febrile seizures, a little-known childhood disorder easily confused with seizures

After specialist training at the Hospital de la Paz (Madrid), Dr. Juan Lastra Has extensive experience in epilepsy and similar disorders. Experts warn that “seizures often have more subtle symptoms”. In many cases, “the most common symptom is absenteeism (the child’s inability to fully connect with the environment for a few seconds), and parents often don’t know it well until they routinely repeat or worsen their daily activities. But if epilepsy— – If diagnosed correctly and with a good prognosis – affecting close to 1% of the population, febrile seizures are much more frequent, lesser known, and easily confused by parents or educators with epilepsy.

If the incidence of epilepsy is 1%, the incidence of febrile seizures is 3% to 6%, which means that “in a classroom of 40 children,” Dr. Lastra said, “almost always one or two children have a febrile seizure,” the most common type of seizure in childhood. “These febrile convulsions are the most common manifestation of this other disorder, Occurs when a fever intensifies This is secondary to other causes, such as colds, gastroenteritis, etc.,” explains the neuropediatrician.

In the presence of fever, “some of the more susceptible children develop seizures, often generalized.” Fortunately, these crises “usually do not leave sequelae and can be rescued and monitored with certain medications.” to stop.” Of these children, in some cases, very few, May develop epilepsy“,” The typical symptoms are that when you have a fever, you lose touch with the environment, your eyes remain fixed, and your eyes are even empty. Dr. Juan Lastella, a neuropediatrician at the Huneda Hospital, continues that the condition usually involves increased muscle tone and the child remains rigid, which may be followed by color changes, clonic movements, and twitching of the arms and legs. It is not uncommon for the crisis to end spontaneously when the child arrives in the emergency room, or to make a full recovery shortly after giving him rescue medication. In a small percentage of cases, crises can last for a few minutes, which is dangerous.

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