my son is a healthy active 7 year old boy who has no medical conditions, rarely gets sick, and is very active. he went to bed last night at 9:30 and awoke at 4 am having a seizure , blue on the lips and foaming at the mouth. i called the ambulance who took us to childrens, on the ride over to the hospital he became alert and was talking. upon entering childrens we sat in a room for over an hour before anyone came to see us. they said his vitals are good, they did an ekg and sent us home. they told us to schedule with a neuroglist in the next few days an eeg and mri, has anyone else experienced this and what should i do, i cant get the image of my little boy in this state out of my head.
thanks so much to everyones comments, we just got back from our ped and he checked him out again, his vitals are all good and his ekg was good, i am still waiting to hear from childrens to get us in for an eeg, i am so angry that they are playing with my sons life, i am scared to let him go to sleep tonight, please keep all the responses coming.
A.
I don't have any insights, but just sending love. I can imagine how scary this has been-- but it sounds like you did EXACTLY the right thing. Remember that you are his best advocate-- don't worry about being a pain in the butt. Advocate for him, but don't be scared to let him sleep tonight or you are going to scare him too. It very well could be the only time it happens (and what a story you will have to tell!) but you have to follow up.
Normally I would think febrile seizure BUT most kids outgrow those by 5, they have a fever, and have had them prior to 7 yrs old.
It is a good sign his vitals and EKG were good but I am shocked they didn't do further testing before sending you home. When my daughter had her febrile seizure they did a multitude of tests and kept her over night before releasing her (and her vitals were all spot on).
I would definitely be getting into the neurologist ASAP...not in the next few days. I'd call and explain your concerns and they should be able to squeeze you in sooner.
Good luck. I hope he is ok and that the doctor can give you some answers.
I just want to let you know that I know EXACTLY what you are going through. My son had a seizure at around 4. It wasn't as scary for me because only my mom witnessed it. We weren't 100% certain that it was a seizure and I had completely missed it. I called his pediatrician and he just had us come in. He checked his vitals and did an in office EKG. They said he was fine but set us up with a neurologist. He got in, had an EEG and all was normal. They said that people can have 1 unexplained seizure and have nothing wrong with them at all. We were supposed to just wait and see but it most likely was a fluke type thing.
Well, a year later, he fell to the floor limp with stiff limbs, lips blue making an aweful noise like he couldn't breath. SCARY!! I called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital. Same thing happened. We were released and got an EEG a few days later. Again normal. This time he was diagnosed with seizure disorder (Epilepsy). Started on medication, however I decided later that medicating him 2x a day was not worth it. They didn't even know if this medication would work for his seizures.
He still continues to have a seizure once every year. It is still just as scary as the 1st time. My heart breaks every time it happens. By the 3rd one I asked the hospital to check his brain. By then I had read more up on it and wanted a tumor, etc ruled out. He sees a neurologist at CHOP and has an EEG after every seizure. They are all still normal. The doctor does not think he should be medicated unless his seizures are more frequent. Which I do agree with although its hard to think clearly right after a seizure. You almost want to just give him something to "fix" it. According to ther doctor, he could grow out of it. He could never have another one again or he could start having them every week. There really is no way of telling for sure. But he did say that a lot of boys grow out of them around puberty.
He also did say that I coould do an MRI to see if there is a small abnormality. But he said that My son would have to be sedated because of his age (9) and that he doubts they would find anything. Even if they did, treatment would be the same. I guess that would only be helpful if he had frequent seizures.
I hope this information helps. Seizures do run in my family. My sister has seizures (normal EEGs), my mother does too (also many years of normal EEGs, just finally showed something a couple years ago), and my daughter had 1 seizure ( must have been a fluke one, keeping my fingers crossed though).
Good Luck! You can contact me anytime if you have any questions.
I also wanted to add that seizures technically are not harmful as long as they do not last longer than 5 minutes. My son has a prescription for a medication that I am to administer if it were to be needed. Although since none have lasted that long it is unlikely that they would start. Just thought you might like to know. I am not sure how long your sons lasted but I was a little concerned since you said he didn't "come to" till the ambulance ride. I have one tube here at home, and one tube at school.
I am sorry to hear that, but he can't be having seizures, foaming at the mouth and be ok. I would check into epilepsy. Those come unannounced even when vitals look "fine".
The same thing has happened to my sister-in-law and another friend. My nephew started having seizures about this age. He was put on a medication that kept them at bay. I'm not sure if he still takes it or not... It probably runs in the family since my brother-in-law has seizures occasionally.
My friend's infant started having seizures at night. The doctor said it was from overheating and they basically had to administer a dose of medication whenever it happened. There was a possible genetic connection there... Her Mom told her that her Uncle used to have seizures.
You may want to ask around and see if anything runs in the family.... Some seizures are caused by overheating... Maybe a ceiling fan or cooler materials (for blankets, PJs, etc...) My nephew didn't have any bad side effects with medication...
Good luck! I know that has got to be scary!
I know it's scary, but your son will be fine. My 19 year old with thru this years ago when he was 5. The MIND Center (they use to be in Farmington Hills) was excellent with children.
Dear Shannon,
I agree with febrile seizures - they occur primarily when a child's fever is going up. One of my children had complex febrile seizures (the good news is that they do not cause brain damage - but they also don't show up on EEG's and I don't know about MRI's). My son did not outgrow them until he was 12 - his last one was horrible and happened when we were camping about 3 months after his 12th birthday. I was still very cautious with him for another year because they are so terrifying, but he is 18 and has never had another one.
They did an EKG and nothing else? Humm.. . .
On one hand if he is other wise healthy, but the good neurotic-nurse mommy in me says HELL NO. You get him into a neurologist sooner than later and demand at least an MRI if not an EEG as well.
I guess I'm still trying to figure out an EKG for a normally healthy 7 year old who was clearly having a seizure.
I really am an RN but never worked peds, so if there is an ER Pediatric nurse can you explain that one?
There's not a lot you can do at this point. Just watch him so you can get him to the hospital quickly if it happens again and make sure to make that appointment to find out more.
