Treatment of convulsions in children

It is not uncommon for children to have convulsions. Especially when children have a fever, we should be more vigilant about the occurrence of convulsions and take medicine to reduce the temperature in time. What is the treatment for convulsions in children? Generally speaking, there are several causes of convulsions, including systemic tonic convulsions, localized convulsions, and convulsions caused by high fever. Therefore, to treat it, we must find out the cause of the child's convulsions. Only symptomatic treatment can make the child improve faster.

1. Symptoms of convulsions in children

1. Generalized tonic convulsions: The muscles of the whole body are rigid and twitching in waves, showing opisthotonos (the head is tilted back and the whole body is bent backward in a bow shape), the eyes are rolled up or staring, and the patient is unconscious.

2. Localized convulsions: only local muscles twitch, such as twitching of only one side of the limbs, or twitching of facial muscles, or twitching of fingers or toes, or eye movements, nystagmus, blinking, staring, etc. Most are unconscious. The above convulsions can last for a few seconds or several minutes, and in severe cases can last for several minutes or recur repeatedly. Convulsions lasting more than 30 minutes are called persistent state convulsions.

3. Febrile convulsions: mainly seen in children aged 6 months to 4 years who have convulsions when they have high fever. High fever convulsions are short-lived, and consciousness recovers quickly after the convulsion. They often occur in the early stages of a fever. During a fever, there is often only one convulsion. Brain diseases and other serious illnesses can be ruled out, and an EEG will be normal one week after the fever subsides.

2. Treatment

If you want to treat it properly, you must first find out the cause of your child's convulsions. For children who have a fever and convulsions for the first time, the doctor will ask the parents in detail about the duration of the convulsion, the symptoms of the convulsion and the family history. A detailed medical consultation and blood tests are required. If necessary, cerebrospinal fluid examination or brain scan will be arranged to rule out meningitis, electrolyte imbalance and metabolic diseases. Or other reasons possible. Children who have a fever and convulsions for the first time usually need to stay in the hospital for 6 to 8 hours with an IV drip because there is a possibility of another seizure within a short period of time. If the seizures are acute, anticonvulsant drugs are given intravenously or as rectal suppositories to stop the seizures. Severe, repetitive seizures may require hospitalization. Patients with febrile seizures are scheduled for an EEG examination up to 10 days after the first episode.