As a parent or guardian, seeing your child experience a reflex anoxic seizure can be frightening. Although they’re different from epileptic seizures, some of their symptoms appear similar to tonic seizures. If you don’t know what you’re seeing, you might think your child has epilepsy or even fear that their life is in danger.

Thankfully, reflex anoxic seizures aren’t life-threatening, and children who have them always recover from them. They usually don’t need treatment, and complications are rare.

We’ll cover the symptoms, causes, and prognosis of reflex anoxic seizures so you know what to look for and what to expect.

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Common Symptoms of Reflex Anoxic Seizures

Reflex anoxic seizures can start with the child crying or grunting (which might seem like a typical reaction to a triggering minor injury or emotional event at first). Occasionally, the child only seems like they’re about to cry or let out a sound.

As the reflex anoxic seizure sets in, the child’s skin may turn pale, and their lips may become blue or purple. The child loses consciousness (just like in other types of fainting) and may fall to the ground. Some children return to their normal state quickly after losing consciousness, but many experience muscle stiffening, clenching, or convulsing.

Not all reflex anoxic seizures look exactly alike even though they have common features like a loss of consciousness and a clear trigger.

Other possible symptoms of a reflex anoxic seizure are:

• Unusual eye movements
• Eyes appearing to pop out of the head
• Clenched jaw
• Clenched hands
• Pants wetting

Following the seizure, your child may seem mostly back to their usual self. However, they may be exhausted and want to go to sleep for a long time after the seizure.

How Often Do Reflex Anoxic Seizures Happen?

The frequency of reflex anoxic seizures varies from person to person. While some people have multiple seizures per day or several seizures per week, others can go for months or years between reflex anoxic seizures.

For many people, reflex anoxic seizures occur in clusters (multiple or frequent seizures between long periods without them). Some children may have just one reflex anoxic seizure and never experience another.

Can Reflex Anoxic Seizures Cause Complications?

Reflex anoxic seizures don’t result in brain damage and don’t usually cause any complications. In rare cases, a reflex anoxic seizure can trigger an epileptic seizure. When this happens, the resulting epileptic seizure is called an anoxic-epileptic seizure. These are most likely to occur in children with specific gene variants.

While not necessarily a complication, children who experience reflex anoxic seizures can also be at an increased risk of vasovagal syncope.

Vasovagal syncope is a common type of fainting that can happen when your blood pressure suddenly drops, often in response to triggers that make you feel afraid or distressed. This type of fainting is also usually harmless and doesn’t typically need treatment.

Causes of Reflex Anoxic Seizures: Why Do They Happen?

Unlike epileptic seizures, which are caused by an unusual surge of electrical activity in the brain, reflex anoxic seizures are caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. They may happen because the blood going to the brain doesn’t have enough oxygen, blood flow to the brain is suddenly reduced, or a combination of the two.

Reflex anoxic seizures happen because of an oversensitive vagus nerve. When the nerve is stimulated by fear, pain, shock, or excitement, the heart rate slows or stops. This is what causes the lack of oxygen to the brain.

Common Reflex Anoxic Seizure Triggers

While other types of fainting are also caused by a reduced oxygen supply in the brain, reflex anoxic seizures are unique because they have a clear trigger. The most common trigger of reflex anoxic seizures is an unexpected bump to the head. Other possible triggers include:

• Getting a minor cut or skin injury
• Having a fever
• Experiencing stress or other strong emotions, including excitement, anger, or sadness
• Being startled or frightened
• Getting a shot or needle stick
• Seeing blood or gore

Who Usually Gets Reflex Anoxic Seizures?

Reflex anoxic seizures usually start during infancy or early childhood, and they’re most common in young children. In some cases, a person can continue to experience reflex anoxic seizures into adulthood. But for many others, the seizures stop by the time they reach adulthood.

From young adulthood onward, doctors might classify reflex anoxic seizures as vasovagal syncope instead. When reflex anoxic seizures continue into adulthood, they can sometimes trigger anoxic epileptic seizures.

Many reflex anoxic seizures aren’t linked to other health conditions or known gene variants. However, certain conditions may increase the risk of reflex anoxic seizures.

Genetic Variants

Some gene changes have been found to be linked to reflex anoxic seizures or increase the risk of anoxic epileptic seizures resulting from reflex anoxic seizures. However, these genetic variants are usually connected with neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Some gene variants linked to reflex anoxic seizures are de novo gene variants, which means they develop during a person’s lifetime and aren’t present from birth.

Heart Conditions

Certain heart conditions may increase the risk of reflex anoxic seizures because they can prevent adequate oxygen from reaching the brain. Children with prolonged QT disorders (cardiac arrhythmias that affect the heart rate in a specific way) may be at an increased risk.

Reflex Anoxic Seizures Prognosis

Reflex anoxic seizures almost always have a positive prognosis, which means they won’t impact your child’s health much in the long term. It might surprise you to hear this, as reflex anoxic seizures can be jarring to witness and may appear more severe than they are. Many children stop experiencing reflex anoxic seizures before they start school.

When Reflex Anoxic Seizures Need Treatment

In most cases, reflex anoxic seizures don’t need any treatment because many children naturally outgrow them. However, children and adults who experience anoxic-epileptic seizures triggered by reflex anoxic seizures may be prescribed typical epilepsy treatments to manage or prevent epileptic seizures.

In severe cases, doctors might recommend some form of treatment to manage the seizures or reduce their frequency. Children with heart rhythm problems that contribute to reflex anoxic seizures might need permanent cardiac pacing, such as an implanted pacemaker, to keep their heart beating consistently.

Doctors might recommend iron supplements or increased hydration for children who experience frequent reflex anoxic seizures. Iron deficiency or dehydration might cause reflex anoxic seizures to happen more often. Always talk to your family doctor before giving your child any supplements or medications for reflex anoxic seizures or related conditions.

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