When I saw my son's first seizure, he was just 4 months old. Shortly after we arrived home from our monthly check-up, where he had received his 3rd
"DPT" vaccination and his  his pediatrician  had pronounced him "perfect" , not 3 hours before, I went over to take him and of his car seat to feed him and I noticed his eyes were jerking back and forth, and then his mouth started jerking too.  I had never in my life observed a seizure, so I really didn't know what was happening to him.  I was terrified.  I rushed him to the emergency room, where they stopped the seizure 45 minutes later!

  I didn't understand what was going on!  What had caused the seizure?  Why  did it last so long ?  Why did they have so much trouble stopping it? What was happening to my precious little one???  My son was never the same after that seizure. . . .   That shot !!

   I was suddenly faced with the fact that something was seriously wrong with my son, but no one could (would) tell me what it was or if it would get worse or what the future would be like for him, all the tests they'd run were normal. They didn't understand it either (or so I thought)!!

  I was scared, confused,  I felt as if  I was looking through a dark tunnel without a flicker of light at the end. . . . .

  My son was evaluated, assessed, tested, x-rayed, rated and charted so many times, I'd lost count.  But the end result was always the same. . .   They just didn't know!  They said his seizures were secondary to a cause unknown (idiopathic, no identified cause).  The doctors could not give me a prognosis, because there was none.  All they could do was treat the symptoms, sometimes with disastrous results!!  (Such as, the deleterious effect of phenobarbital on the developing brain.  It causes reduction in brain weight, DNA, RNA, protein, and cholesterol contents, effects cognitive development! ) (Neurology of the Newborn, Volpe).   I felt utterly helpless!  I was not satisfied, with the answers I was getting.  I wanted to help my son!   Each time I took Bryan to see a new doctor, I would mention the fact, that all of this started 2 hours after his 3rd "DPT" vaccination, and  I thought there was a connection! But not once did I get a straight answer!  Either they completely avoided what I had just said, or talked around it, or they'd say there was no connection between the shot and the seizure.  (RIGHT!)