"Normal" EEG with seizure activity?

[LyLMyssChaos]

My 4 year old had an abnormal initial EEG at the hospital around Feb 23 after having 3 seizures(his first known/identified seizure activity; 2 petit mal, 1 tonic clonic that lasted 3-4 minutes) 24 hours prior to the test. It showed he was having high waves in the central brain to the temporal lobe on both sides of his brain. He had another seizure yesterday(tonic clonic lasting 3 minutes) and when the neuro did an extended EEG today, she found nothing abnormal. She put him on a low dose of Trileptal while we continue to explore his condition(he has an MRI scheduled for Tuesday 3/15.)

I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with normal EEG's but still having seizures?

 

[Nakamova]

As many CWE members can attest -- EEGs don't always pick up seizure activity, especially if it originates deep in the brain. In particular, simple and complex partials are less likely to show up on an EEG.

 

[LyLMyssChaos]

Thank you. It's nice to have some confirmation that we are not out of our minds. I did notice something when I was relaying the situation to a friend yesterday, so I'm going to pass it along to his doctor. 4 out of 5 of his seizures occurred in the same time frame (between 11 am and 1 pm) and all of them happened on the same day of the week. His abnormal EEG was done between 10am and 1 pm, while the EEG that was "normal" was over by 10:30. I don't know if this means anything, but it can't hurt to let the doctor know, in my opinion.

 

[Nakamova]

According to studies, different kinds of seizures seem to favor certain times of day. They think it may have to do with some combination of internal circadian rhythms (an individual's 24-hour body clock) and external rhythms like meals and sunshine.

Here are a few threads from the archive that discuss this:

http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/day-night-seizure-patterns-9064/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...nation-seizures-only-happen-your-sleep-11744/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f22/time-change-problems-disruptions-sleep-patterns-506/

 

[elizzza811]

I crashed my car into a ditch back in December having a complex partial seizure (witnessed by my neighbor who was with me and paramedics when they arrived), and both my EEG and 24-hour ambulatory EEG came back 'normal'.

Look into getting a prolactin blood test drawn immediately following his next seizure...that's what I'm doing. I know if it is elevated it can 'prove' certain types of seizures. I haven't seizured since February 16th though, so I've yet to get it drawn.