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A febrile and postinfectius seizures?

Wed, 04/05/2017 - 23:22
Hello everyone, My 2.5 year old son recently had his first seizure/seizures. I would like to give a brief rundown and see if anyone has any thoughts. I am concerned. Starting the evening of March 9, he developed a fever and general cold/flu symptoms. The morning of March 11 he complained his head and ear hurt. By the afternoon, he was saying he "was afraid he was going to fall" in a few situations where he was not, such as sitting on a chair or lying in my arms. I spoke to a pediatrician on call and we suspected ear infection, started antibiotics the next morning. His fever was 101-102 F for a about 4 days with general cold/flu and fatigue. Nothing too unusual except for syncope/vertigo. On March 20, one week after his fever broke (some residual stuffiness and mild fatigue had persisted, but almost back to normal at this point), he had an episode we (paramedics, pediatrician, and even I) believed was vasovagal syncope related to straining to stool. Briefly, he had been fighting the urge to stool all day, missed his nap because of it. He fell asleep easily around 8:30 pm, however, almost as soon as he fell asleep, he vomited. He was limp then and not very responsive, which I believed was because he was sleepy. I took him into the bathroom where he opened his eyes and responded groggily to me. Then he had the urge to stool. He stood with help for a while, then sat on the potty. While going, he became limp and unresponsive, yet continued to stool. My husband called paramedics. My son continued to be unresponsive, eyes open, but breathing. When he finished stooling, I placed him on my lap where he promptly fell asleep. A few minutes later, when I wiped him with a wipe, he came around and could state his favorite color. He then fell back asleep quickly. He was checked by paramedics. Temperature was normal, as were all other vitals. We decided not to go to the hospital. He was checked by the pediatrictian the following day. His ears were clear. All seemed normal. On March 23, two days later, our family went on a hike. My son rode in a carrier on my back for most of the hike. He played on the rocks and at the waterfall normally. He ate a snack and did some hiking. He then wanted to be carried again. He was awake for a while, talking normally. Then I began to feel his head nod and I believed he was just falling asleep. Moments later, I felt him stiffen and arch back. My husband tried to talk to him, but he did not respond. I quickly took him out of the carrier. He was stiff, staring blankly, not breathing, and turning blue. His jaw was locked. He remained that way for probably a minute. As soon as he started breathing, I scooped him up and started to hike down to the trail head. Someone called 911. He did not respond to me verbally for 10 minutes. At that time, he began to fuss occasstionally and move around, but did not talk until we got to the ambulance about 45 minutes later. Again, no fever, all vitals normal. This time, we did take him to the hospital. Chest X-ray showed slight pneumonia, but not heard with stethoscope and doctor noticed his ears "were red" inside. We were discharged with antibiotics and steroid. He awoke the next morning bright and ready to go. A few days later, I noticed him do something that is hard to describe. He was tired, but calm. For a moment, his head fell back a bit, his eyes dropped and blanked, and then right back to how he was before. Almost like he had a short circuit. Over the last week and a half, I have seen him do the same thing on a couple of occasions each day except for two days. It has happened soon after waking, when tired, and when crying. Today, however, it happened while he was sitting in a shopping cart, eating a snack, and talking with me normally. Earlier today, I took him to his pediation, who wasn't very concerned, thought it might be like a breath holding spell, and just to keep watch for now. That was before the incident in the shopping cart. I am the only one who has witnessed these episodes. I am not convinced it is breath holding and/or all of these events are strange coincidences. I am going to see about a neurology appointment in the morning and also try to catch one on video, though there is no warning and they happen for 1 second. (What I am observing is very similar to what a baby does on a YouTube video titled Atonic/Myoclonic seizure when the baby's head goes back. If anyone is interested in looking.). I thought maybe I was just crazy and being hyper vigilant during the first few, but since am pretty sure something is going on. I'm just not sure if it is benign, possibly related to the recent infection, or a sign of something more serious. If you have read this far, thank you so much. I would love some feedback, shared experiences, or guidance.

Comments

your concerns are valid, he

Submitted by Amy Jo on Fri, 2017-04-07 - 01:31
your concerns are valid, he should be checked out by a good pediatric neurologist. note down when and type of events you observe and hopefully you'll be able to record some. neurologists are pretty booked in our area, can be a wait to get in, get on a waiting list if the first appt is far out.if he has epilepsy, it may not be due to his illness. illnesses certainly trigger seizures in people with epilepsy, can't prove his illness caused epilepsy even though there may be a number of  complex factors involved in some people's seizures starting.if it's epilepsy, it's too early to know if it's benign or not.

Thank you so much for your

Submitted by Myblueheaven11 on Sat, 2017-04-08 - 12:51
Thank you so much for your response.  We have been referred, no appointment yet.  I am just concerned about waiting, but I guess there is no choice.  So far, he is still himself, just with these "minor" daily seizures.  We are logging what we see and trying to video.  

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