[ Home | Contents | Search | Post | Reply | Next | Previous | Up ]
From:
My daughter was born in 1996 and from about the age of six months she had what looked like siezures to us. The doctors in our small town told up it was temper tantrums - at six months old? I never did believe them and continued to try to find a pediatrician who could tell me what was wrong. Her "attacks" would be brought on by extreme crying, a small injury, or illness. She would turn purple and get really stiff and finally just collapse and then in about 2 or 3 seconds she would be looking around with a glazed look on her face. It didn't take her long to be back to normal. There were a couple of times that she didn't come right out of it; I called an ambulance out to our home early one morning because she had vomited, started having an "attack" and she didn't come right out of it. She was shaking and gurgling. It was the most terrifying thing in my life. I thought she was going to die right in my arms. After many pediatricians and nuerologist visits - they all told us there was nothing wrong with her. We finally ended up at Texas Children's and Dr. Fernandez actually witnessed her doing this. He said that she would outgrow them eventually. Since she had had several EEGs and an MRI and they showed nothing we felt there was nothing more to do except wait for her to grow out of them. What struck home with me about the email I just read was the mother saying they had to remind her daughter to breathe. We did that so many times with our little girl. She did finally out grow them around the age of five. By that time we had given up our home in the country and moved to town because my husband worked very odd hous and I was terrified of being alone so far from town with my daughter. I was also apprehensive about having another baby for fear that it would happen all over again. Occasionally, for one reason or another I find myself saying "breathe, baby, breathe" when she gets hurt. Her face will start to turn white and then that dark purple. I just wish I had been able to have access to the internet when this was going on.