Anybody whose children have had febrile convulsions, can I ask you a question?

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My beautiful and gregarious little niece has febrile convulsions, as does her older sister who thankfully seems to be growing out of them.

She has always had them with quite a low fever (I know because of the spike itself, not the actual number on the thermometer) but today she's had two fits and doesn't seem to have a temp at all. The second was in hospital where her temp was being monitored.

Did your child ever have them without seeming to spike a temp? And were they still put down to febrile convulsions?

The hospital is ruling out other reasons of course. She's had a lumbar puncture and will have a brain scan too some time today. She's clearly incubating something as she has a rash (blanching and presumed viral atm) but is just missing the temp.

My dd has had febrile convulsions, but only when she has had a rapid spike in temp. Pattern has been that she appears to be fine then is on the floor. She's then lost conciousness afterwards.

TBH If she had them without I'd be asking about other causes but I've no medical training so I don't know any causes other than temp.

My older niece used to have them when it wasn't clear her temp was up much. But on observation they'd see that a small spike from 36 to 37 would cause them so they wouldn't necessarily have noticed before it happened. They are both very sensitive to fever, even low grade fever if it spikes fast enough.

This is the first time it's happened and there's been no change in her temp that's clear. She is in hospital and they're looking into it very thoroughly.

They follow the same pattern as your dd usually. Seem fine if mildly off colour. Sudden fit, loss of consciousness, extreme fatigue for a while afterwards, back to normal. This is the same in every way but no obvious illness (except for the rash) and no temp spikes today.

It must be a real worry for you all. I've spent more time in hospital with my two DCs than I care to remember and there's nothing worse than being at the stage where they are trying to work out what is going on.

Let me know how it goes. I'll be thinking of you.

Thanks babyheave.

My poor brother and sil spend a lot of time in hospital with their two littlest ones. They seem to be prone to illnesses, often fit and struggle to fight things off. It's so hard for them. And they're such sunny, happy children usually. It's hard to see them so reduced I suppose.

My db is coming home to look after the other two and sil is staying in with dn. Poor girl. We were out at a celebration last night and she was right as rain. She was a bit sick last night (normal, she's allergic to dairy and they suspect she got hold of something at the cake table last night before they got to her) but then slept well, ate breakfast, seemed fine. Went downhill quickly.

Heard through my parents that they're thinking MMR reaction now. She had it in hospital 10 days ago as they suspected she'd react to it (her sister did and she has some risk factors for vaccine reaction, she reacted to other jabs too). They think it's the measles component.

She's eaten dinner though. She came round and demanded it.

Good to hear it.

My colleague was in hospital with her DS 10 day after the MMR and the blood test showed up measles. He had a high temp though.

You really do learn about a whole new level of worry when there are children, don't you!

7-10 days is when the measles element starts making antibodies. children can spike temps then, but maybe the DD is so susceptible to FCs just the body 'heating' up (not enough to cause a temp) but enough to cause antibodies to form is enough of a stress for her

She seemed much better last night but is back to fitting this morning. I think they're a bit stumped tbh. Still no temp to speak of but definitely a rash. They suspected she'd react so I'm still crossing everything I have that it's 'just' that.

I know of a little girl who's had lots of fits without obvious reason - docs have decided it isn't epilepsy but they have no explanation for it. It's very worrying, I hope your niece gets better soon.