One of the most scary thing any Mum or Dad has ever witnessed in the course of raising children is a convulsing child!
It is usually sudden and leaves the witness utterly confused about what to do.
As a Paediatrician,I have had to manage problems that arose as a result of the wrong treatment of convulsions; long after the convulsion itself has stopped.
Sadly some of these complications which result from the ignorant application of dangerous remedies at times can even lead to the child’s death if not properly managed.
This is the reason why I am addressing the issue of convulsion in children in this post. Â In this first part, I will attempt to explain what convulsion and clarify the confusion parents often have with convulsions, epilepsy and seizures.
In the second part, I will discuss what parents need to know about what to do and more importantly; especially in this part of the world where calling the emergency services is not routinely feasible what not to do when a child is having convulsion!
So let us start by defining the key word in our discussion “CONVULSION”.
There are other names often interchangeably used by parents for convulsion. These include terms like “fit” “seizure” “epilepsy” and so on though convulsion is the most frequently used term for the same event.
Convulsion is often used to describe the sudden event whereby a child’s body either becomes stiff (rigid) or begins to jerk repeatedly or a combination of the two.
In medical jargon, we like using the word “SEIZURES” because it is more encompassing. Seizures are sudden events that cause temporary changes in physical movement, sensation, behavior or consciousness. They are caused by abnormal electrical and chemical changes in the brain.
Epilepsy means seizures that occur repeatedly without fever or any obvious sudden diseases.
One can see that seizures include convulsions (physical movement) but there are other forms of seizures that are not convulsions or fits like sensation (feeling), behaviour or loss of consciousness (fainting attacks).
This is sometimes difficult for parents to know or understand but the one that usually alarm parents are the fits/convulsions because of the dramatic way it usually happens.
Convulsions and indeed all seizures are caused by abnormal electrical discharges in the brain. They are not demonic or witchcraft attacks.
I know most of us believe these can cause them but most of the time, they are just electrical discharges or firing of the brain abnormally.
Seizures might manifest in the following ways
- Loss of consciousness
- Convulsions (whole body shaking)
- Confusion
- Brief periods of staring
- A sudden feeling of fear or panic
- Uncontrolled shaking of an arm or leg
- Flexing, stiffening, jerking, or twitching of the upper body
- Nodding of the head
There are two major categories of convulsions.
Convulsions that occur with fever especially when high – we call them FEBRILE CONVULSIONS
Convulsions or seizures without fever – we call them AFEBRILE SEIZURES, not just convulsions because other form of seizures can occur here.
It is important to make this distinction early because of the implications in terms of treatment and future outcome
Both febrile convulsions and afebrile seizures can occur repeatedly.
However, it is only the recurrence of the afebrile seizures or convulsions that is termed seizure disorder or epilepsy.
In the second part, we will discuss what to in a child who is convulsing and what not to do. Thank you for reading. You can drop your questions and comments; I will be happy to address them.
Pls Dr.at age can a child begin have such attacks of convulsions?
It can start at any age depending on the cause…even newborns can have convulsions. However the commonest febrile convulsions that is those associated with fever usually happen around age 6 months – 5 years.
My baby is 3week old today she always cry so much after taking her breast and I don’t know why please help me on what to give her, second is that there are so many tiny rashes all over my baby’s body please help on what medication to give please help me
1. I hope you are attaching her properly to the breast? She may be crying because she is not getting the breast milk if she is only sucking on the nipple instead of the areola. Ensure she is properly attached to the breast. It may also be colic. Read more about colic here
2. As regards the rashes, read about common skin rashes in infants. It may not necessarily require any medications. Indeed it may be due to the products you are currently using
Hello doctor ,please what private hospital in lagos can I treat my 9month old child for seizures.
We don’t recommend private hospitals. To see any of the ATP Paediatric neurologist send a Whatsapp message to +2349056916818
Dr thank you so much for this education,but Dr the gap between the first time my boy convulsed and the second time was about 6months but not with a noticed hot temperature which made the Dr I met to talk about seizure and when I went through net I saw epilepsy and that has kept me worried that has made me to book appointment in UPTH,please what do you advice me to do now to avoid a risky occurance of such to my boy
We usually do not start treatment for epilepsy or seizure disorder until the child has had at least 2 episodes of afebrile seizures. If that has happened, then you really need to see the Paediatric Neurologist who will start the child on anti-epileptic drugs so as to prevent the seizures from recurring. Kindly note that this does not apply if the seizures are associated with fever. It is good that you see the specialist at UPTH on time
Good evening Doc…. Thanks for the piece… Would like to know if seizures is the same as fainting
Also, I’m not aware of seizures when I was younger however I experienced a fainting episode when I was about 12years…never know what caused it. In my later teenager years(around16) I experienced another after cutting myself and losing a copious amount of blood…. I also had another experience after overstressing myself.
