Febrile fit

Something bad happened at the start of 2014. My eldest son was down with very bad fever and infected the whole house except for my husband. But that was not the worst part. Although i am in the medical profession, i have never witnessed a seizure in a child. And it had never occured to me that it would happen to my own child.

We took our 2 1/2 year old son to the supermarket because i wanted to buy stuff for dinner that night. My husband was carrying him and suddenly he shouted my name. I turned around and saw that my son was jerking away and his lips were blue. He was having generalised tonic clonic seizure with uprolling of eyeballs and central cyanosis. I dropped the shopping basket and told my husband "He's having a fit and we need to go to the hospital now!". We ran like crazy people out of the supermarket and into the car and drove to the nearest clinic as the hospital is quite a distance away.

Luckily his seizure aborted spontaneously after about 20 seconds. His fever was 38.8c at the clinic. I asked them for a paracetamol suppository and vigorously gave him tepid sponging. He was unresponsive after the seizure but was breathing as normal. We waited until he woke up and brought him to the hospital.

As he had no other symptoms suspicious of other causes of seizures such as electrolyte imbalance or meningitis, the diagnosis given to him was febrile fit. This condition may affect children form 6 months old up to 5 years of age. It is caused by high fever with no other underlying problems. It may run in the family. The outcome or prognosis is generally good with no long term effect.

So what should you do if u encounter a person having a seizure? Firstly don't panic (I know its easier said than done especially if the person is your own family member). Next, remove any objects that may harm the person. Do not try to restraint the person.Make sure there is nothing in the person's mouth that could block his airway and do not try to put anything inside the person's mouth. Wait for the seizure to subside and try to lie him on the side. Seek medical attention after that.

Experiencing your own child having a seizure is pretty scary and i know now how it feels being on the other side of the fence. Currently, his condition is improving and he is on regular antipyretics to prevent his fever from recurring. I thank Allah that it was just a simple febrile fit and not something else that is more sinister. I hope that u will never have to encounter this situation and I pray hard to the Almighty that he would never have to go through it again...