Febrile convulsions: Anyone with advice and experiences to share?

[OlaMamas]

After putting my 16month old down feeling nothing but warm and having given some precautionary calpol, thinking, colds? teeth? Nothing untoward! Less than 2 hours later (Guiltily having come home from a meal out after calling my mum and her being very worried)One look at my DS2 made us call an ambulance. Bright purple, soaked, whimpering, and then the convulsions started.Rigid body, fitting then short periods of unconsciousness, with his eyes rolling back! The most terrifying thing I have ever seen. This happened 5 or 6 time before the ambulance came and there were 2 or 3 milder episodes at the hospital. They diagnosed Febrile convulsions and tonsillitus, but said he may be more prone to convulsions if he has a temp in the future. Just wondered if other mums had found the same? Feel I daren't ever leave him again. Have been up to check a ridiculous number of times already!

That must have been terrifying for you.

Never experienced febrile convulsions, DD had a rigor once which scared me enough.

Hope DS is better soon.

Yes DS, now 2.6 has had 6 episodes of these, all temp related. My heart goes out to you because it is bloody terrifying. The first time I honestly thought DS was dead, thinking of it now still makes me well up. But now I'm a "pro" - I know what I'm doing. I can mostly prevent him getting to that stage, and at least know what's going on and not to panic. Believe me, if it happens again you won't feel as terrified and if it's any consolation DS has no idea what's happened to him.

I trust the hospital gave you lots of advice on keeping your DS cool? We have been advised never to watch and see if a temp is rising but to give paracetamol/ibuprofen alternately straight away at the merest hint of a temp. Also we hold paracetamol suppositories for if we are unable to get liquid paracetamol in him. I never leave him unattended with a temperature. I strip him, use tepid flannels etc, anything to get his temperature down. I can't put him in a tepid bath at this makes him scream which I feel makes him hotter. DH had them as a child and apparently they are hereditary... I once turned up at the GPs with DS in my arms in the midst of an FC and the doctor pushed me back out the door in to the cold and rain - DS came around in seconds... perhaps not recommended, but the GP pointed out it worked!

It is scary, and of course you are shaken up, but inherently they are NOT harmful. In fact it's your son's way of getting his temperature down and protecting his brain. Try and see them as the body helping itself and it's easier to rationalise what is a distressing thing to watch, let alone in your own child.

Thanks so much for that Weegle. Just given your post to my DH to read and after having spent ages searching the net for advice your post has been far more reassuring. Just hope I can be calmer if it happens again was a useless hysterical mess. Thankyou Barbara for your words of comfort! Now sleeping like a baby.... well in between me feeling his head every 10 minutes!

A child I nannied for had a convulsion with me and thank God I was in public so had people who could help. He went on to have another 3 over a period of about 1 1/2 years and grew out of them. Scariest thing I had ever had to deal with at the time so huge sympathy to you.

Was hoping I'd hear it can be just a one off whilst was thinking that would be too good to be true! Just seemed to be no warning signs with DS2. Had only started being warm at 4pm and was convulsing a matter of hours later. Was also told to avoid extreme temp changes, so if burning up try to bring temp down gradually rather than what we were doing as in using cold water as it would appear others have successfully done?

Extremely frightening. The worst thing we have ever experienced. DD had two - we thought she was dying the first time, and the second, even though we had more understanding of what might be happening, was just as scary. It sounds as if you have had good advice. Try not to worry as they are not meant to be harmful.

Just terrifying - DD just started staggering, shaking uncontrollable then eventually fell to the floor and slipped unconscious momentarily - I confess we thought she had died - sounds so melodramatic but I had never heard of febrile convulsions before.

Olamamas - it can just be a one off - the older the children are when they start, the less likely they are to repeat. DD was 2 - apparently quite old for them to first present..especially as she had been hospitalised with pneumonia when she was only 9 months...I would have thought the fever she had then would have brought it on.

Strange with kids - sometimes it's almost impossible to know how ill they are. DD had a severe urine infection - she must have been in so much pain, but we would never have known it.

Please remember to tell DS about it when he is (maybe)a parent one day - it's hereditary. Apparently DH used to have them - MIL didn't mention it until DD had one. I wasn't cross at her, I just thought if she had known it was passed down then I could have just been a bit forewarned and forearmed so to speak.

My dd had one three days after her 2nd birthday. She'd asked for a nap in the afternoon and woken up with a high temp but no other symtpoms. Stripped her off, opened windows and gave her paracetamol & ibuprofen.

In hindsight, the big mistake was giving both meds at the same time (was panicked by the super high temp), and as they wore off again three hours later her temp spiked again. Was trying to get through to emergeny drs when she went floppy, stopped breathing and turned blue. Called 999 as I thought she was dying. I remember being quite relieved when she started fitting as it was then apparent that it was temp related.

We spent the evening in hospital, and after struggling to diagnose the cause they decided that it was a sore throat. It can't have been too painful as after stocking up on soft foods for her she was asking for crisps!

Anyway... that was back in October and thankfully she's not had one since. My advice would be to be careful to stagger the meds, and I was also advised to give them for a low grade fever rather than waiting to see if it went up. This has been working for us so far. It might also be worthwhile to find out what the highest dosage for paracetamol/ibuprofen is from your GP as they can work it out based on your childs weight rather than age. For example, by dd's weight she can have 8ml calpol rather than the 5ml suggested on the bottle and it can make quite the difference.

