Question about EEG

[Jvere]

I've got an EEG scheduled next week.

So if we're looking for seizure activity how are we going to find it if my meds are controlling it? The answer I got was: the seizure activity will still show up even if your meds are making you "unaware" of them.

Does that sound right?

Do you guys ever go off your meds for an EEG?

Thx.

[huskymom]

I have never stopped meds for an EEG. Remember a lot of time an EEG won't show anything! I really don't know why they can't find a better test. Good luck!

[Rae1889]

Okay well their answer is half and half right. That may be true for some people, but most of the time, if the meds are working the activity could stop all together. also, even if your not on meds, you may not catch anything at all. If you dont have a seizure during that 20 minute span, then they cant catch anything.

also if your seizures happen too deep in the brain to catch on an eeg they wont see anything again. Think of your skull as a brick wall and the seizure activity as someone whistling behind it. The EEG isnt that strong so it might not "hear" the activity going on.

[Nakamova]

The abnormal brainwaves that they're looking for aren't the same as the ones that show up when you're actually seizing. Think of the abnormal brainwaves as little embers or sparks -- the meds are keeping them from turning into a wildfire.

But I agree with Rae, sometimes the meds are strong enough to keep the brainwaves from showing up on the EEG, and there are many false positives and false negatives.

[Dutch mom]

Before my son started on the ketogenic diet almost 6 years ago, his EEG's showed 90-99% epileptic activitiy all of the time with a low wave and spike pattern on the background which is typical for Lennox Gastaut syndrome. By then he had many different types of seizures each day. When he had a seizure his EEG showed significant extreme activity with very high spikes, a very different pattern compared to the EEG's when he was not seizing which showed epileptic activity.
After six months on the diet he was almost 100% seizure free for more than 3 years, with only incidental seizures when he was sick and in an inadequate state of ketosis. His EEG improved >70% but it still showed about 30% epileptic activity without having seizures.

[C0urt]

just got done with a week long one, and I quit my meds exceot for just a little bit.

[Jvere]

Thanks to everyone who replied. This test is supposed to be an hour long, but I am not sure why I am doing it if there is such a high rate of inconclusive data.

We'll see! Thanks again!

[Crystal11]

I thought it was weird that my neurologist ordered EEGs without me lowering my medications at all.
If they do this, then you might have a break-through seizure that could be caused by the reduced medications- which would mean an inacurate EEG reading. They want to see the characteristc spike-and-waves, any abnormality in brain function or at least the waveforms that would suggest it, as well as scaring or other damage.

I had an ambulatory EEG/Ambulatory EEG that I wore (and went to school with!) for three days. Even though my meds kept a seizure away, the spike-and-waves still showed. This suggests that my episode are Epileptic and not caused by anything else such as a cardiac conditions, or vitamine defencency or other conditions.
It did not show a seizure in progress and I have never had a seizure while having an EEG.
The last time I had an EEG, they kept asking me how I felt during the ligh phase of the test. I told them that I was feeling okay, but really I wasn't. I did feel like I might of had a smaller seizure- but no one told me that I did.
I have to ask my neurologist about the results next time I go. I am curious if they found the driving responce that showed up several times on EEG.
Driving responce, I think means that I have a higher chance of having a seizure due to photo-stimulations or flashes or patterns. I have always had troubles with this, but don't know if they consider this problem to be "photosensitive epilepsy" or not.

During a video EEG, they will reduce your meds- but since you are there for more than just a few days, the medications will be out of your system and a seizure can show up- and they then know that its not from the meds being reduced, its the natural state of your brain behaving in a specific way sort of like it was before you had no medications.
They sometimes just reduce one medication if you are taking two or three. I think that by lowering one med, your seizure threshold is higher than normal, meaning you have a higher chance of having a seizure- but most likely not caused by medication changes.
Since I have never had to have an video EEG, I might not know much about it. But my roommate has and have told me about it somewhat.

I told her recently, that I felt that by them reducing the medication, they are causing the seizure to start up. But I think it just raises the seizure threshold and causes the brain to act like it would without enough meds or like it was in the beginning of treatment.
If you are still having seizures despite medications at the dose they are now, they will increase it- by lowering it, they will see how things are at the lowered dose without stopping everything all at once- causing a breakthrough seizure to happen.

Anyway, sorry for such a long responce here. Hope all it well.
Take care, Crystal

[daisy.girl]

I found this information when searching about my EEG:

"EEG tests give information about the electrical activity that is happening in your brain at the time the test is carried out.

With many types of epilepsy, you only have unusual electrical activity in your brain when you’re having a seizure. The rest of the time your brain activity is normal. So, if your EEG test doesn’t show any unusual activity, it doesn’t mean you don’t have epilepsy.

People with some types of epilepsy have unusual electrical activity in their brain all the time, even when they’re not having a seizure. When they have an EEG test, the results can show certain brainwave patterns that doctors recognise. This information is very helpful for doctors when they are making a diagnosis. An example of this is children who have typical absence seizures.

A small number of people have EEG tests that show unusual results, even though they never have seizures and they don’t have epilepsy. This could be caused by other medical conditions such as encephalitis (swelling of the brain) or vertigo (dizziness). Some people inherit unusual brainwave patterns from their parents. Therefore, an EEG that shows unusual brainwave patterns doesn’t necessarily mean that you have epilepsy."

Hope that helps....it did clarify for me.