Deet & seizures?

Specialties Pediatric

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Hi, I'm not a pediatric nurse, actually work in L&D. However, my six-year-old son had a seizure in July, never had any seizure activity before, it was a grand mal. It lasted almost half an hour and only ended after he received 6mg of Valium. CT and MRI were normal, EEG was abnormal. Neurologist started him on Tegretol, he has not had any seizures since. As parents, my husband and I are curious to know what could have caused it. We've been told many children have seizures for unknown reasons, but there was one possible cause that was blown off by his neurologist. The day before, I applied Deep Woods Off, which contains Deet, to his arms and legs while we were outside.

I know, I should have washed it off, but the kids were tired and I just didn't think about it. I since have seen some links on the internet between incidences of kids using Deet products & having seizures. I was just wondering if any of you in your nursing experience have seen this firsthand or could provide any further information. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to let you know the facts. Tia for any info you may have. :nurse:

Stephanie

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Hi, I'm not a pediatric nurse, actually work in L&D. However, my six-year-old son had a seizure in July, never had any seizure activity before, it was a grand mal. It lasted almost half an hour and only ended after he received 6mg of Valium. CT and MRI were normal, EEG was abnormal. Neurologist started him on Tegretol, he has not had any seizures since. As parents, my husband and I are curious to know what could have caused it. We've been told many children have seizures for unknown reasons, but there was one possible cause that was blown off by his neurologist. The day before, I applied Deep Woods Off, which contains Deet, to his arms and legs while we were outside.

I know, I should have washed it off, but the kids were tired and I just didn't think about it. I since have seen some links on the internet between incidences of kids using Deet products & having seizures. I was just wondering if any of you in your nursing experience have seen this firsthand or could provide any further information. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to let you know the facts. Tia for any info you may have. :nurse:

Stephanie

Hello, Stephanie,:balloons:

I see your concern. Yes, there have been cases of seizure activity with the use of pesticides/insecticides. With DEET, you would have had to use a concentration of 50 %-75% and/or misused the chemical/s.

I tend to agree with the physicians on this, the seizure happened and may never know the etiology. May never happen again.

I know that you were VERY frightened and I do not blame you in the least. I do hope all is well now and this never happens again.:icon_hug:

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Hello, Stephanie,:balloons:

I see your concern. Yes, there have been cases of seizure activity with the use of pesticides/insecticides. With DEET, you would have had to use a concentration of 50 %-75% and/or misused the chemical/s.

I tend to agree with the physicians on this, the seizure happened and may never know the etiology. May never happen again.

I know that you were VERY frightened and I do not blame you in the least. I do hope all is well now and this never happens again.:icon_hug:

Thanks, Siri. You're probably right, it was just an isolated incident. When it's your child it's just hard to let it go at that. The important thing is he's fine and seizure-free, so far. Just thought I'd ask for someone else's perspective that has more experience with peds. :)

Stephanie

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Stephanie,

My son had a grand mal seizure at about 7 y/o w/ no previous probs. We had him kept overnight at the hosp w/ eeg, mri, etc. and nothing to really explain what had happened. Some kind of abnormality on the mri, but it was "unremarkable." That morning he was c/o not feeling well, but at the time it was a common Mon. morning complaint...not wanting to go to school.

He has not had a seizure since, but this much I pieced together...

Normally he has a balanced diet and regular sleep sched. That weekend he was at a friend's house and ate lots and lots of junk - a ton of it. Popcorn was the most nourishing thing the kids ate - spent the evening at the circus w/ pop, candy, cottoncandy, etc. (I was in the hosp. w/ a miscarriage.)

Sun. pm and Mon am he had little to eat.

He gets very hypoglycemic when he doesn't eat - not anything we knew then, since he was very balanced w/ his diet.

He is a bright kid and has managed his diet well since then, asking for something w/ protein if he has pop or candy... which he rarely does, but we didn't want to forbid the food.

Anyway... an isolated incident... but a cause for worry and concern for mom and dad...