It's a very scary experience but you'll get past it

Yes, I would second MissAnthrope's meds advice.

I dose at first sign of a fever - I don't wait around.

Thankyou all of you for your advice! So reassuring! Sat here head still spinning, running up and down stairs at 10 minute intervals to check temps!Sure I'll feel better with some sleep, so fingers crossed for a good night! Thought it was odd the dose of paracetamol they prescribed! 3.6mls... That now makes more sense. Will be calpol-ing at the slightest signs of a temp!That was 24hours I don't want to ever repeat! Heartfelt thanks to you allX

olamamas Hope you got some sleep and are feeling calmer today, and that DS is improving.

I just wanted to reiterate what you were told by the hospital that might have got confused in this thread - you shouldn't use cold water... of course, if you haven't experienced them before/doing what comes to mind, it is what you will do and will likely work, but we've always been advised to use tepid/luke warm water in an attempt to cool them down (this is prior to a convulsion, just at signs of a high temp). I don't know what the reason is, I've never asked, but from experience DS will let me flannel him with tepid flannels which then evaporate and have a cooling effect - if I attempted to put him in a cool bath he would just scream and get hotter.

And just because he's had one doesn't mean he'll have another. He is relatively "old" I think for his first one - DS was well under one. Also tonsilitis is a bugger for high temps. I have a friend with a now 7 year old and she only ever had one. So don't panic thinking these will occur every time DS is ill, even with my DS who seems to be a fitter, he doesn't always fit if he's ill - it's been ear infections and tonsilitis that have done it! Also, what I've been told and certainly seems to have turned out to be true, is that the convulsion tends to signify the beginning of the end of the illness. If anything DS has always improved after the fit.

HTH, and hope you can relax in to the weekend and move forward

Thanks again Weegle... just this minute logged on to check if I'd missed any more advice! Slept a bit, but do feel a little better for everyone's support. Thanks for clearing the cold water issue up as you have reiterated what the hospital advised to bring the temp down slowly. DS seems a bit better and I think the cold is coming out now, hopefully as you say marking the end of it! Was a little unsettled from around 4am but remained cool through the night. And to be fair is quite an unsettled sleeper anyway. Just hoped he'd catch up on all the sleep he'd missed the night before. Hoping for a drama free weekend and thanks again

Olamamas - those paracetamol suppositories work very well. My dd2 had a febrile convulsion at the age of 17 months, like you, she had been a little ill beforehand, but nothing to make me worried. Then suddenly she was unconcious. I knew what was happening and gave her a paracetamol suppository immediately, and she started fitting, but by the time she was in hospital, her temperature was coming down and she was regaining conciousness. SHe hasn't ever had another one, and doesn't even get high temperatures very often.

Thanks for that belgo. Can I just get then over the counter do you know or do you need a prescription for them?

oh it is terrifying

I am not a health panicker AT ALL but I called out the out of hours doc when dd was under one and had one of these. She went limp in my arms and her eyes rolled into the back of her head and then she went all stiff...it was terrifying.

She has never had another but what we discovered in the process (and we weren't told it was one till I saw her medical records recently but I always suspected!)...

• both my children have the capacity to have the most frighteningly high temperatures (like 40/41C) and I think some children just seem predisposed to there

• nuforen works FAR better with both my two for bringing their temperature down. Normally I can tell when a dose is starting to wear off because their temperature starts rising again!

• always be stocked up on nuforen and calpol because you can really go through them when they are ill

• and I echo what others have said. The MINUTE I think either of mine are hot, they get dosed.

You know how you sweat when you are very hot? That's the body trying to cool itself down. But sweat is not ice cold. If you put cold water on someone who is extremely hot, apparently, it restricts the blood vessel, can make them shiver and ultimately, can make their temperature rise. Tepid (body temp) water doesn't shock iyswim and assists the body in cooling down. That's what we were told but I'm not medical in any way.

But definnitely give the medication first imo!

Hope you are feeling better now. Your poor mum must have got a terrible shock too.

(dd had a UTI with her first one. I have read a few people on here saying their children got one with tonsillitis! Nasty illnesses!)

How old was your DD when she had hers Foxinsocks? Also is it ok to give calpol and nurofen together? My mum was still shook up when I spoke to her today. Bless her. So much harder when you are responsible for someonelses baby with decisions to make! Just still feeling bad for going out at all! Would never have gone if I thought it was anything more than slight warmness due to teeth! Know in my head you've got to have a life and you can't be with them 24/7 but may be a while before we venture out again! Or at least without panicking ALL evening!

I know this sounds terrible but I'm not 100% sure . I think it was when she was just about to be 1 (she's now 8!).

I don't know about the calpol and nurofen thing. Might be better to ask the GP tbh. When they are really bad, I give them the 3 doses of nurofen they can have (timing the last one so they can get off to sleep at night having just had a dose) and then during the day, I give the calpol in between the nurofen doses (as calpol can be every 4 hours I think). As long as you stick within the 24 hour maximum dose thing, I think you are fine.

But as your little one is still little and mine are far bigger, I wouldn't rely on what I say. I don't blame you for feeling the way you do but you and your mum did the right thing by the sounds of it! At least you are prepared now!

Is he better now?

Much brighter today thanks! Now just a little confused why I am constantly feeling his forehead! Bless him! Was neurotic before.... god help me now! LOL! Just hope I cope better if God forbid it does ever happen again! Thanks for advice foxinsocks!

ah they bounce back so quickly!

hope he never has another one for all your sakes!