# Scary Experience - Toddler Developed a Temporary Crossed-Eye During Fever



## KnitterMama (Mar 31, 2005)

Has anyone heard of this? DS (23 months) gave us quite a scare the other night ... he has had a stomach bug (which I subsequently got as well), and was likely very dehydrated after 12 hours of vomiting every single thing he consumed. He also had a fever hovering around 102. I don't like treating fevers, so I was letting it do its thing. He slept on and off throughout the day, and around 2am awoke asking for juice. One of his eyes was definitely crossed, at which point we got him out of bed while we called the on-call pediatrician. The on-call had a lot to say about the vomiting, but no advice about the crossed eye. Heeeellloooo?? DH and I ultimately took him to the ER. We got there around 3am, and of course at this point the vomiting was beginning to resolve and DS was able to take some fluids, at which point the eye symptom resolved as well. His fever was still around 102 when we got to the ER, but he was successful in getting a little fluid down before the (annoying, vax-pushing) doc came in.

I felt like both the docs we talked to didn't take us seriously because they didn't actually see the symptom. It lasted for about 45 minutes, and DS was definitely having trouble seeing (was trying to reach for his cup and repeatedly totally missed it), and difficulty balancing. Nothing else was affected - speech was normal, activity level, alert.







This issue anyhow just wasn't addressed in the ER visit, the doc was focused on getting fluids in DS - which I was concerned about as well, but really dismayed that this guy was so distracted by his irritation with us regarding DS vax's and DS dehydration that the neuro change wasn't even addressed? WTH?

Anywho, DH is totally freaked out by the whole thing. I am pretty concerned myself, though I am thinking it was caused by a combination of dehydration and exhaustion? Another possibility I was wondering about was a variation on a febrile seizure? I'm graduating from nursing school in the spring...so I've really been trying to collect info about this and understand it from a nursing perspective.

Anyone had experience with a symptom like this?


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