What came to my notice is my fainting episodes come when m extremely tired so I want to know if such causes convulsion.
No Gold! Fainiting (otherwise called syncope) is not the same as seizures or convulsions though they may look alike. What you had is fainting or syncope and not seizures. If not sure if a child is having syncope or seizure, better to see a Paediatrician for further evaluation and advice.
First aid actions to assist a convulsing child or adult please
Kindly read the Part 2 of the article here
Pls doctor I can’t access d part 2. I really need to get d information. Tnx
Here is the link to Part 2
CONVULSIONS IN CHILDREN – WHAT TO AND WHAT NOT TO DO! (2)
Hello doc. Is it possible for an adult (48 years old to have a seizure. And what could possibly cause it? Thanks
Yes Dokun! Anyone can have seizures!! Adults can also have epilepsy. Though most epilepsy starts in childhood usually. if an adult is having seizure for the first time ever, it is important to rule out brain tumours, stroke and hypertension first. It can still be epilepsy too but very unusual to start in adulthood!
Lost my 1yr 9months baby the nanny taking care of him said she was feeding him n she noticed he was choking but when she tried remove the food she noticed he has clenched his teeth together. Pls Dr. can choking lead to seizure or vice versa.
Oh Mercy, I am so sorry to hear about your loss! May God comfort you greatly. The child was choking and that led to the loss of oxygen to the brain what we call hypoxia and that can lead to seizure and death. I wish your Nanny has known what to do…all she need to do is to give back slaps to dislodge the food. So sorry …unfortunately, it is one emergency that requires immediate right intervention. So sorry. I will share the video of what to do when a child is choking on our Facebook Group
Hi doc.. please my babies has this fear of sound and loud noise he’s 7months… And each time he hears a loud noise he jerks and start crying
Avoid sudden loud noises around the baby
The Link to the video https://www.facebook.com/groups/askthepaed/permalink/1772984079653702/
Once again accept my condolences and may God comfort you!
My daughter had convulsion last week, that was the first time. We took her to the hospital. She was placed on injections for 3 days. Two days after, she started running temperature intermittently, going down and high coupled with Catarrh and she wouldn’t eat Dr.
Hi Abigail, sorry to hear that You need to take her back to the hospital if she is not yet okay. Preferably take her to the Children’s Emergency Room of the closest Teaching Hospital. For answers requiring immediate or faster responses, please post on our Facebok Group wall.
pls Dr,my child is a yr plus,sometimes she wil seat and be staring at someone,when u cal she wil not respond,when u carry her she wil be weak,her eyeball wil be turning white and she wil become unconciouse,it has hapened like 4times,anytime it hapened we only give palm her kernnel oil,pls ma what can we do
Hi Zaggi….Your child is having convulsions. You need to take her to the hospital to see a Paediatrician for treatment. She may need to be seen by a Paediatrician preferably a Paediatric Neurologist. Please treat as very urgent.
My son had convulsions due to high temperature, luckily we were at the hospital. My question is in an instance where the the hospital is far what can one do as first aid?
Prevention is better so don’t allow fever to go too high. However if the seizure occurs, keep the child away from injuring themselves and take to the hospital as soon as possible. Read the first and second part of this article for more tips. All the best
Thanks Dr gbemisola. Just to use this medium to encourage parents whose chilld/children/ward is going through this phase. My son started experiencing seizure immediately he clocked 3yrs. It was so scary, there were times we would rush him to the hospital unconscious. Sometimes the seizure starts with uncontrollable jerking of the arm before losing consciousness, and sometimes he would remain conscious throughout the episodes. The paediatrician referred us for tests andone the results came back perfectly normal, after a while his pediatrician decided to place him on drugs, we followed all the instructions to the latter, he was on the drugs for some years. We stopped his drugs at the doctors insistence three years ago and the boy has been perfectly normal ever since. So if you are faced with this situation, my son is a living example that it is not a spiritual case, book an appointment with your paediatrician.
Thank you Ade for sharing this beautiful testimony.
Yes most seizures are easily treatable in children and will stop.
Of course we have the occasional ones where the seizures can be very difficult to treat and we have to use other forms of treatment including surgery. However like in your case, majority ends well. Thank you so much for sharing this encouraging story.
