Seizures,fits,convulsions - whatever you call them..

[MABS]

Help and advice please . Does anyone have experience of fits without temperature. My 21 month ds has this morning had a 'fit' lasting 3- 4mins , definitely without temperature, although he is getting aver a chest infection..

He has had 5 /6 febrile convulsions since he was born with temp. but only one previously without temp. when he was about 4 months old.

He does have mild cerebral palsy , but I'm told there's no connection in his case. He seems fine now, perhaps a bit sleepy, and I wondered if anyone could shed any light on it.
Thanks MABS

I am epileptic and have been since a baby, my oldest and my youngest have both had fits without a temperature, my youngest also has cp. If there seems to be no apparent reason for them I would suggest visiting your gp or consultant, and ask their advice. They would probably suggest an eeg to check he is not epileptic, although this is by no means a guarantee of a diagnosis, as your son would have to actually have a seizure while having the test to positively confirm epilepsy. Seizures are sometimes another symptom of cerebral palsy, so it would definitely be worth checking out in your situation. Good luck.

Dear Lou33 - once again thank you for your sound advice , I'm seeing the hosital on Friday so will discuss it with them. Out of interest, ds had an EEG 2 months ago which showed nothing sinister , so we'll have to see. Regards

The problem with eeg's Mabs is that they will only show up what is happening at the time the test is being done. So an epileptic can have a normal eeg result because the brain was not stimulated enough to result in abnormal brain activity, and a non epileptic may show a one off display of epileptic behaviour, although it may never happen again. There will not be a diagnosis of epilepsy based on just one or two seizures, but your consultant will want to keep a record of how many your son has had and what they were like, how long they lasted etc. He will be under observation for a few months and then a conclusion will be finally reached. My daughter only hada few seizures around her first birthday, and then they stopped (she's now 10), and my son had some about 3 months ago, but thankfully hasn't had any more. I am less concerned about my son than I was my daughter, mainly because having been through this before it isn't so worrying to me, but if you are worried then I would suggest keeping a diary of when they occur, what they looked like, how long the episode lasted and what he was like after. Keep talking to your consultant about it until you are completely sure you are happy with everything they are saying. Good luck again.