Clinical manifestations of breath-holding spells in children

There are many common diseases in children. When treating children's diseases, we must first understand the diseases so that we can choose the best methods when treating them. When treating children's diseases, we must pay attention to the physical condition of the children, otherwise other changes in the baby's body cannot be discovered in time. Breath-holding attacks in children are common. What are the clinical manifestations of breath-holding attacks in children?

Breath-holding spells in children:

Clinical manifestations

When the child encounters adverse stimuli such as fear, crying, anger, frustration, etc., he will have a sudden emotional outburst, crying and hyperventilation, followed by holding his breath, respiratory arrest, cyanosis of the lips and rigidity of the limbs. In severe cases, there may be loss of consciousness, general rigidity, opisthotonos, and clonic twitching of the muscles of the limbs. The whole process takes about 1 minute, and in severe cases it lasts 2 to 3 minutes, then the muscles of the whole body relax, breathing begins, and consciousness returns.

examine

When the disease occurs, there may be hypoxemia changes such as decreased blood oxygen partial pressure.

diagnosis

Collect the medical history correctly and in detail, describe the circumstances and process of the attack, inquire about the age, frequency, triggering factors, environment of the onset of the attack, the color of the face and torso, body posture, presence or absence of spasms, and family history during the attack, etc., and make a diagnosis based on the clinical manifestations.

Differential Diagnosis

Breath-holding spells need to be differentiated from epilepsy. There are often obvious triggers before a breath-holding spell, and it starts with sudden breath-holding and respiratory arrest, followed by cyanosis, loss of consciousness and convulsions, and opisthotonos often occur. The EEG is normal during the spell. Children with epilepsy first experience convulsions, then cyanosis, and have special EEG changes. At the same time, after a breath-holding attack, consciousness returns to normal once breathing returns to normal, unlike epilepsy, which often causes drowsiness after an attack.

treat

1. General treatment

First of all, the mechanism of breath-holding attack should be explained clearly to parents. Parents should not mistakenly think that this is just a behavioral problem. Parents should not take appeasement measures before the child cries in order to avoid making the child unhappy. This often reinforces the child to use crying to get his or her own demands in the future, which is more likely to cause breath-holding attack. It should be dealt with with calm behavioral correction methods.

2. Emergency measures

During a breath-holding attack, especially in severely ill children, parents should have the child lie on his or her side or back to avoid head injury and inhalation of foreign objects; when there is blockage, foreign objects in the mouth and airway should be cleared to keep the airway open.

3. Medication

Generally, no drug treatment is required. If necessary, phenobarbital or dilantin can be used to reduce seizures and prevent damage caused by brain hypoxia.

After understanding the clinical manifestations of breath-holding spells in children, the treatment of breath-holding spells in children should be based on the child's physical condition. During the treatment, we must pay attention to comprehensive care for the child. At the same time, parents should follow the doctor's instructions completely at this time, so that the child's disease can be improved.