Sometimes, the brain cells temporarily disrupt the electrical signals the brain sends to other parts of the body. It is not as uncommon as one would think, especially among children. Such a condition is medically termed as Seizures. A top pediatrician in Mumbai shares his views,

Some seizures like twitching of muscles, jerking of body and stiffness, can be easily recognizable. Others, which do not have any signs on the outside, can obviously be harder to track. Even though there are a few types of seizures which do affect the brain in a negative way, they do not necessarily mean that there is damage being done to the brain.

The symptoms can vary because they depend upon which part of the brain was responsible for the seizure, but almost all obvious symptoms have one thing in common - uncontrollable muscle spasms and sometimes the loss of consciousness.

Sometimes, medical conditions can result in seizures, like infections, low blood sugar, drug overdose or head injuries. Brain tumors or similar medical complications can also affect the functioning of the brain, resulting in seizures.

Basically, any activity which might induce a sudden lack of oxygen in the brain, or reduction of blood flow to the brain, can be responsible for seizure. Parents should keep track, and if the seizures start occurring with more frequency and occur consistently, then their child may be suffering from epilepsy.

Children under the age of 5 have febrile seizures, which occur usually some time after they have developed fevers over 100 degrees. Even though such seizures might scare parents and children, they are brief and have rarely known to cause any serious complications. However, do get the child checked for the cause of fever, because if it is due to an infection like meningitis, the seizures might gradually become dangerous.

Breath-holding spells are also common in children of this age group, leading to seizures. Contrary to its name, children known to have an exaggerated reflex are more at risk. For children with exaggerated reflexes, they have a tendency to hold their breath when they are hurt emotionally or physically. After that, they start turning pale, lose consciousness and might experience a seizure with convulsions. These spells have been known to stop without any external intervention, with the child rarely suffering any serious damage. However, it is important that you contact a pediatrician if in case such a spell repeats itself.

10% of children who do not suffer from the seizure mentioned above, experience fainting spells.

These spells, also known as syncope, can stiffen the body of the child and make it go through minor convulsions. Most children require no specialized treatments for such spells.

The past few years have seen great advancement for treatments. As of today, there are numerous options of medications available to control seizures. But it should be noted that children who experience epilepsy might have a treatment different from those who suffer normal seizures.

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