4 month old son having Febrile seizures ?!? HELP

[Jmoore771]

Hi. Although I'm not his mother, I'm his father, hope that's okay. In desperate need of opinions. Please bare with me while I explain the recent events .

I'm a refinery operator and work shift work. I got off work at 5am and stated up to help my wife get our. 3 year old ready for school. Me and my son (4 months at this time) were in bed watching tv while my wife took my. 3 year old to school. I woke up to a baby screaming and he was on the floor. We had a high bed, and our whole house is tile floor. I
Instantly went into panick mode. I picked him up and he calmed down
With in a few minutes . He had a little scratch on the left side of his head , but no knot, bumps, or bruises. I was concerned and googled what signs to look for. He was acting like nothing happened. Showed no signs. If this would of happened with our first child, no questions asked I would of tool him to the ER. Me and my wife decided not to take him since he was showing no signs of a head injury.
10 days after this happened we took the boys to the Wichita Zoo. It was a little warm that day 85 degrees or so. Son was still being his happy self. Him and my 3 year old are night and day. Our 4 month old is happy 99.99% of the time. My. 3 year old has been hell on wheels since birth. Haha. After the zoo we went to Outback Steakhouse to eat. We noticed our sons left arm was tense and started twitching. Freaked us out so I turned the Garmin on to find the nearest hospital. St. Francis in Wichita we went. We are from Oklahoma. After arriving he started to have the same symptoms in the right arm. He had a fever of 102 or so. The doctor ordered chest X-rays, bloodwork and a CAT scan. My worst nightmare was about to happen. Doctor said he had good and bad news. Bad news was that he had a fractured skull, good news was that it was only a fracture. No bruising, bleeding, or swelling. They kept us over night and we were bombarded by police, trauma team, etc. It was a very horrible experience. We were instantly judged as some sort of child abusers. The doctors were great, but the nurses and everyone else were horrible. We got released the next day. His CAT scans were perfectly normal besides for the fracture. The put him on Kepra(sp?)
They said they wasn't for sure if the seizure was from the fall or if it was a febrile seizure. So they wanted us to give him the medicine as a precaution. We followed up with a Ped doctor a couple weeks later in Wichita(1 1/2 hour drive) . She said she didn't see why we couldn't stop the Kepra, but that was our choice. We have an appt scheduled for a Ped. Neuro coming up. The seizure happened 10 days after the fall.
Today, the wife text me and said he had a slight fever. He was sneezing a lot and had a stuffy nose yesterday, so we figured he was coming down with something. Well he started having a seizure today so my wife took him to the ER. When I got there, I had to leave the room because I couldn't handle watching him having a seizure. It wasn't just his arms this time. It was his whole body. His white blood count is good, chest X-ray good. Waiting for him to pee to so they can run it. His fever was 101.4 at the hospital. They gave him Ativan and it stopped the seizure.
I was reading about Febrile seizures and it said they don't last but a few minutes and no more than 15 minutes. His lasted over the 15 mark. They admitted him again today.

Has anyone had any similar situations happen? He will be 6 months old November 1st. He has had 2 seizures. One on Sept 1st and the other one today. He hasn't been off the Kepra for about a month. Only kept him on it for a week. We thought he didn't need it. Both seizures involved a fever. They will be doing a CAT scan sometime today. I just want my little guy to be better and I want to figure out what's wrong. He was born on scheduled date, C section, and no complications. Very happy baby that smiles all day. He is advancing at a normal rate. Maybe a little ahead of schedule. We are a young family and just want some answers. It's very tough to watch our little one go through this.

Any suggestions, please reply..

Jeremy

[echowarrior]

First off I want to send you hugs dad. I'm so sorry that this is going on with your baby. What a nightmare it must be and then to have had him fall off the bed while in your care and then have to find out he has a fracture must be really hard and scary.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalknmiokijhhbbjiiohytdssz2:6????,, l p. Dv f

[echowarrior]

First off I want to say that accidents do happen with small babies and while we do everything to protect them, they still fall. It has happened to me with 2 of my children when they were that small and learning to scoot and roll.

On the subject of the seizures, I am wondering why he is getting these fevers? Was he visibly ill the first time he seized? I know you say he has the sniffles now. Febrile seizures are common from what I understand. So if the only reason he is seizing is because his fever is high then this is most likely something he will grow out of. But I am sure you are wondering if the seizures are from the skull fracture? And that I do not know. I do know that seizures are common with massive head trauma though. But it sounds as if his was minor...I'm sorry that I don't have much advice but just wanted to offer support
Jeremy my prayers go out to your small family that the doctors will figure this all out and that your baby will be seizure free very soon.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalknmiokijhhbbjiiohytdssz2:6????,, l p. Dv f

[FlipMom23]

Seizures are definitely scary!!  My son started having febrile seizures at around 18 months and it was horrible to see.  His only lasted 1-2 minutes and you're correct that febrile seizures should definitely last no more than 15 minutes.  It is a good sign that they only happen with fevers, but the fact that they last over 15 min does not sound typical of febrile sz.  I hope you get some answers soon!

