ignorant--rookie quesiton

Nat - posted on 01/08/2009

hi my name is natalie and our son has had 2 FC the last of which was on christmas day we have been told about 3 in 100 children have a febrile seizure sometime before their 6th birthday. They most commonly occur between the ages of 18 months and three years. They are rare in children under six months and over the age of six years.
Some parents wonder that if a child has a febrile seizure whether it can lead on to developing epilepsy. About 2 in 100 children who have a febrile seizure develop epilepsy in later childhood. This is very slightly higher than the chance of epilepsy developing in children who have not had a febrile seizure. But this is probably because a small number of children are prone to develop both epilepsy and febrile seizures. So, having a febrile seizure does not cause epilepsy to develop.
One study which followed up children who had had a febrile seizure found that “children who had febrile seizures did at least as well as, if not better than, children without febrile seizures on measures of intelligence, academic achievement, behaviour, and working memory”.so there is one positive we all have genius's on our hands !!

Malissa - posted on 01/06/2009

I would realy recomend further testing also. I had febrile seizures as an infant that turned into clonic- tonic (grandmal) seizures as I got older. They went miss diagnosed untill I was 11 and finally my nerologist diagnosed them as Epilepsy. Once I went on Meds the seizures were under control. Just watch your child for signs of a siezure you might miss. Lathargy, consistant bed wetting, toung bitting, finger nail marks on their plams. Any strange behavior that could be the side effect of a siezure. I don't want to scare you but it can be confussing. Just keep an eye on your little one even past the 6 or 7 year mark.

Katie - posted on 01/05/2009

My son was also diagnosed with febrile seizures at the age of 4 yrs.  After 3 more seizures happened without any fever at all we did some more testing....for almost a year and now he has been diagnised with Epilepsy.  He had clonic tonic seizures.  I would recommend further testing, doctors can be wrong

Libby - posted on 01/05/2009

You have probably found this out by now, since you posted this question a month ago, but I also wanted to say that febrile seizures happen in about 5-6 percent of children. As someone else noted, once you have one, you are more likely to have another. And the odds go up as you have more (if you have one, you are thirty percent likely to have a second, if you have a second, you are fifty percent likely to have a third, etc.). As long as the seizures last less than FIFTEEN minutes (as opposed to the five listed earlier), there is little likelihood of damage. That is not to say it's not horrifying!! Most febrile seizures don't last more than two minutes. Similar to the first poster, my son's febrile seizures were at a low fever and most were longer than five minutes. So, while there are obviously febrile seizures that aren't textbook case scenarios, hopefully your four year old will be in that majority where the [febrile] seizures do not present themselves again!

Kelly - posted on 01/03/2009

my daughter now 6 started having febrile seizures when she was about 1 the first time was so scary but we later found out it was due to her temp shooting up and her body not been able to cope being that hot and cause she has a kidney problem we then found everytime she had an infection in her kidney she would have a seizure and now she has epilespy but she did outgrow her febrile seizures when she was about 4 as had a kidney infection and was fine and has been since.

it was scarey to see yor child like that but the best thing is to stay calm and to keep an eye on how long they last x

Mary - posted on 01/02/2009

Annie, there is no such thing as an ignorant question when it comes to our kids' health. My oldest had 3 febrile seizures when she was little, all brought on by a high spike in body temperature. I'd keep following up with your doctor. However, not to scare you, my daughter had what we thought was a 4th febrile seizure when she was 7. Because she was out with her grandmother and her grandmother was nervous, she ended up in the ER. Turns out it was a tonic-clonic seizure and not a febrile seizure. Much testing later resulted in a diagnosis of Epilepsy. I'd ask your doctor if he/she thinks it might be a good idea to have your child examined by a pediatric neurologist - just to be on the safe side.

Alicia - posted on 12/19/2008

just relaying what i've been told here.........febrile seizures are caused by the body trying to adjust it's temperature. the fever itself doesn't cause the seizure rather the rapid change in body temp (up or down) like if your child has a high temp and you take him outside in the cold air. the rapid cooling can cause a febrile seizure the same as a high temp. 80% of kids who have one febrile seizure will have another one. most kids outgrow febrile seizures around six. febrile seizures by defination occur with the pressence of fever and the child is not post tictal when the seizure is done. but febrile or not seizures require medical attention and you should not let a child "seize out" call for help.

Ingrid - posted on 12/19/2008

My son also had febrile seizures resulting from fever. The doctor said he would most likely out grow them by the time he reached 6. I was told that even though the seizures look scary, they usually cause no long-term effects. (As long as seizures last less than 5 minutes.) My son has had no "febrile" seizures for over a year. He does however suffer from Myoclonic seizures which are treated with medication. This too will hopefully pass with age. We can only hope! Iwish you the best!

Erin - posted on 12/18/2008

My daughter is now 5 and has been having febrile seizures since 13 months. She is described as sensitive to fever and begins seizing when it gets to or above 101.6 degrees F. Luckily not every fever causes a seizure but we (doctors included) don't know why some do and some don't. Emma's first 2 seizures came about 7 hours apart. The first lasted about 20 minutes. The next one lasted for over 45 minutes. She was lifeflighted to Duke and spent a week in the hospital. She is enrolled in a program at Duke university to monitor her seizures and brain activity. All of her seizures have gone over 5 minutes and needed Diastat to stop them. They are all grand mal seizures; her extremeties turn blue, she foams at the mouth, makes noises, limbs flail while stiffening and arching her back. We have noticed the time between seizures is getting further and further apart. She should out grow them by 6-8 years old. Most children that suffer from these febrile seizures outgrow them, from what I've been told. I am very fortunate that she has suffered no brain tissue scarring and no brain damage evident by her last round of studies at Duke. I hope this helps. It's a very scary experience not matter how many seizures your child has. Erin