Febrile Fits - Medical Treatment, Prevention and Precaution

Febrile Fits - Medical Treatment, Prevention and Precaution
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Precaution

Febrile fits are prevalent among toddlers due to high fever and every care should be taken to keep the child safe, as the child often loses consciousness during the seizures, and the body of the child would shake uncontrollably.

Although this may seem frightening to parents and caretakers, they should keep in mind that most febrile fits are relatively harmless and remain calm to be able to better handle the situation. Febrile fits by themselves do not lead to brain damage. However, extra care and precautions should be taken to prevent accidents during the fits, such as the possibility of the child choking on food or saliva, or falling and hurting himself.

In the event of seizure attack, the child should not be given any medication through the mouth. Such attempt may lead to aspiration pneumonia if the medicine enters the respiratory tract instead of the gastrointestinal tract.

Medical treatment

An observant caretaker would be able to describe the seizure attack to the doctor. Details such as the onset of the fever, duration of the seizure, frequency of the attack, type of jerky movements and other associated symptoms like inactivity would certainly help the doctor to come at a diagnosis.

Most of the time, a simple febrile seizure would subside without the requirement for hospital admission. However, for children with prolonged seizure and severe infection, a hospital stay is needed to identify the cause of seizure and initiate treatment.

If the need arises to rule out meningitis, then the lumbar puncture would be carried out to collect the cerebrospinal fluid for lab examination. If the attack is frequent, then further test such as electroencephalogram (EEG) may be warrant to further investigate the complex febrile seizure.

In an emergency situation, medicine is being given by medical providers either via intravenous (through the vein) or the rectum to control the prolonged seizure.

Prevention

Medicines like acetaminophen or ibuprofen will help to bring down the fever but they may not help in preventing a seizure. Likewise, they are not changing the course of infection that might be associated with fever. However, once a child is known to have fever every effort must be taken to bring down the body temperature in view of the poor thermo-regulatory system in the brain.

Aspirin is contraindicated in children in most of the cases as it can lead to a condition-Reye’s Syndrome. Thus, all medicines should be taken only after consulting medical professionals to avoid adverse complications.

Simple measures like giving adequate fluids and fruits to the children would help to control the body temperature besides keeping the electrolytes balanced.

References

  1. Clinical Practice Guidelines Management of Febrile Fits
  1. American Academy Of Pediatrics (1999). Practice Parameter: Long-term Treatment of the Child With Simple Febrile Seizures

  2. Paediatrics: Febrile Seizures by Noorudin Tejani, MD

This post is part of the series: Febrile Fits in Young Children

Febrile fits are common occurences in young children between the ages of one and four, and may happen if the fever gets too high. This information is crucial for parents of young children, babysitters and caretakers of childcare centers and kindergartens to understand the symptoms of febrile fits an

  1. Febrile Fits in Young Children
  2. Febrile Fits - Medical Treatment, Prevention and Precaution