Reassure me about DS2's fit at school

[EllenJaneisnotmyname]

DS2, ASD age 12, fainted at school today, hit his head and had a fit. He came around after 30 seconds or so and was shaky and very hot with dilated pupils. He seemed pretty much back to normal after 30 minutes when I got to school. I was told to take him to the doctor but the doctor said to go straight to A & E!

After 2 1/2 hours ( not good at waiting) the doctor at A & E couldn't tell me much. It may have been an epileptic seizure, it may have been some other sort of fit (can't remember the terminology) to do with lack of blood to the brain due to the faint. He isn't poorly, his temperature is normal. He's never fainted before. They have just said keep an eye on him, if it happens again they'll do EEGs and blood tests.

Now I don't know whether I can leave him alone in the house for any length of time and it's bloody impossible now that it's just me at home. He's going to have a smashing black eye. Any advice or hand holding gratefully received.

I hope it's just one of those one off things ellen, how's he feeling?

He's completely fine! It was just so out of the blue. I've never really worried about him 'medically' IYKWIM, so it's a bit shocking.

Bless him, what a fright for you.

Glad he is ok now though.

I'm not surprised ellen, sounds frightening!

Oh Ellen what a horrible shock for you.

The only think I can think of is, if he was shaky and hot at the time, could it have been a febrile convulsion due to a sudden rise in temperature? I know ds1 can have really sudden temp spikes when he is seemingly fine and then comes out with a bug within a couple of day, most commonly when he has a strep throat coming on.

I know febrile convulsions are most common in young children, buy my niece's best friend had one a couple of weeks ago. She was developing a virus, didn't realise, her temp shot up and she fitted. She's 22, so it obviously can happen to older people as well. I know the fit is the body's response to the speed of the sudden temperature rise, rather than the actual temperature itself iyswim. Ds2 had some corking febrile convulsions when he was younger.

Glad to hear he's feeling OK now and hope it's just a one-off.

Sorry I don't have any useful advice, but am here for hand-holding duty. ((hugs))

Oof, how scary for you both Ellen!

Is he ok otherwise? No virus starting to rear its head? Had he eaten and what had he been doing just before he fainted?

Thanks all for hugs and sympathy. He appeared to be quite hot immediately afterwards but back to normal temperature within 15 mins when they took it in first aid. So fingers crossed it was a febrile convulsion. He's never fainted or fitted before, unlike DS1 who has fainted loads of times. (Once in the sea, another story.) DS1 just faints 'normally' though, IYSWIM, no fitting.

DS2 got a ride in a wheelchair and got to use the lift! at school as he was upstairs in science at the time.

Hi Wilson. He'd been doing some sequencing stuff in science, nothing out of the ordinary. He's showing no signs of being poorly at all. The fact that he recovered so quickly seemed to suggest that it wasn't a grand mal seizure, but I'm very sketchy on my epilipsy knowledge. I have some friends whose DC have really severe epilepsy, as part of their severe LD, so I can quiz them a bit, but this fit was so mild in comparison to their DC's problems that I'd feel a bit awkward.

I only asked because I've fainted twice in my life and on both occassions I was singing (and I'm not that bad, really). I guess it's just a watch and wait then, which is exactly what you need, no? Hugs.

Hmm, yes. Watch and wait, I think. Sigh.

Thanks zzzzz! I knew I'd get good advice here.

He'd been sat watching a video, then did some cut and stick sequencing in biology. Seemed totally normal to his 1:1 TA.

He didn't wet himself, or bite his tongue. He landed on his stomach/face down and bashed his eye socket and forehead but missed his eye. He can't remember what happened, himself. His TA says he jerked about for about 20 - 30 seconds, then came around.

I'm not sure exactly how he was immediately afterwards. His stock response to any health questions is 'I'm fine!' His TA says he was shaky and upset and his pupils were dilated. He was very hot, but his temperature came down to normal fairly quickly. He didn't seem tired. He says he didn't have a headache, except where he bumped.

He was sitting on a lab stool when he blacked out. His TA had just left him so he could have stood up. He'd eaten (loads) of cereal at 7.30am but nothing since. This was at about 11.00am, just before break.

He was hungry at A&E so had his usual snack of Monster Munch and a jam tart! He's eaten his tea fairly well. The doctor did say something about not leaving him alone in the bath. (He's 12!) We are going to Center Parcs in March, he loves the white water rapids...

Hopefully there is not too much to worry about. Adolescents can faint, especially with low blood sugars, tiredness, concentrating intently etc. Is he a tall boy? For some reason lanky skinny kids adolescents faint more often!

