A Cautionary Tale

I went to go visit some friends last week and was talking to a mom whose son would repeatedly sit and stare into space.  For no apparent purpose he would just all of the sudden seem to “doze off”.  She was frustrated and thought he just didn’t want to do his work (they homeschool), and/or that he was being disobedient. 

Turns out, he was having seizures.  As someone who used to be in the classroom, I thought I’d share because I find that staring off into space/deer in the headlights look is one of the signs of a seizure that is most common and yet most missed by parents and educators because we all tend to think of seizures as a big event with uncontrollable shaking.

This is really good information.  My daughter had febrile seizures for the first 5 years of her life.  The first time it happened I thought she was dying.  It is not something you can prepare anyone for.  It was a full on shaking seizure and then she just passed out in my arms.  As she got older her seizures involved less and less shaking.  The last one she had I did not even know she was having a seizure.  I looked over at her and her head was down on the table and she was staring into space.  Febrile seizures are different then seizures that are not associated with fevers.  They are just as scary, but it is actually the body protecting itself from the fever.  Luckily it seems that she has out grown them, because even thought I know they are not going to hurt her, they are still very scary to watch.

I have a child too who is “prone” to febrile seizures although she hasn’t had one for a few years now.  The doctors told me she would grow out of them.  The first one she had was freaked me out BUT it happens to be the only first aid emergency that I had seen before so I was able to stay pretty calm.  However, at that point we still had the 6yo, 4yo, 2yo and the other twin to take with us to the ER—NOT FUN.    Now we just treat fevers in her very aggressively.

No I can imagine that emergency room visit was not too fun.  During all of her seizures, I was pretty lucky.  I had family or friends who could take care of my other kids.  They are older.  I have an 8 year old and 15 year old.  I do have to say I freaked out the first time it happened.  Okay, probably the second time as well.  I always get matter of fact.  I tell my boys what I need and who to call.  They have been amazing helpers during each episode.  I also treat her fevers very seriously, just to prevent any further episodes.  I am so glad they are over.

Yikes! I would never think to have a child checked by a doctor because of staring off into space! I would probably just think my kid was allowing his or her mind to wander. Thanks so much for posting this!