SJ

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
Stephanie,

My son had a grand mal seizure at about 7 y/o w/ no previous probs. We had him kept overnight at the hosp w/ eeg, mri, etc. and nothing to really explain what had happened. Some kind of abnormality on the mri, but it was "unremarkable." That morning he was c/o not feeling well, but at the time it was a common Mon. morning complaint...not wanting to go to school.

He has not had a seizure since, but this much I pieced together...

Normally he has a balanced diet and regular sleep sched. That weekend he was at a friend's house and ate lots and lots of junk - a ton of it. Popcorn was the most nourishing thing the kids ate - spent the evening at the circus w/ pop, candy, cottoncandy, etc. (I was in the hosp. w/ a miscarriage.)

Sun. pm and Mon am he had little to eat.

He gets very hypoglycemic when he doesn't eat - not anything we knew then, since he was very balanced w/ his diet.

He is a bright kid and has managed his diet well since then, asking for something w/ protein if he has pop or candy... which he rarely does, but we didn't want to forbid the food.

Anyway... an isolated incident... but a cause for worry and concern for mom and dad...

SJ

Hello, Susan,:Melody:

So he was exposed to DEET, too?

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Hello, Susan,:Melody:

So he was exposed to DEET, too?

We have used products w/ DEET w/ no ill effects. His seizure, however, was around the same age as OP's son and also, no obvious causes. The best we could do was conclude that it was a severe hypoglycemic reaction. No subsequent episodes of seizure since the orig. grand mal episode.

SJ

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
We have used products w/ DEET w/ no ill effects. His seizure, however, was around the same age as OP's son and also, no obvious causes. The best we could do was conclude that it was a severe hypoglycemic reaction. No subsequent episodes of seizure since the orig. grand mal episode.

SJ

I see, SusanJean. I do hope all is well with him now. :balloons: No diabetes?

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We have used products w/ DEET w/ no ill effects. His seizure, however, was around the same age as OP's son and also, no obvious causes. The best we could do was conclude that it was a severe hypoglycemic reaction. No subsequent episodes of seizure since the orig. grand mal episode.

SJ

Glad your son has also remained seizure-free, but hypoglycemia was ruled out as a cause for my son's seizure. They checked his blood sugar in the ED, it was normal, in the 90's I believe. Thanks for your input, anyways.

Stephanie

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I since have seen some links on the internet between incidences of kids using Deet products & having seizures. I was just wondering if any of you in your nursing experience have seen this firsthand or could provide any further information.

Stephanie

I'm glad to hear that your son is doing OK. It is probably not possible to determine now whether or not DEET played a role in his seizure. Were any toxicology studies done during his hospital stay? Despite the reassurances of healthcare providers, you will probably always have lingering doubts.

A co-worker of mine lost her toddler daughter to sudden, unexplained death. The death certificate read "SIDS", although technically, the little girl was too old to meet those criteria. Absolutely nothing turned up on autopsy, and it wasn't until after the child was buried that Mom remembered that she had been playing on the lawn following a chemical fertilizer treatment. That prompted questions in Mom's mind about the safety of the lawn treatment, which was supposed to be "non-toxic". Unfortunately, she will never know.

It does lead one to wonder about the chemical exposures our kids face.

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Glad your son has also remained seizure-free, but hypoglycemia was ruled out as a cause for my son's seizure. They checked his blood sugar in the ED, it was normal, in the 90's I believe. Thanks for your input, anyways.

Stephanie

My son was given something to eat/drink before he got his blood tested, so I did not have a "relavant" lab value to work with.

I know how hard it is to think there might be no explanation at all for what happened.

On the other hand, while DEET is relatively safe in most people, an idiosyncratic reaction for an individual is possible. I think there are other alternatives out there for repeling mosquitos - so you might feel better going that route.

What was your son's reaction to the seizure? My son had no recollection - obviously - but when he saw a grand mal depicted on TV, he was very embarrassed. So that became another issue to work through. For awhile, he wouldn't even let us refer to it as a seizure - had to come up w/ some "nicknames" for it to decrease his anxiety about it -

SJ

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I see, SusanJean. I do hope all is well with him now. :balloons: No diabetes?

He is doing well, thanks. No diabetes. Just needs to keep those blood levels constant. (A little harder now that he is 12-teen and getting those teen inclinations.)

SJ

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