Every time a child has a fever, it will make parents worry for a while, but there is a fever that mothers will ignore, and even make a wrong judgment, that is, febrile seizures.
Febrile seizures are actually common neurological diseases in children, and their symptoms are convulsions that occur within 24 hours of fever in children, which is colloquially known as "menstruation".
Febrile seizures are generally divided into simple and complex:
Simple: there is no recurrence within 24 hours after the convulsion, not more than 15 minutes each time, the muscles of the whole body are stiff at the time of the attack, and the tics of the limbs are symmetrical.
Complexity: seizures lasting more than 15 minutes, asymmetrical twitching of the extremities or twitching on only one side, repeated convulsions after the onset of the disease.
In general, simple seizures are common, recover well, complex is rare, and there is a chance of turning into a fever-free convulsion (epilepsy), of course, these should be judged by the doctor.
Basically, children between the beginning of 6 months and the age of 5 years are the most susceptible to the disease, because the nervous system of children during this period is not fully developed, so they are more susceptible to affect.
In general, when febrile seizures occur in children, the following symptoms usually occur:
Symptoms of convulsions appear within 24 hours of fever;
Persistent increase in body temperature;
Head back, eyes sluggish, mouth bruised, mouth spitting white foam; hands and feet straight and stiff, shaking non-stop, hands clenched; no crying, no response, and even incontinence.
Causes of febrile seizures
Fever is the biggest cause of febrile seizures;
Specific viruses. Viral infections cause fever in children, which can cause convulsions; e.g. human herpes virus, influenza virus, adenovirus, etc.;
Genetic factors. In general, immediate family members have a history of febrile seizures, and the probability of inheritance in children is 10%-20%;
Vaccinations. Fever is a common adverse effect after vaccination, such as leprosy vaccine and whole-cell pertussis vaccine, which are most likely to cause febrile seizures.
Despite this, there is no evidence in many countries that febrile seizures are contraindicated in vaccination, so parents should still take their babies to be vaccinated on time.
How to deal with febrile seizures
When the child has fever and convulsions, parents should not panic too much, more than 80% of children with febrile convulsions will relieve themselves within 3-5 minutes, parents only need to do the following measures:
First undo the child's clothes to dissipate heat;
Have your child lie flat or on your side while turning your head to the side and wait for the convulsions to end, usually stopping within 5 minutes;
After the child is awake, the child can be fed antipyretic drugs immediately;
If your child is convulsing for more than 5 minutes, you should maintain your child's safe posture and immediately dial 120 or send it to the hospital;
If your child develops severe abnormal symptoms during convulsions, such as difficulty breathing, choking, persistent or recurrent bruises, they need to be taken to the hospital immediately.
Contraindications:
Do not press people, needle and other behaviors;
Do not wrap the child with a quilt or rope;
It is forbidden to stuff objects or fingers into your child's mouth.
How to prevent febrile seizures
So far, there is no clear pathogenesis of febrile seizures in China, so it cannot be prevented by drugs.
What parents can do is to get the flu vaccine when the flu season is high, which can relatively reduce the high fever caused by the flu and reduce the incidence of febrile seizures.
Rotavirus vaccine can also be given, which can reduce autumn and winter diarrhea and reduce convulsions induced by enterovirus infection.
Usually, parents should pay attention to their children's hygiene, wear masks, wash their hands frequently, and reduce the chance of cross-infection.