new on here--wondering about possible causes

[skaggs09]

I've read no telling how many books about epilepsy and have found that my daughter has all of the symptoms of pneumococcal meningitis (back to back sinus infections, pneumonia, ear infection and now epilepsy) which have all occurred after receiving her first immunization shot for pneumococcal meningitis. After being able to control the seizures with Keppra she was almost a month seizure free when she had her second dose of the immunization and just days later had another seizure. I haven't even brought this to our doctors attention yet for fear that they will just brush it aside as if its nothing. I was just wondering if anyone else has made this type of connection and if so have you discussed it with your neurologist and have you discussed how to handle future children and the shot with your neurologist?

[Junebug]

vaccines have been known to cause febrile seizures but the vaccines are inactive and are not able to cause the disease they are given to prevent. (does that make sense?) It could be that your daughter has something else similar to meningitis but the only way to know for sure if she does have menin. is with a spinal tap and they are no fun to watch your child suffer through. I took my daughter into the ER about 4 or 5 yrs ago when the drs thought she had pnumococcal meningitis but only had the symptoms which included:
High fever
Increased sleepiness, confusion
Nausea and vomiting
Sensitivity to light (photophobiaphotophobia)
Severe headache
Stiff neck
Feeding difficulties
High-pitched cry
Irritability

If you have any doubt, take your daughter to the dr and don't worry about what the dr will think. Meningitis can cause Deafness, Hydrocephalus, Mental retardation, Paralysis of muscles, build up of fluid between the skull and brain

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/e...cle/000607.htm

[Crystalblue]

The thing about meningitis is that it is something that comes on very swiftly. It's not something your daughter could have for weeks - she'd be in the ICU, or worse. There is a kind of chronic meningitis, but it's not caused by pneumococcos.

Your daughter's seizures could still be related to her immunizations though, I guess there's a huge debate about vaccine issues between the mainstream medical community and some large groups of parents and some doctors. I don't know too much about that though, as I personally don't buy into the concept.

[CathyAnn31]

Hey there-

I've have no experience with meninigitis, but I did have a childhood form of epilepsy that I outgrew a few yrs later. My mom researched my symptoms at the library (back in the early 70s) and found an article about a little boy in the UK who developed epilepsy after a DPT shot. She did her homework and presented it to my Dr, who then refered us to a neurologist and it was confirmed after a positive eeg - psycho motor epilepsy. I was given dylantin and it worked well. I outgrew my epilepsy a few years later and the dr said if it would return it would be during adolesence when my hormones kicked into gear and if it didn't happen I'd never have to worry about it coming back. Ha!!

And here I am after 2 full-blown seizures last year at the age of 39.

[Cint]

Hi Skaggs,

I haven't had experience with meningitis, but have had plenty of seizures over the years. When I first started having seizures years ago, one of the questions that was asked was, "Did I ever have meningitis or encephalitis?"

Here is some info from http://www.epilepsy.com/info/family_kids_causes about immunizations and seizures:

Extensive and careful studies have not found any evidence that immunizations cause epilepsy. However, a seizure may occur within 1 or 2 days of an immunization, especially if it is followed by a fever. In such cases, the child probably had an innocent febrile seizure. When the child receives immunizations, the parents should give acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) before a fever develops. Children who have a single seizure following an immunization can usually receive further immunizations.

Many childhood seizures are benign, meaning that they are brief events that will not continue into adulthood, and the child's development and intellect are usually normal. Other seizures are serious and often are associated with developmental delay or intellectual disability and persistent seizures.

[Endless]

The pneumococcal meningitis vaccine is not a live vaccine. It's pretty impossible to GET meningitis from the vaccine. Although the body can react to it as if it does have an infection. When we get sick after a vaccine, it's not because we got the bacteria or virus, it's because our immune system is tricked into thinking we are sick, it reacts, and that makes us FEEL sick. I don't know how it would cause seizures, but I don't doubt it. Anything is possible.

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/...meningitis.htm