Dr Good evening, my daughter is 4months now and when she was a month she had fever and was admitted and I was told it was neonatal sepsis and she convulsed and was treated and discharged, then when she was 3months and 2weeks,she started jerk up with her fists closed and eyes turned and legs raised a little with little noise she makes, we ran to hospital and was referred to a neurologist and they barbed her hair and did some test but couldn’t conclude anything cod nothing was found, my pediatrician now placed her on tegreton syrup, she still taking now for 2weeks now and it reduced from 15mins of jerks to 4minutes, just tell me what’s happening, am so worried, can’t concentrate MA, thank u, sorry for the long post.
Hi Chinwe. Your baby has developed seizure disorder as a complication of the neonatal sepsis (most likely neonatal meningitis she had as a baby). She needs to be on anticonvulsant medications like Tegretol your Paediatrician recommends because of that for a long time at least 2 years after she has stopped having the seizures. Please see the Paediatric neurologist so the dose of the medication can be adjusted further until she is no longer having the seizures at all. However please DO NOT STOP the medications until your doctor asks you to.
Morning Dr my son was 9 month old and they gave him 9month vacciation with fever then his temperature continue go high then I call someone to check him and he injeck him then his temperature began to growing hihg I took him to hospital after series of injection and treatment he couldn’t survived he die Dr what would I have done because after he pass on someone told me it was convulsions
I am so sorry for the loss of your child. What injection did the person you called give to the child? Please never call any nurse or anyone to inject your child. Always take the child to the hospital. Please kindly ask the doctors at the hospital what really cause the death of the child since he was in the hospital for a while before he died. I am so sorry once again for your loss. Please accept my condolences.
Good morning doctor. Thanks for the opportunity this platform has created for we mothers. God bless you More.
I have a 7yr old daughter who started showing signs of seizure this year January to be precise. I only observed that she loses attention , non -responsive when being called or talked to . She was rushed to a nearby hospital where the doctors couldn’t really figure out what was wrong as all test carried out came back negative.
After recurring seizure again I took her to the family hospital where she had to do MRI & EEG as well as numerous blood test and she was declared epileptic.
She has being on Sodium valproate for months ,but my daughter still had another episode on the 25the of October. I contacted the PAED & went back to the hospital , her dosage has being increased .
But I am terribly worried for her , she had to change school because of the stigma & encounter with the last school proprietress because I followed the doc’s instructions to notify the school about the sudden development about her health.
Note she has never had the episode outside the home. PLEASE is there something else I need to do ???
You should take her to see a Paediatric neurologist preferably at a Teaching hospital for treatment. Usually seizures will not stop immediately and will require treatment for a while and there may be need to adjust or change the medications depending on response. This is best done by a Paediatric neurologist.
My baby jerk her legs while eating and while falling asleep and waking up… She jerk every part of her body. What could that be..
You need to record these jerks and show a Paediatrician – because they may be signs of convulsions (seizures) so it can be addressed as soon as possible if truly these jerks are seizures.
it happen to my baby when he was 2 weeks. is an experience I wouldn’t like to have again! please Doc help us with home remedy for this convulsions. thank you
There are no home remedies for convulsions. Kindly take any convulsing child to the hospital.
Good evening Dr.my girl of 4yrs has convulsion when I gave birth to her ,till now she can not talk but she hear everything I talk to her. Plz MA what can I do again help a worried mom. But before I was discharged the Dr’s said she’ll has low milestone
You need to book an appointment with a Developmental Paediatrician for proper evaluation of the type of disability your child has and the longterm management. Book Consultation
Please Dr. Am in so much pain. My new born baby at 2 days old he started seizing his whole body, his eyes turned and we tapped his body and gave him first aid after that I took him to the hospital and the doctor said it’s nothing just that he tried to breathe and have difficulty and place him on 5 days injection with drugs , at his 1 month old it happened again twice that day, I took him back to the hospital which the doctor said it’s convulsion and now it happened to my baby almost every day. He’s 1 month and 3weeks now. Am really confused and disturbed. Please what is this sickness and it’s cure.
Sorry Vivian. Yes your baby is having seizures and must see a Paediatric neurologist immediately. You can book to see one here. or send a WhatsApp message to +2349056916818. Your baby will need to be on medications for seizures.
What are the first aid treatment given to a child who is having ferible conlvosion
This is already written in the article. Please read the article for the information
Dr. My 6 years old daughter is a hudrocephalos patient and had a surgery 5 years ago. For the past 2 months she’s has suffered 3 convulsions in midst of 2 months and i was wondering if it is associated with her condition
YES…most likely. You shoud see a Paediatrician, preferably a Paediatric neurologist. To see ATP Paediatrician, send a Whatsapp message to +2349056916818
Dr. Pls what causes constant temperature and convulsion
Any illness that causes high fever can be complicated with convulsions. Some children are prone to febrile convulsions. Fever and convulsions may also be first symptoms and signs of meningitis.