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My toddler stopped breathing last night, his lips turned blue, he was shaking and his eyes rolled back into his head. It was the scariest 60 seconds of my life.
I called 911, as my husband ran my limp son into the living room. It took 20 RINGS for anyone to pick up the phone!
Within minutes, the paramedics and then EMT were at our house. By this time, our son was smiling and waiving at everyone. He thought it was funny that there were so many people (8 of us) in his tiny nursery.
After a SIX HOUR wait at the Emergency Room to see a doctor, we were told he had a febrile seizure. Common in toddlers who have a fever. The day before, my son had a temperature of 103 degrees. I gave him Tylenol as instructed, and the fever went down. I didn't realize that fevers can spike quickly.
I've found some great information on the Mayo Clinic website for Febrile Seizures. There is no long-term damage associated with them, when they last less than 10 minutes. (10 minutes?! Are you kidding?! I thought ONE minute was a lifetime!).
Here's the information I found on Febrile Seizures. It is very helpful. I'd love to hear from others who have experienced this extremely frightening condition!!
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Help!! My 14 month old son had a fever two days ago. A couple hours into the fever he had this startle like reaction.. His arms shot up and were kind of flailing in front of him. He seemed out of it and his eyes were blinkning and he seemed to stiffen up. It only lasted 4 or 5 seconds and then he would just start BAWLING! This happened every minute or so about 7-8 times in a row... Heart-breaking! As it was happening I could feel his body getting hotter. I undressed him and immediatly started to cool him down with a cool compress. Of course one doctor thinks it was probabley febrile sezures but the 2nd doctor says it doesn't sound really sound like seizures.. Seizures don't tend involve as much movement and not as short and repetative?? After doing some reaserch I am just not sure! You know when your child was a baby and they would startle awake? This is what it looked like but he held the startle position for 4-5 seconds.. from what I'm seeing and hearing seizures look somewhat different. Someone suggested he was reacting to sharp pain.. just the way his eye's were blinking I'm not sure.. I'll take any information please! He is great today, even that night once we got the fever under 100* he was drained but back to his happy self! Does it sound like it could be a seizure? I really am going crazy not knowing what it was! Thanks!!!
April 20, 2010 - 11:16pmThis Comment
Our 13 month old son is having very similar symptoms to those experienced by Anonymous on 4/20/2010. He will be breast-feeding or just starting to fall asleep. He then throws is arms/legs out once or repetitively (convulsing as much as 4-5 times in a row in a few seconds). He cannot control the motion. It looks identical to the startle reflex he had as a newborn. When the episode is over, he immediately starts crying. His expression looks like he was in pain. In a minute or two he is pretty much back to normal. However, he will start to fall asleep and then it might reproduce. Usually, his third or fourth attempt to get to sleep will work and then things will be ok.
He has a fever of 102-103. The Dr said he believed the fever was 'reverting' him back to a childhood reflex. We just need to wait for the fever to go down to see if this persists. We have administered Tylenol to reduce the effects of the fever. This startle response does not manifest when the temperature drops. He now is really rejecting tylenol so we are going to do without it and see how he does with his fever.
Similar experience?
April 2, 2012 - 4:39amThis Comment
Just wanted to follow up...
After witnessing a dozen of these upsetting spasm/seizure events and becoming concerned that our son could not get to sleep because each time he tried, he would have another spasm, we tried pinning his arms and legs. My wife held down his legs and I held down his arms. As he tried to fall asleep he would jerk and kick, but because his arms couldn't flail around the spasm would not be significant enough to interrupt his journey to dreamland. He fell into deep sleep and I laid with him for about 3 hours, holding his arms and legs so he could get some much needed sleep. He would do little jerks and kicks occasionally, but he kept on sleeping. By the time he woke up, his fever had started to moderate. A few hours later, he took another nap with us holding him the whole time.
That night, with an almost normal temperature, he got in some much needed sleep and even though he had some minor spasms as he was falling asleep, they were not enough to wake him up.
By about noon the next morning he was covered in reddish/whitish bumps. Probably Roseola. The dr had mentioned this might be it and that only time would heal it. We didn't bring him back to the dr.
His personality is changed. I think it is a combo of the terror of not being able to control the spasms, lack of sleep and he is still a bit weak/sleepy/irritable. The Roseola is still present, but should let up in the next day or two. He did start to play 'peek-a-boo' last night and did some good laughs which was a heartening sign for mom and dad. :) We are keeping our fingers crossed that he has a full recovery. Our hearts go out to the children (and parents) who experience infant seizures of any sort. Just going through these relatively minor episodes was extremely distressing for all of us.
April 6, 2012 - 7:53amThis Comment
Our 13 month old son is having very similar symptoms to those experienced by Anonymous on 4/20/2010. He will be breast-feeding or just starting to fall asleep. He then throws is arms/legs out once or repetitively (as much as 4-5 times in a row in a few seconds). He cannot control the motion. It looks identical to the startle reflex he had as a newborn. When the episode is over, he immediately starts crying. His expression looks like he was in pain. In a minute or two he is pretty much back to normal. However, he will start to fall asleep and then it might reproduce. Usually, his third or fourth attempt to get to sleep will work and then things will be ok.
