does Video Telemetry involve any other tests?

[alice123]

Hi, Does Video Telemetry involve any other tests such as blood tests.

Are all the electrodes stuck to your head or do you have anything else stuck to you such as for (heartbeat/pulse).

I want to know so I'm prepared, I don't like being prodded lol

I am wondering because I have one in a month or so. (14th July) I'm starting to realise its not as scary as it sounds but I hope I come back with some results for my events/ sleep deprivation because otherwise I'll feel like I wasted their time like with the Sleep deprived EEG and Mri as well as the sleep study!

Any advice/info is appreciated. Its for 2/3 days and I will have to bring stuff to occupy myself I guess!!! I receive more info 2 weeks before!

 

[masterjen]

Video telemetry can include one or two wires as well to measure respiration and pulse. Blood tests are not considered a part of video telemetry, but many doctors will do blood tests and other testing as well (MRI, cognitive testing, and psychological testing for example) while the patient is in the hospital.

The 2 or 3 days will go by quickly. Rent a tv for your room, find out if there is internet access and if not buy extra data time for your smartphone, reading can be difficult because of distractions but bring a good book as it is worth a try. Have family/friends visit. If you are into a craft like latch hook, crocheting or sketching, bring that too. Bring a few healthy snacks like snack bars and extra fruit that keeps well like oranges and dried fruit - meal trays can sometimes be lacking in the fiber department!

 

[alice123]

Ok thankyou, knowing that will make me more prepared.

I have some sleep problems but since getting up early its not got better but bearable and I've woken up less in the night and had more dreams. I don't lie in in the morning any more due to being used to getting up early.

When I was looking for a job it took me for ever to search cos i was so tired I just said yes to anything and was scared to work so early but it seems to be bearable for me! Although I loose concentration a lot and am tired all through the day after woulds.

I occasionally decided to go back to sleep after work and that only made it worse (so If I'm tired I just sit on my laptop all day) and when I wake up I mainly get headaches (migraines sometimes behind my eyes), my ear aches like I've been moving my head a lot and my eyes feel very heavy after a bad sleep.

I get jerks and flashes of light when I'm stressed but I've been told thats normal
I'm also a lot less stressed as I have a job and I can leave any problems at work. (no more assignments or uni work that stressed me out!!).

I've actually woken up before to go to the loo and fainted but I will never know whether that was just a faint.

I really want to have a result from the study so I think I'm going to start using sweeteners in my Tea again ( I want to see if it has an affect on my sleep) Because I used to take it a lot and I had more headaches and tiredness then. Although I still get them now I just remember them being worse in the summer.

And because I can't see whats going on in my sleep, when I have moments where I'm not tired I start feeling bad and thinking its all in my head but then it happens again and I realise I still have a problem so its really frustrating not knowing.

Once I have proof I won't feel bad about talking more about it.

 

[masterjen]

Oh, I forgot the most important one: bring your own pillow! Don't worry about taking your own pjs or extra clothes, unless you are specifically told to do so. You can much more readily get clean pyjamas if you use the hospital ones, and when you're lying around in bed 24/7 pjs are more comfortable than clothes.

 

[alice123]

Thanks, Although not too sure about not taking any clothes. I will take PJ's because I won't know what theres are like. I need to buy new ones anyway. I literally live in clothes that are 3 years old or worse.

I get anxious about places I'm not used which is why It's taken me so long to talk about so I'd rather be comfortable in my own clothes

 

[alice123]

Had the Test. I did not press the button once, does not mean something did happen but I still felt bad being there as all these sick people were near me and nothing obvious happened at all. If anything did happen in my sleep they did not know or tell me.

They have to look through the recording now. I am not looking forward to the results because I don't think they will show anything. I had no headaches in there so don't think my sleep was that bad!!!!

The problem is I get fatigued all the time. It does not help that you cannot walk around in there. I need to exercise during the day in order to have a bad sleep at night!!!

Its so frustrating. no one will ever figure this out and I'll continue to feel like a fraud. I would feel better if it was an illness that was more obvious :/

 

[masterjen]

I can completely sympathize, Alice! My seizures are also more likely to occur when I am very physically active and just plain busy. Being in a hospital bed 24/7 just didn't trigger any kind of seizure of significance for me - perhaps a couple of very minor partials or auras, but even they were debatable. I did push the button even for these as I was instructed to , but because they didn't amount to anything I felt like I was being the "boy who cried wolf".

The patient in the bed in the other room even had the "seizure detected" voice come on automatically a few times. Frustrating!!

If it helps, my EEG didn't show anything interpreted as epileptic activity either (no kidding, lol). There were a few "sub-epileptic posterior polar spikes" and "intermittent slow-wave activity" (whatever these are) out of sleep, which is when my seizures occur, but because I did not have corresponding physical symptoms of a seizure the findings were regarded as nonsignificant findings.

I would ask about an ambulatory EEG, if you haven't had one yet. Some centers have the video recording devices available as well.

Let me know what the doctors says after you have your follow-up!