normal reaction to hyperventilation or seizure?

[Katarn112]

So I just had a sleep deprived EEG this morning, still waiting on the results of course. Anyway, the tech who performed the EEG seemed pretty clueless and couldn't answer many of my major questions (I guess he was just there to set the thing up and push buttons... gotta wait for someone who knows what they're doing to look at the EEG results).

The part that concerned me was my reaction to the hyperventilation test, the one where they make you take deep breaths for 3 minutes. Anyway about 30 seconds in I was getting pretty dizzy, which is perfectly normal, but then about a minute into it felt like the muscles in my arms and hands became super-tight, and then both my arms/hands just began to convulse. These jerking and shaking convulsions lasted for about 20-30 seconds, and my muscles still felt tight for another few minutes afterward.

Was this a normal reaction or a seizure? What do you guys think? I ask this because the tech didn't seem to think it was a big deal, but it doesn't seem like a normal reaction to me...

[Nakamova]

It sounds like a seizure to me. A "normal" response to hyperventilation doesn't result in jerking and shaking. Make sure to ask the neurologist about it when you go over the results of the EEG.

[Brent]

I couldn't say. Hyperventilation can cause the sensation of tight muscles (as well as a number of other sensations). Something to understand about the tech is that he does these all the time. He knows reasonably well what a seizure looks like on an EEG, and which patterns to be concerned about. However, he cannot, by law, say one way or another what he sees. This is because the analysis of EEGs, while it may be within his abilities, is outside of his scope of practice. He would actually get in a lot of trouble if he told you what he knew.

I used to work in the ER and did ECG/EKGs all the time (like 10-50 a day). I got so that I could read them better than the doctors because I saw more than they did. I knew exactly what was good, what was bad, and what was irrelevant. People would ask me all the time, and I would have to tell them that the doctor would analyze the test and talk to them about it. Even if the person was having an acute MI (heart attack) I couldn't say or do anything about it. I just had to take the printout to the doctor (in a hurry). If the person was fine, I couldn't tell them.

EEG Techs have a similar scope of practice in most states.

-B