A breath-holding spell is a benign paroxysmal nonepileptic disorder occurring in healthy children 6 to 48 months of age. The episodes start with a provocation such as emotional upset or minor injury, and might progress to breath holding, cyanosis, and syncope.
What causes breath holding? The cause of breath holding is not known. Breath holding is usually involuntary, and is caused by a slowing of the heart rate or changes in your child's usual breathing patterns. Sometimes breath-holding spells are brought on by strong emotions such as anger, fear, pain or frustration.
Cyanotic breath-holding spells are usually caused by anger or frustration. If the child's face turns white, it's called pallid breath-holding spell. The child may cry a little bit or not at all before having the spell. Pallid breath-holding spells are usually caused by the child being startled or in pain.
What are breath-holding spells? Breath-holding spells are brief periods when young children stop breathing for up to 1 minute. These spells often cause a child to pass out (lose consciousness). Breath-holding spells usually occur when a young child is angry, frustrated, in pain, or afraid.
There are no drugs or other treatments for these spells. Some studies suggest that anemia, or low levels of red blood cells, may be a culprit and that iron supplements may help. But more research is needed. The best thing to do is let your child lie on their side while they're out.
Breath holding spells may occur in children who have a normal neurological exam and in children who meet age-appropriate developmental milestones, but normally breath-holding spells do not affect the subsequent neurological development of a child.
Some anxious people hold or quiet their breathing when they are anxious or stressed. Holding or quieting your breath can cause the shortness of breath and feeling out of breath symptoms.
They can occur as early as 6 months and may continue until a child is 6 years old. The peak age for breath-holding spell is 2 years. Breath-holding spells are a reflex, that is the body's automatic response to distress. They are not a conscious choice on the part of a child or a behavior problem.
Breath-holding spells affect 0.1 to 4.6% of otherwise healthy infants and young children from six months to five years of age [4-6]. The onset is usually between 6 and 18 months of age, and is almost always before two years of age [1, 6-8].
Breath-holding spells are more common in children with: Genetic conditions, such as Riley-Day syndrome or Rett syndrome. Iron deficiency anemia. A family history of breath-holding spells (parents may have had similar spells when they were children)
Breath-holding spells usually are triggered by physically painful or emotionally upsetting events. Typical symptoms include paleness, stoppage of breathing, loss of consciousness, and seizures. Despite the dramatic nature of the symptoms, the spells are not dangerous.
There are 2 known types of breath-holding spells. The most common (85%)5 is a cyanotic breath-holding spell, which occurs when facial cyanosis is noticed after the child stops breathing. A pallid breath-holding spell is associated with a sudden scare to the child, and he or she becomes extremely pale during the spell.
The word apnea means "no breath" and implies that, for whatever reason, your ability to breathe has been compromised. Apnea is a temporary cessation of breathing, however: if you decide to hold your breath, you are essentially giving yourself an episode of apnea.
No. Children with breath-holding spells do not have epilepsy. As breath-holding spells may look like epileptic seizures, the 2 are often confused. Breath-holding spells happen after your child has been frustrated, startled or hurt.
Two-thirds have cyanotic or blue breath-holding spells, 20% have pallid breath-holding spells, and the remainder has a mixture of the two. The peak incidence is between 1 and 2 years of age and resolution occurs by 6 years of age. The spells follow minor injuries, fright, or frustration.
The first thing that happens when you hold your breath is oxygen levels decrease. Then, carbon dioxide levels increase because your body gets rid of that gas by breathing out. This state is called hypoxia.
How does one diagnose a case of breath holding spells? Breath-holding spells are usually diagnosed clinically. However, seizures and syncope (due to cardiac or vasovagal stimulation) should be considered in the differential diagnosis.
Hypoxia is actually divided into four types: hypoxic hypoxia, hypemic hypoxia, stagnant hypoxia, and histotoxic hypoxia. No matter what the cause or type of hypoxia you experience, the symptoms and effects on your flying skills are basically the same.
What are the five causes of hypoxemia? Heart and lung function issues can lead to five categories of conditions that cause hypoxemia: ventilation-perfusion (V/Q) mismatch, diffusion impairment, hypoventilation, low environmental oxygen and right-to-left shunting.
Breath-holding test is a reliable and safe method for assessing the sensitivity of peripheral chemoreflex to carbon dioxide in patients with chronic heart failure.
Cheyne-Stokes respiration is a specific form of periodic breathing (waxing and waning amplitude of flow or tidal volume) characterized by a crescendo-decrescendo pattern of respiration between central apneas or central hypopneas.