EEG,MRI CAT,PET Scan are normal

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

RanMan

Too Much Experience with Epilepsy
Messages
408
Reaction score
0
Points
91
Ive read comments on this forum for several months now about ppl. who wonder why they have seizure(s) and they don't show up on the EEG,CAT scan, MRI etc.
As some of us know, you can still have a seizure and not have it show up on the tests for various reasons.
Seizure activity can be located DEEP within the central core of the brain and cannot be picked up by the various tests and can stay DORMANT for several years.

IE:
I have only had one major gran-mal seizure in 1979 but every year my EEG shows major seizure activity in the lower left tempral lobe, that is why my neouro. kept me on meds for that long, kind of like an insurance policy. (if I wasn't on the meds I would PROBABLY have a seizure) although I still get several petit-mals. The Doctor says that if I wasn't on the meds, those petit-mal seizures could be major gran-mal seizures.

Right now I guess my seizures are under control ~ but what might have happened if I didn't take them?

I'm just telling you this b/c I personally find it strange that ppl are wondering why their seizures arn't showing up on the tests.


Randy
 
Hi, Randy. Thanks for the post!

You are one odds-busting individual. Odds are it would have shown up on the PET at least. But depending on what study you read it has up to a 15% false positive or false negative. I'm really glad it showed up on your EEG because otherwise your doc may have reached another diagnosis. This way you are getting the right treatment.

Question: Are you seeing a regular neurologist or an epi?
 
I have been seeing a regular neurologist (the same one) for 30 years.
 
Hi Robin,

Good point you bring up.

The reason that my neurologist didn't consider this fact (good point tho) is because I didn't have Ulcerative Colitis when I was first diagnosed with a "seizure condition".
In fact he believes that (in my case) the seizures triggered the UC.
Both conditions are stress related. IE: When I have a seizure, my body secretes more adrenalin than normal. Adrenalin contains a lot of acid and it was causing open sores on my stomach and bowel wall.

My G.I. is of the same opinion.

The real irony of this whole mess is when I take medication for the U.C. it "paints" (for lack of a better word) a protective coating on the bowel walls and therefore slows down the absorption rate of my AEDs into my blood stream. If I try to compensate for this by increasing my AEDs then the AEDs will go "TOXIC".

As well, if I were to stop or decrease the U.C. meds, this could also cause toxisity.
Now I've finally got the perfect combo. of meds. and everything is under control.
I still have U.C. flare ups every couple of years. Then I have to double up on the U.C. meds(only for a couple of days) as well as taking a medicated enema and sometimes steroids for about a week and put up with the toxisity for a couple of days.
It's like a tight rope act trying to find the right balance of meds.

Randy
 
I can see how that puts you in a predicament.
 
Back
Top Bottom