A 2 year old girl (not premature, no known congenital or neuro problems
to date, not epileptic) did it twice in the last two
months: stopped breathing after a minor head concussion. First in May
she fell from a sofa onto a rug (1 1/2 ft), cried briefly
and then fainted and stopped breathing. Her mother (a trained nurse)
took her to the balcony for fresh air and reanimated by
mouth to mouth respiration. She went to see the pediatrician who said it
was a sobbing spasm.
The second time it happened 10 days ago: the child fell in her bed while
the parents were downstairs. They heard the thud of
the fall and some crying; when theycame upstairs the child was again
unconscious and not breathing. In addition, she was
cyanosed, her eyes revulsed and the skin grayish. When picked up and
called, she did not react. Again, the mother applied
mouth to mouth and the child responded after the second breath. Later,
she remained very pale and sweating. After both
incidents the child still has the same cheerful behaviour - she is one
little red-haired blue-eyed beauty with a charming smile.
After the second incident the mother went to see a neuropaediatrician.
She had an EEG and an ECG and everything seems to
be normal. The neuropaediatrician diagnosed vagal syncope, said she is
just a bit more sensitive to shocks than your average
child. He also said there were children who could go into a syncope just
with a small tap on the head. He said - let's wait and
see if there is a third incidence, then we can start some reatment. When
the mother insisted she didn't want to risk a third
incident, he agreed to give atropine syrup treatment. Besides, he
maintains that such vagal syncopes aren't fatal and that they
will go away by the age of three, or five, at most. He says that the
fatalities attributed to vagal syncopes are wrong diagnoses...
Well, the parents are not sure about his diagnosis, and neither am I.
Does anyone have any experience/advice/suggestion? Thanks in advance,
Alan
