Gus had a fever today. Big deal, right? Kids have fevers all the time. Yep, that’s true, but with Gus it is a bit different. He has a history of febrile seizures. Granted, it’s been over a year since he had his last one and most doctors would say he’s grown out of it. Still. It doesn’t change the fact that every time his fever goes up, so does my heart rate.
I can’t help it. I’m pretty sure it will always be that way. Seizures are scary. Even if you know they’re coming or what to expect. They’re still scary. So, in honor of this feverish day, I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learned about seizures. Here’s the cliff notes from my experience:
- You can’t die from a seizure. That’s true. You can’t. Your child might look like they are dying, but they aren’t. And they won’t.
- Unless your child has a seizure while they are eating, don’t mess with their tongue or their mouth in any way. The old guidelines used to say to check and make sure they weren’t swallowing their tongue. This is no longer the case.
- Lay them on their side and let them seize. Don’t do anything to prevent it. Just keep them safe during it.
- Sometimes babies can have difficulty breathing at the end of a seizure. Their lips will be blue. Don’t be alarmed (yeah right!).
- Your child will probably pass out and appear relatively unconscious once the seizing ends. This is completely normal. It’s called the postictal period. Basically, the brain is recovering. It’s pretty traumatic for the brain so it has to take a timeout.
If you have any questions about febrile seizures or my experience with them, feel free to drop me a line.
Leave a Reply