COULD IT BE SEIZURES?

[Linner]

My son is almost six months old and has had breath holding spells since birth. When he holds his breath, right before he passes out and while he is passed out, his eyes are wide open, but it is as if he is not even there. His eyes shift back and forth and his arms convulse, especially his right arm. Then his entire body stiffens and he is passed out for approximately 10-40 seconds. At first I thought that this was just BHS but now I am starting to wonder if he could be having seizures? Any suggestions?

[Jeri27]

My daughter has BHS.  She started at 10 months old and is now almost three.  We had an EEG done and consulted with a  pediatric neurologist (I sympathize with the trips to the ER.  The first BHS resulted in a 911 call and paramedics at our home)  We were told that as long as she held her breath BEFORE the passing out/seizure, it was considered a BHS and that treatment was not necessary.  My pediatrician checks my daughters iron levels and she takes iron suppliments.  Low levels have been linked in some studies to BHS.  The BHS peeked at 20 months (5-7 times a day) then slowly dropped off to 1-2 a month.  She recently started having them more frequently 1-2 a week.  It is a very stressful thing to watch your child go blue, lose consciousness, and then have a seizure.  I will say that it has become a "normal" part of our family.  We know what to expect now and react accordingly.  My daughter loses bladder funtioning when having a BHS which has been a challenge since becoming potty trained.  My MD told me that by age 7, most children have "out grown" the BHS.  This has affected her personality but not her cognitive ability.  The seizures scare her and she is very shy and timid.  We have had to parent her different because "crying it out" wasn't and option, as you can imagine, so I would call her spoiled.  I just found this site and couldn't help responding to your post.  I hope this information helps!    

[Nicki1433]

It sounds EXACTLY like my 2.5 year old.  He's had BHS since about 14 months old.  He's now 32 months old (just to put it in perspective).  On July 3rd, he had his first seizure associated with BHS.  He now has a seizure EVERY TIME he has a BHS.  Really, it sounds EXACTLY like his.  Of course the first couple times, we rushed him to the ER, but we've since had him evaluated by a neurologist and had an EEG done, which came out normal.  It is not considered a seizure disorder until he has one (which hopefully he never will) that is not associated with BHS.  As for now, we just deal with them as BHS w/ seizures.  They say he'll grow out of them with time.  Please feel free to e-mail me if you'd like...Nicki1433 at yahoo dot com (tried putting it that way so it wouldn't get ***** out).