Its also very common for head injuries to cause a brief period of fit type behaviour (used to work in A&E so heard this often following falls and head injuries). Also the high temp immediately after is due I think to the jerking briefly increasing metabolism and raising the temperature, rather than a febrile convulsion, which would be unusual at this age.

Also the rapid return to normal is very promising, as the falling down, jerking type of fit (grand mal) usually leaves people tired and disorientated for an hour or two.

Thanks sneezecakesmum. I'm feeling better about it. It's just that ASD seems to often go hand in hand with epilepsy, but hopefully not. I've heard that 1 in 20 people have one fit during their lives, but less than 1 in 100 have epilepsy.

Sorry, I don't usually post on SN threads as I know nothing.

However, just wanted to say DH had a fainting/fit a couple of years ago now.

He was coming down with a virus and it just kinda hit him all at once, then it was over. He was walking down a corridor, hit his head, had a fit (scaring the crap out of the colleague he was with), then woke up and was fine.

The paramedic said it was much more common than people think.

See, you don't know nothing! (That's supposed to be a compliment, BTW.) Thanks Morloth, that's what I want to hear.

If its epilepsy seizures can often happen without warning. I agree with the above - try to write down as much as possible about what happened while the people who witnessed it still remember. Sometimes epileptics get an aura which is a type of warning beforehand but that is unusual. My dd has epilepsy but no warning signs at all and no memory of what has happened.
Has he had any late nights recently or become over-tired as this can also trigger a seizure. Teenage hormones can also affect seizure thresholds.
Sorry to be negative but the fall could be what is called a drop-attack where the person falls to the floor and this sometimes happens before a seizure.
If you go to a hospital clinic for ASD I would definitely mention this incident and they may be able to reassure you with more expert advice.
I would also seek further medical advice if there are any other symptoms such as headaches.

Thanks zzzzz and crazymum.

Obviously not what I want to hear, but what I was thinking, really. There just didn't seem to be any obvious trigger for a mere faint, so I thought something was up. Baths and swimming pools will be more stressful, but good advice. Can nice things start happening again, now, please?

My dd is 12 and had her first seizure when she was 3 years old. Swimming has not been a problem (with supervision) and neither has riding a bike. The only sports we have been warned against are rock-climbing and contact sports such as boxing!
Other posters have a point and it could be a one-off but unfortunately it is not possible to be 100% certain. I was told by the hospital doctors that my dds first seizure was probably a febrile convulsion and there was nothing to worry about, but unfortunately it did happen again and she was diagnosed with epilepsy.
But the good news is that your son's first seizure was relatively short-lived and this is a good sign. dd is due back from school soon so need to go but best wishes and do post again to let us know how you get on.

Hi EllenJane, what happened to your ds sounds like what happened to my sister when she was 11, a seizure completely out of the blue when she was at school. I'm sorry to say she did turn out to be epileptic and did go on to have more seizures. The doctors told us that it isn't uncommon for this to suddenly happen around puberty and often they can find no explanation for it. However it is just as likely that they will outgrow it. This is what happened to my sister, she had tests galore, no reason was found why she was having seizures but they gradually got further apart and stopped completely by her late teens. We did find after a while that we could recognise a 'look' that she would get about her when it was about to happen, and also that getting overheated (like in a hot stuffy shop) could be a trigger for her, as well as getting over-tired. She was unaffected by flashing lights as far as I remember.

Anyway, it wasn't all doom and gloom, she was a sporty outdoorsy type of kid and the epilepsy didn't stop her. She did all the rollerskating, cycling etc that her friends did, swam like a fish and had her own pony all without mishap (my dad did take the lock off the bathroom door as a precaution though in case sis absentmindedly locked herself in).

Don't worry, it's not a huge thing, just bad timing for me at the moment, when I've been forced to give him more independence just to manage, and he's been really good.

I have a Christmas meal tomorrow with 6 friends, 3 of whom have DC with epilepsy, one who has had brain surgery to reduce his seizures as they were pretty relentless. My DS's little episode is really minor in comparison but you've all been great holding my hand.

Thanks Pixel. I'll be keeping a close eye on him. Unfortunately absences look a lot like his 'away with the fairies' thing that is part of his ASD. DS is neither sporty nor outdoorsy, in fact far, far in the other direction.

Fainting is fairly common in teens and adolescents so we'll keep our fingers crossed DSs episode was a one off. Why don't you have a chat with your GP to go through the various possibilities and discuss your worries? The epilepsy society will have advice on practical matters too. x