One of the most desperate situations for any father or mother is when one day, suddenly, your child begins to make strange noises and when you approach to see what happens you realize that is convulsing.
The fright is tremendous, because you take him in his arms to try to save him from that situation but he keeps moving, and not only do you not know what to do, but you feel that it is the end, that life is going in your arms. Let's talk today about febrile seizure, that condition that is so scary, in which you suffer so much, but that is considered benign.
What are seizures?
More or less we all know what seizures are, but why it is clear what it is and what it is not, I explain it equally. A seizure is a sudden change in body movement because of electrical impulses in the brain that should not occur. This change can cause rhythmic contractions with subsequent relaxation, or extreme stiffness (or otherwise, extreme relaxation), which give the sensation of a momentary paralysis.
The most impressive seizure is the one that affects the whole body, which is what we all have in mind, which is known as "great evil." The "petit mal", on the other hand, consists of short episodes in which the child remains staring for one or two seconds.
And what is febrile seizure?
Once we know what the seizures are, we focus on one of the causes: fever, which causes the call febrile seizure. The incidence is relatively high, because it happens in between three and four children per hundred, usually from nine months until they turn five.
It is important to emphasize that from that age, the five years, it is rare to happen, and that more or less half of the children who suffer a febrile seizure will never suffer another one (which means that half of the children children will have another episode on occasion).
In Babies and more Natural remedies to reduce fever in childrenThe reason that it happens is the temperature of the boy or girl. It may be because the fever rises and rises and becomes too high for the child, or it may be because at some point it rises faster than the body is prepared to withstand, without the need for a very high temperature (often it happens in the first rise of the fever and catches the parents totally unprepared).
Symptoms of a febrile seizure
The intensity of the febrile seizure is variable, because it may be that the only thing that happens is something like rolling your eyes or a stiffness in the legs (which seems little, but the scare you get the same), or that the child convulses doing a "great evil", which is when he convulses with his whole body, stirring completely.
This can last a few seconds, or it can last up to five to ten minutes. Ten minutes translated into the suffering of a mother or father are like hours, so it is worth knowing well what happens at that time.
It is possible for the child to groan, vomit or even bite his tongue. Sometimes, due to the contraction, they stop breathing and turn purple. At that time they cannot respond to the voice of their parents, and they may become peeled by the involuntary relaxation of the sphincters.
After that episode, there comes a period of drowsiness, the so-called "postcritical state", in which the child is exhausted, confused and eager to rest.
And what is there to do?
Here lies the greatest of sufferings. Parents would want to do anything to return their child to a normal state, but they don't know what to do or how to act, and this creates an incredible sense of helplessness. The reality is that there is not much that can be done other than preventing harm from being done while the seizure occurs. For this, the usual recommendation consists of the following points:
- Do not hold the child or try to stop his movements: he does not do so voluntarily, so opposing resistance could cause him some injury.
- Do not leave the child alone.
- Remove from its surroundings any object or furniture with which it can be harmed: or put it where it cannot be harmed (a bed preventing it from falling).
- If you wear clothes that squeeze you, especially in the neck area, unfasten it.
- Put it aside: especially if he has vomited, if saliva is seen in his mouth or if the tongue could be impeding breathing.
- Do not put your finger to try to open his mouth: I could bite you and you wouldn't get anything.
- Do not put other objects in the mouth so that it does not bite or "swallow" the tongue: it increases the risk of injury with what we introduce, and also, if it is on the side, we prevent the tongue from covering the airway (do not swallow it , but obstructs).
- If the seizure lasts several minutes, go to the emergency room.
In Babies and more, does your child have a fever of 38ºC? There is no reason to go to the pediatricianWhat will they do in the emergency room?
There in the emergency room they will look at the child's condition and try to know the cause of the fever. Febrile seizures are benign and do not require any further control, because there is no evidence to show that children who have febrile seizures are at risk of brain injury, epilepsy or learning problems, but It is important to know the cause of the fever because it could be a serious illness.
Therefore, in case the seizure occurs outside the limits of normality (lasting more than 15 minutes, which has already had another in the same 24 hours or if it is less than 9 months or more than 5 years), in addition After the routine examination of the child, they will surely perform other tests such as an electroencephalogram, a CT scan of the head or a lumbar puncture. This is not done by the seizure, I repeat, because it is not considered dangerous; This is then done because of the suspicion that you may have a serious illness such as meningitis (which causes the fever guilty of the seizure).
In Babies and more Of parents who take their children with fever to class (previously medicated)Photos | iStock
In Babies and more | What to do if the child has a fever or cough? Decalogues of the AEPap, Eight home remedies to lower the temperature of babies and children with fever, Febrile seizures: what we should do
