Febrile seizures in my 5yo daughter, or something else?

[shy1214]

My 5yo daughter has experienced seizure like episodes on four occassions. The first(9months ago)she woke with 104fever and her upper body was shaking, she was pounding her fists repeatedly into the mattress.  She was also screaming in a rythmic type of way, and was seeing black circles coming at her.The entire episode (screaming and seeing circles) lasted at least 30minutes, we couldn't seem to 'reach' her.And she couldn't look at me at all b/c she said I had circles on my face.However the punching went away after 5 minutes.She went to sleep and woke with another,though much milder one that was done in about 5 minutes. She has since experienced two others when she has gone to bed feeling fine and has awoken with (seizure)and 102 fever. The other two have been much milder as they are usually done within 15 minutes.My biggest concern is these 'circles' she sees.She says they bounce from the floor to the ceiling and look like they might hit her.She sometimes tells us she is afraid to watch TV b/c she is afraid of seeing the circles.Although, she has never had them while awake.  
She had her last episode five nights ago and had a CT scan today.She is scheudled for an EEG in late Jan and depending on results will see neurologist.
Any insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Also, her dad had a grand mal seizure three years ago at age of (32) and her uncle had a grand mal seizure at age 22.  Both were told they were a one time event type of thing and have not had any more since.  
Thanks, Vicki

[shy1214]

Thakn you for your response doctor.

Also, thank Carol and no_hands for your responses.  It helps to get as much information as possible from people that have gone through similar things.

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-PW]

Seizures assocaited with a convulsion in children are quite common, and can happen usually between the ages of 6 months and 4-5 years. There is an association with future epilepsy but the risk is small, less than 10%. This risk is slightly increased if the seizures were prolonged (over 15 minutes) or in clusters, recur frequently or occur without a fever, and if the EEG or MRI is abnormal.
I cannot tell for sure if you are describing a real epileptic seizure , but this should be evalauted by a pediatric neurologist or epileptologist with EEG and/or video-EEG monitoring to diagnose what these nocturnal behaviours are.

Good luck

[no_hands]

Hi,

Between about 12 and 16 I had a number of episodes as I fell asleep. Once as I woke in the morning. I had a very active brain, would think A LOT and as I fell asleep I would wake to a fit which would last about 10 mins. I could hear people but couldn't see anything and my entire body would shake.

I had to take some sort of sedative twice a day, morning and night, which made me extremely tired and left bags under my eyes. Actually had a couple people ask me if my father would beat me over the years.

Anyway, just letting you know that I was told I'd probably grow out of it and I did. It was a puberty thing or something. My marks were low at the time as well, but once off the drugs I caught up.

Joel.