Febrile Seizures

Friday was the scariest day of my life thus far. Peyton had a seizure while we were out running errands. As luck would have it, I couldn't find Cory's cell phone this morning so I had to run into The Quilted Bear and have them call 911. Luck wasn't completely against me though, because there was a PA in the store and she was able to make sure Peyton was ok because I had no idea what to do. I wasn't even sure if it was a seizure because I have never seen one before. She was convulsing, foaming at the mouth, turning blue and completely incoherent. After an ambulance ride over to the hospital and hours at the ER, this is what I found out. She had something called a febrile seizure. These happen in young children when a fever comes on very suddenly. Apparently they are common in young children, and since most people I know either have children or are around them, I thought it would be useful to give everyone a crash course on this kind of seizure so you never have to feel as completely useless as I did because knowledge is power.
A febrile seizure happens when a child gets a temperature too quickly. According to my pediatrician, motrin and tylenol will help bring the fever down, but they don't normally stop the seizure from happening because they don't work fast enough. Febrile seizures don't cause brain damage and usually only last a few minutes. If they last more than 5 minutes or are accompanied by a stiff neck, vomiting or breathing problems you should call 911. The best thing to do is to put your child on their side so they don't choke on their saliva or vomit, move everything out of the way so they don't hurt themselves (don't try to restrain their movement) and check the clock to see how long the seizure lasts because a few minutes can seem like an eternity when your child is turning blue and convulsing. Take them to the ER or your doctor after it is over so they can find the source of the fever. 30% of children who have a febrile seizure are likely to have more until the age of 6.
There is a crash course on febrile seizures that I hope no one has to use.