Breath Holding Spells Quiz

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Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal medicine)

Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.

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People with these symptoms also use Ubie's symptom checker to find possible causes

  • Temporary loss of consciousness

  • Felt "floaty" and almost in a trance after recovering from fainting / seizure

  • Passed out / blacked out after sitting in the same position for a long time

  • Can't see half of my usual visual field after I woke up from my seizure

  • Checking my blind spot when driving nearly made me faint or black out

  • Before the seizure happened there were sounds or whispers in my head

  • Fell unconscious but those around me said I was staring at something

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Learn more about Breath holding spells

Content updated on Sep 20, 2022

What is breath holding spells?

A condition sometimes seen in young children. The child may stop breathing for up to 1 minute, causing him/her to lose consciousness. Although alarming to parents, this condition is common and can happen in healthy children, who will grow out of it as they age. Triggers for spells include frustration, pain, or fear.

Symptoms of breath holding spells

  • Child stopped breathing for a while after crying

  • Losing consciousness

  • Pale looking

  • Seizure

  • Lost consciousness, gone limp, or had convulsions after crying a lot

Questions your doctor may ask to check for breath holding spells

Your doctor may ask these questions to diagnose breath holding spells

  • After crying, did your child breathe out then stop breathing for a while?

  • Have you currently regained consciousness after temporarily losing consciousness?

  • Do you look more pale, wan or sickly than usual?

  • Have you had a seizure?

  • Has your child ever lost consciousness, gone limp, or had convulsions after crying a lot?

Treatment for breath holding spells

Treatment is unnecessary, and the condition disappears as children get older. Preventing triggers like frustration, pain or fear will help to reduce the frequency of spells. It is important for caregivers to understand that children do not do it on purpose, and to speak with someone if they have difficulty coping.

View the symptoms of Breath holding spells

References

  • Flodine TE, Mendez MD. Breath Holding Spells. 2022 Mar 15. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan–. PMID: 30969604.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539782/

Reviewed By:

Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD (Internal medicine)

Dr. Abe graduated from The University of Tokyo School of Medicine in 2015. He completed his residency at the Tokyo Metropolitan Health and Longevity Medical Center. He co-founded Ubie, Inc. in May 2017, where he currently serves as CEO & product owner at Ubie. Since December 2019, he has been a member of the Special Committee for Activation of Research in Emergency AI of the Japanese Association for Acute Medicine. | | Dr. Abe has been elected in the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia Healthcare & Science category.

From our team of 50+ doctors

Just 3 minutes.
Developed by doctors.

Ubie is supervised by 50+ medical experts worldwide

Shohei Harase

Shohei Harase, MD

Neurology

Kameda Medical Center, Japan

Yu Shirai

Yu Shirai, MD

Psychiatry

Yotsuya Yui Clinic, Japan

Yoshinori Abe

Yoshinori Abe, MD

Internal medicine

Co-founder of Ubie, Inc.

Rohini R

Rohini R, MD

Ear, nose, throat (ENT)

Bayshore Health Centre, India

Seiji Kanazawa

Seiji Kanazawa, MD, PHD

Obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN)

National Center for Child Health and Development, Japan

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