He has a fever of 102-103. The Dr said he believed the fever was 'reverting' him back to a childhood reflex. We just need to wait for the fever to go down to see if this persists. We have administered Tylenol to reduce the effects of the fever. This startle response does not manifest when the temperature drops. He now is really rejecting tylenol so we are going to do without it and see how he does with his fever.
Similar experience?
April 2, 2012 - 4:33amThis Comment
It could have been a febrile seizure, as they can look like a startle reflex. The doctor who said it is uncommon for them to occur that repeatedly, that close together could be correct, but I just wanted you to know that my son's febrile seizure did look like a startle, and then he started bawling as well. The--out of control--bawling.
Whether it was a febrile seizure or some other type of reaction from a fever, you may never know. It is difficult as a parent not knowing something about your child, but fevers can cause different reactions in children, and believe it or not---fevers themselves are not dangerous. They are the bodies reaction to fighting off infection, and they are a good thing!
I hope this helps!
August 15, 2010 - 8:10amThis Comment
My son had a convulsion a week and a half ago. I thought he was going to die, he started turning blue. I am trying to find out how common, dangerous and recurrent this is. I do not even know what to do in a situation like this, I felt so helpless and scared. What do I do if this ever happens again and he turns blue? How common is this?? Why did he stop breathing???
February 17, 2010 - 8:06amThis Comment
Hi,
I know that exact feeling. I am the person who wrote the original post, and it is terrifying to see your child stop breathing to the point that he turns blue. It is the most helpless feeling.
What did you do? Did you call 911? What was his diagnosis? If he had a febrile seizure (if he had the convulsion/seizure while he had a fever), then these are very common, and can recur, but is nothing (we are supposed) to worry about. Every doctor I have talked to has said "it is normal", but it does not seem normal! Be sure to have your son medically evaluated to rule out any other conditions (my son was checked to make sure he was still responding and that it was not an epileptic or other type of seizure associated with a medical condition).
Febrile seizures are scary. My son just had another one (he is not 3.5 years), but it was not as bad as when he was a year old and stopped breathing. The kids do grow out of them. My son had a fever, just from a cold I believe, and had several mini convulsions during the day. I thought he was tripping over his shoes, which never happens. Then, while we were eating, he had a convulsion where he dropped his fork and lost control over his body. He cried because he was so scared, but never stopped breathing. It lasted maybe 2 seconds (felt like an eternity). I just have to watch him whenever he has a fever and be extra vigilant, but he is growing out of it.
If it happens again, just be calm (ha, right?!), know that it is common, and put your son on his side (in case he vomits). Do not hold him down, but just make sure he is on a soft surface so that he does not hurt himself.
How long did your son's convulsion last?
August 15, 2010 - 8:06amThis Comment
I previously wrote on July 5, 2009. Our son now 19months old now, did just have another episode - August 19th, 2009. He had not had one since May. He was on two 15mg sprinkle capusules, Topamax, one in the morning, one in the evening, a day. We made the mistake of switching it to the generic form and within two weeks he had seizure. We then were told to increase to three capusules a day. A week later he had multiple episode - every three to four hours, in one day. We are now on four Topamax a day - he has been doing fine for a month now. Seizure free so far.
When he goes into a seizure he is no longer smacking his lips, he just basically stops, stares and passes out. Sometimes his heart stops, sometimes it slows. He stops breathing but for no longer than a minute. We are being told that he has Tonic Clonic seizures (gran mal), however, he is NOT convulsing. His lips turn blue, eyes roll back into head, his legs now seem to tense up (but no movement), and he stops breathing or it slows dramatically. (When he goes into one we always lay him flat on his back and listen to his breathing) We will have to do a three day EEG to determine which type of seizure he is in fact having.
I have done some research and really believe he has something called RAS (reflex anoxic seizures) they are not epiletic. Please go to the website www.stars-us.org. It shed alot of light for us. He is experiencing every bullet point.
We may never know why this happens, they don't even know why the medicine works - it just does, but we will have a better idea of what type of seizure he has once we do the three day EEG. I can't wait to prove my neurologist wrong!!
PS: do NOT, do NOT, use any generic form of Topamax! It does matter!
PSS: Our son did have a bit of a adjustment period when increasing this medicine but within a month he is back to his old smily self.
If you want to enquire more, [please send me a message], please make sure you reference your [message] as "SEIZURES".
September 15, 2009 - 5:42pmThis Comment
Thanks so much for the update and the tips! Did your neurologist mention when your son may outgrow the seizures?
July 5, 2009 - 6:51pmThis Comment
Not really, only a guesstimation of three to four years. They don't know. We can only hope. He may completely out grow them, he may still experience an occasional one throughout his life. I believe he has something called RAS (reflex anoxic seizures) NOT a form of epilepsy. If interested the website is very informative - www.stars-us.org.
September 15, 2009 - 5:53pmThis Comment