Febrile Seizures

While fever is the body's natural defense against infection, approximately five percent of children have what are classified as "simple" febrile seizures while running a fever.

If anyone has a child who suffers from febrile seizures, take heart ... 99 percent of children outgrow them by the time they are six years old and there are generally no ill after effects.

Febrile seizures can occur in babies as young as three months old. When the child is running a fever, a seizure brought on by the sudden rise of their body temperature can overtake them.

Febrile seizures look like epileptic attacks and they are one of the most frightening events a parent can live through. These seizures happen only when a child has a fever and are not a precursor to epilepsy, although in about 1 percent of cases, febrile seizures are an indication of more complicated neurological problems.

When my older daughter was 18 months old, she had her first febrile seizure. Thankfully, I had read about them and knew what was happening. The first episode lasted less than two minutes and by the time the paramedics arrived, she was sleeping peacefully. I wish I could say that was her last febrile seizure. She had at least ten more in the following four years, with the last episode occurring when she was five-and-a-half-years-old.

While we tried to learn everything there was to know about these seizures, the best explanation any doctor had was that they were hereditary. Sometimes I wonder about the genetic conclusions doctors jump to. As far as my husband and I knew, no one in our immediate families had recurring febrile seizures, nor did our younger daughter ever have a febrile seizure. As we were told by numerous physicians to expect our other children to have them too, we were enormously relieved when we were spared yet another 5 years of anxiety and living in fear of the dreaded fevers.

Not all children who have a febrile seizure will have another one. I believe the statistics are 30 percent of children will suffer only one. If you've lived through this once, I pray you are one of the lucky parents who never have to witness your child in the grips of this malady again. While these seizures do not cause the child long-term harm, they can age a parent ten years overnight.

There are many redundant articles online that explain and explore febrile seizures, their complications and coping strategies for parents, although all that can really be done is to make sure the child is safe and allow the seizure to pass. Knowledge is power. The more you know about febrile seizures, the better you will be able to cope if your child ever has one or has already suffered one or more seizures.