[Kirsty815]

I'm sorry to hear about your son!  Falling off the bed is not uncommon, but I know the guilt that goes along with it as my daughter fell off the bed when she was younger too leaving her with a big egg on her forehead!  

While seizures can be brought on from head trauma Meg had her seizures well before the fall, so a fall doesn't always precede the seizures!  I agree with the girl who answered you previously... if there is a pattern of the seizures occuring with temperatures, your son may simply be having febrile seizures!  However, I'm not a doctor and can't diagnose, but it sounds like a good place to start!

Try not to beat yourself up, I know it's hard to see your kid go through the seizures, but there are plenty of medicines and things that can be done to help if it should turn into a seizure disorder! My daughter has had seizures since a month of age and we don't have a history on either side of our family, but she is so resiliant and doesn't let it get her down! She's 10 now and leads a full and happy life, she just does a few things a little smarter and we educate those around her so they know what to do if she should have a seizure! 

The seizures never get easier you learn to adapt to them, but they will always make your heart sink and your breath still!  Try not to blame yourself, it's difficult I know, but the best thing you can do if this does turn into a seizure disorder is treat it no different than if your child were to have diabetes, glasses, an allergy or some other ailment and keep his life normal! Feel free to get in touch if you need information or contacts as I volunteer with the epilpesy foundation and I blog for Talkaboutit.org!  The link I added above is from my personal blog!

Kindly,

Kirsten

Link removed by moderator

[Kirsty815]

Oh one more thing! My nephew who doesn't have a seizure disorder had febrile seizures once when he had the flu!  His lasted a few minutes at a time, but they came in clusters making it appear as if they were happening for extended periods of time when actually they were short, just one after another!  He hasn't had one since!  Meg's longest seizure was about two and a half hours when she was around 9 months old!  She was bayflighted to the children's hospital in our area, she hasn't had one like that since, but hers do have a tendancy to be about 15 mins! Now we keep diazapam, a rectal med used to prevent status (long) seizures, at the house!  I guess what I'm saying is a long seizure doesn't always mean something bad! :)

[Kirsty815]

That's weird my first post isn't visible yet??

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Kristy, your post was held by our spam filter program because it contained a link to your blog. I am going to remove the link and approve your post. 

[Kirsty815]

Oh okay! Thinking had a picture of my daughter's head when she fell out of bed! No worries!

[IdentityCrisisMama]

You're welcome to post the picture on the thread. 

[Jmoore771]

We got released the next day from the hospital. Only thing we know is that he had a ear infection, and that is being treated. We have an appointment with a Pediatric Neurologist coming up... Maybe the EEG will give us some answers. The pediatrician at the hospital thinks it is either febrile seizures or a underlying seizure disorder being triggered by a fever. His 2nd seizure lasted about 40 minutes. Started out with his arms, then turned into a full body type seizure. The doctor said febrile siezures can last longer than 15 minutes, but shorter lived ones are more common, We are keeping him on the Keppra. I hate having him on medications. The Keppra spaces him out. Since he didn't have any sort of head trauma from the fall, they don't think the fall has anything to do,with seizures...

Something else interesting, My wife's brother had febrile seizures when younger, and his 5 year old son just had his 2nd seizure at school 2 days ago. He was running a 101 fever also. So maybe this is something that runs in the family. I never had seizures as a child, but I did run very high fevers (105-106 a few times) My cousin had a few febrile seizures though. Thanks for all of the help and kindness during all of this. It truely does mean a lot and helps a lot. Seems like yesterday i was in college and doing the party life on the weekends.....My whole outlook on things changed once getting married and then having kids 4 years ago.....Wouldnt change it for anything though. Its tough job (especially for,the mothers) , but having children is like nothing else. I will let everyone know what we find out after going to the neurologist.

[emma1325]

So sorry you've been dealing with all this!

Are vaccines in the mix here?  Just wondering.  It seems that the fall is probably unrelated to the seizures, but who knows?  I hope you find answers soon.

[applecider]

My son had 4 seizures under the age of 2.5. One lasted for over 2 hours. They never could come up with any explanation after a CAT scan, EKG, etc. The pediatric neurologist called them "atypical febrile seizures" and said he would grow out of them. He hasn't had one since and he is now 7. Although now we are dealing with possible ADHD/Asperger's, so I always wonder if these are somehow connected. I'm so sorry that happened to you and your son, it is so scary...I know! Many trips to the emergency room and unknown causes. I hope you can find some answers.