went limp, shook, bubbled and twitched at the mouth, and briefly, stopped breathing and turned blue! It was absolutely horrific to witness, helpless as I waited for the 911 dispatcher to talk us through how to cope until the Paramedics arrived (which was simply to place her in the recovery position until help arrived)
She seems so much better today, after some tests and many hours at the hospital yesterday, accompanied by prayer from concerned family and friends, all of whom I want to thank from the bottom of my heart. I am so very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life. The phone didn’t stop ringing yesterday with offers of help, and prayer. God Bless all of you for that!
I am keeping a close eye on her however, in case this is to happen again. I sure hope not!
If you would like more information on Febrile Seizures, this link might be useful.
I’m very glad to hear she is okay. I saw Stuart’s FB status that he was glad she was okay, and I started to be VERY worried about what awful thing had happened. I sincerely hope that it won’t occur again.
Love you all…
I´m so sorry you had to go through that! How scary! I´m glad your daughter is alright, she should be right at the upper age limit for febrile seizures, am I right? So hopefully you won´t ever have to experience it again.
I really enjoy your blog, by the way. I found it by searching for banana muffin recipes and stayed to read (the muffins are in the oven as we speak, my 2 year old helped me make them). You are going on my feed reader!
weird, i came across your blog whist searching for banana muffin recipes… small world!
glad to know your daughter is alright. i have a 2 1/2 year old son. i had never heard of febrile seizures. thanks for the info!
I suffered from febrile seizures when I was an infant, until the age of about 9. I also had a family history as my Dad has epilepsy. (I do not.)
As you mentioned I grew out of them. I know how scary they were for my parents. When I was an infant we lived in the outports of Newfoundland. The doctors had to be on the phone with the children’s hospital in Boston to find out how to treat me. Because of my condition my parents were able to get back to the “mainland”.
I hope your daughter is doing better.
My son, who just turned 3 had a febrile seizure on Jan.3,2008. I was home with him and my infant when it happened. I was just searching the web to find someone else who had witnessed their child. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen. My son started to seize in my lap, I called 911 and placed him on the floor on his side. He was pale and foamed at the mouth and seized for about five minutes, then was unconscious, the EMT came into the house and took him out. Like you I felt supported by family and neighbors, but I am still having a hard time. It was the worst thing I have ever see. Thanks for your posting . Thanks for listening.
Thanks for the comments and support all. I agree with Tammy that it was absolutely horrific to watch, and I hope that she never has another one. We honestly believed we were watching our daughter die.
The more I talk to others about it, the more I am finding people who have had these seizures themselves as children, or have witnessed their own children’s seizures.
I think the key is education and awareness. I hope many people read this story, learn from it, and read more about Febrile Seizures from other sources in order to be prepared (if that is possible) in case it ever happens to them.
That is a very scary thing you went through, my daughter had her second febrile seizure it was so scary I wasn’t there for the first one, she was at daycare. Me and my husband didn’t know what was going it was 4:00 am and she was making choking noises. we paniced and drove her our slef to the hospital, we now know to call 911. her seizure lasted 45 minutes and they had to stop it on there own. I have never been so scared in my life. I was aholding all I could keep saying to her was stay with MAMA. She satyed in the hospital for 24 hrs. We now have medicine to stop the sezuires our self and still to call 911. I hope she grows out of them. Now touch her every 2 seconds to make sure she isn’t warm.
Our son had his first febrille seizure @daycare on Feb 22nd that lasted for 3 minutes followed by the next one on Mar 15th when we were in a hotel room out of state which lasted for 20 minutes EMT had to stop the seizure. It was the worst 20 minutes of my life. I hope it never happens again.
I hope your daughter is doing okay- and you too…it is so scary to watch your child go through that…and then there is the constant worrying about if it will happen again! I was searching to find other parents that have been dealing with febrile seizures and came across your site…our 22 month old girl had her first febrile seizure when she was 14 months. Her second was the same night we brought home our newborn baby boy…she was 18 months and she just had her third a week ago. Her first seizure was almost an hour, second was 20 minutes- both requiring medication to stop the seizure. The third seizure lasted 4-5 minutes and we stopped it by cooling her down. My husband had these when he was a child until he grew out of them around the age of 4 or 5. We now have a home plan treatment…when we notice a fever is present (100 or greater) we start phenobarbital. We continue this until the fever is gone…we also use acetaminophen but are unable to use ibuprofen secondary to a possible allergy. I suppose this feels so complicated and draining now because my husband and I are right in the middle of it…praying for the day she grows out of these! I was just looking to see if (and how) other parents are dealing with this…we literally go on lock down when she gets sick and do everything we possibly can (cool cloths, baths, fans, cool rice packs, meds)to prevent seizures…sometimes struggling every 3-4 hours when the acetaminophen starts to wear off…her temps have been as high as 105+ for 100 minutes at a time during the peak period for viral infections. I suppose what I’m looking for is to see how others deal with this and also to let others know they are not alone! No parent wants to see this repeated but being prepared is even more important…educate!