Does the Doc stop your meds prior to Ambulatory EEG

[BrandiBrat]

Just wondering if the neuro typically pulls you off your meds prior to doing the EEG or are you still on your full dose for the 72 hours? Thank you in advance

 

[momof3boys]

For a regular EEG, that took about 45 minutes to an hour, I was also sleep deprived, but still on my medication. I would take my medications at around 8am and 8pm. I would take my night time medication, and be told to stay up til 4am, get two hours of sleep, and have to have the EEG done around 7/8am. before my morning dose of medication.

 

[KarenB]

Our doctors did not take Jonathan off his meds when he had an overnight and a 2 day EEG.

Some doctor do this, but ONLY if the patient is in the hospital, because stopping meds like that suddenly can cause all sorts of really bad seizures. If you are going to be home with the EEG, they most likely will keep you on your meds.

I think some doctors (if you're in the hospital) will keep you on your regular meds for the first 24 hours or so, and see if anything turns up (either on the EEG or you actually have a seizure), and then if nothing happens, they'll take you off the meds -- trying to provoke a seizure. The main reason to provoke a seizure (and usually only done if they haven't caught one on EEG previously) is to see what part of the brain the seizures are starting from, and if they generalize to other parts of the brain (this can determine which sort of drug would work best, and also if you might be a potential candidate for surgery).

 

[BrandiBrat]

That makes perfect sense, thank you KarenB! I have a 72hr EEG coming up but it's done in my home because I am a single mom and have horses to take care of. My Topamax isn't working so I know I will have seizure activity regardless of that but he is starting me on Vimpat. I hope the new med gives me relief but at the same time I also want the test to be accurate.

 

[summerf]

I'm having the same problem with the Topamax, BrandiBrat! I just started Keppra as an add on...the original plan was that I'd be coming off the Topamax and just taking the Keppra instead, but it seems like the Topamax + Keppra = stable, so maybe the new plan is to leave it alone. I'd been up to 400 mg of Topamax, and was actually having MORE tonic clonics instead of less. NOT cool. LOL.

Anyway, my neuro was the same way as the previous poster with the EEG. The only time you get to come off meds is if the EEG is being done in the hospital over an extended period of time, since they're pretty sure you're gonna have bad seizures if you just quit taking them. Whenever I have EEGs, they send me specific instructions that say DO NOT stop the meds, take them like I always do.

Don't worry about the test. For lots of us with epilepsy, we have normal EEGs whether we're on meds or not. I've actually never had an abnormal EEG. But there's absolutely NO question about my diagnosis.

I hope your new med gives you relief from your seizure activity so you can enjoy those horses! .

 

[BrandiBrat]

Awe, thanks! I love my horses!! They are my therapy I've only had one EEG and it was abnormal...but it was before the meds. I started out on Keppra and holy moly did it make my hair fall out. Really bad for the self esteem lol. I seem to tolerate lower doses of the Topamax ok, but if I go higher than 200mg I get pretty psychotic. Not exactly the clinical definition of the word, but I get really moody, anxiety, hear things, start seeing tracers, everything appears smaller than it is....it's really weird. I don't dig it at all lol. So, I'm hoping that the lower dosage plus the Vimpat will do the trick

My daughter lives near you She's in Fort Worth. She's 23 in a couple of months and first in line to take care of me when I'm old (family joke lol)

 

[pita300]

I had an AMb eeg back in November. At the time the med I was on Tegretol XR I've been on for ever. The seizures I'm having now are not being controlled by the the Tegretol. We knew if we brought me off the Tegretol we knew that outcome would be a T/C and that was not what the doctor was looking for. So to answer no he did not bring me off the Tegretol. However after the EEG he did Start Keppra and starting next week I will be at my target dose of 4000mg a day.

 

[BrandiBrat]

That makes sense and no, I can see why he would not want you to quit taking your meds. That would be scary! Is the Keppra making your hair fall out at all? Maybe I'm just an oddball...I couldn't take it at all. It also made me a zombie.

 

[pita300]

I. Havent niticed my hair falling out. I do sleep a lot now and nap quire a bit. Is it helping my issues. I would say im not having as many seizures as I was so right niw u am cautionly optomistic

 

[RunningGirl85]

In my case my neurologist kept my on my meds to see if they were working, i.e., if I didn't have any seizures, then they were probably working (I'd had two abnormal EEGs prior to being on anything). Nothing showed up (I also didn't have any episodes during that time that I could feel), but I reported still having partial seizures, so I'm about to do a video EEG, and I don't know if they're going to have me stop taking my medications at some point during the EEG.

 

[CBernieBlack]

When I did my Amb. EEG, I was told not to be on meds. In my case they wanted to see if I could trigger an episode so we could catch it in the act. No luck though.

For the post Amb. EEG, I recommend some baby oil to get that glue out of the hair and some deep conditioning to heal up the scalp. It's some nasty acetone based glue they use.

Good luck.

 

[BrandiBrat]

Hey, thanks for the tip Great responses from all, I appreciate it! Of course because I'm on medicaid it takes forever to get the authorization back from the state to have the procedure done. I'm appreciative of the help though, so I try not to complain too much lol. I'm just tired of all of the seizure activity.

 

[FFShawn]

RunningGirl, I am almost positive that you will be pulled off your meds for your v-eeg. I am saying this because I am on day 6 of my second v-eeg right now and am leaving tomorrow, they are starting my meds back for me again late tonight. For both of my v-eegs, I was told to take my dose the morning I checked in and then the doc will decide how to cut them down depending on what you take. It's been this way for both hospitals now (Sacred Heart, Spokane & Harborview, Seattle) Your laptop will be your best friend! I have been on sleep deprivation each day now and have only been allowed fours of sleep each day. Hopefully you get the info you need faster than I have! Good Luck!