Can somebody explain what this means? (EEG report findings)

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J

JustAnotherName

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Hey, y'all.

I wasn't going to ask this, but I'm just curious what these comments mean. If someone could put them in layman's terms, that would be wonderful. My doctor wrote this on my note pad from my last EEG followup:

Left sided (temple area), slowing and occasional spikes. Slowing probably due to shunt(s) location. Could also be cause of spikes.
Click to expand...

She has already diagnosed me with epilepsy, so that is out of the way. I'm just curious about what all this means, just out of interest.

We can't do much about the location of my shunts, so it's not that it can be helped, but if it is at the temple area, how would that be because of the shunt? They are in 2 lateral ventricles. I guess I don't see how it could be correlated considering it was in the frontal temple area.

I've still got so many questions for her, like whether the spikes originated in the frontal lobe (makes sense if it was in the temple area, right?)

I know y'all are not doctors, but you all seem to know a thing or two about a thing or two!
 
Some abnormal brainwave patterns can occur with a variety of different conditions, not just seizures. Certain types of waves can be seen after head trauma, stroke, brain tumor, or seizures -- one common example of this is "slowing," where the rhythm of the brainwaves is slower than would be expected for the patient's age and level of alertness. (It doesn't refer at all to intellectual or cognitive abilities).

Certain other patterns can indicate a tendency toward seizures. These include spikes, sharp waves, and spike-and-wave patterns. Spikes and sharp waves that occur in a specific area of the brain (like the left temporal lobe), can indicate that partial seizures might possibly come from that area. On the other hand, spike-and-wave patterns that are widespread over both hemispheres of the brain can suggest primarily generalized epilepsy, especially if they begin in both sides of the brain at the same time.

Hope this helps!
 
Thank you for the great reply, Nakamova! That was great. I guess what confuses me is the slowing. It would make sense, considering the shunts. Ah well, I guess we'll see what the MRI resuls say! I guess I'm secretly paranoid I've got a tumor or something crazy, though my doctor has assured me that she's pretty positive that's not the case. I guess it's one of those situations where you're given just enough time to cook up the worst case scenario in your head!
 
Good luck, I hope you get some reassuring answers soon.:)
 
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