EEGs - ambulatory vs. video

[RunningGirl85]

I saw my neurologist today. He said my EEG was normal (yay?), even though I reported a couple of dizzy spells - that were because of my accidental forgetting to take my antidepressant for four days. He's still thinking some of it may be anxiety. He's probably right, but I do know the difference. BUT, because I said I'm still having 3-5 (SHORT ones, only one might be longer) partials a week, I can't drive, and he wants me to do a video EEG to triple check. I don't know when I'll be doing it, but he wants it done ASAP. I really want to return to my normal life again, but I also don't want to not be able to drive over something that is in my head (not seizure in my head, lol, but behavioral). Then again, I want my medications and everything to be right. *Sigh* I never had these problems BEFORE - well, some anxiety, yes, but not that feel like my auras do. Then again, I didn't have any seizure activity almost all week when I had the EEG done until the weekend (I finished on Thursday of that week).

SOOO we will see. What should I expect from a video EEG? Has anyone had an ambulatory that turned out normal, but a video that showed abnormal? I've all ready been diagnosed with epilepsy after two abnormal ones (and of course, my second tonic-clonic while deployed), so they can't all be behavioral.

 

[RunningGirl85]

Anyone? The purpose behind the video is he wants to decide if he needs to change medications, or if mine are working. I'm honestly okay with a few partials a week. I don't lose consciousness, and I haven't had a T/C since last April. That tells me that my medications are fine. But he won't clear me to drive until my partials are either a) less frequent (he says 3-5 a week is still a lot - though I explained they are usually short flashes, with 1-2 longer ones, and are clustered in a 1-2 day period) or b) gone completely.

 

[Nakamova]

I haven't had a vEEG myself, hope other chime in soon. Here are a few links from the archives, maybe they will be helpful:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f20/video-eeg-time-18936/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...g-itself-what-happens-during-video-eeg-18415/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/video-eeg-any-tips-provoking-seizures-17022/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/24-hr-telemetry-video-eeg-monitoring-15427/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/can-someone-tell-me-about-video-eegs-13758/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/staying-up-tonight-tmrws-video-eeg-15780/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com...ital-week-video-eeg-need-advice-please-17368/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/thoughts-veeg-12017/

I also found this to be pretty informative: http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/diagnosing_monitoring.html

 

[bandmom]

On Anna's last visit with her epileptologist a few weeks ago, my husband asked if there was any advantage to her having an ambulatory eeg, since she did not have any of her usual seizures during her last video eeg. He dismissed the ambulatory eeg as not very useful. The quality of the recording is not as good, you have to return to the hospital daily for the leads to be checked, therefore he very rarely uses ambulatory eegs. (This doctor is the head of epilepsy at the Cleveland Clinic.)

So I guess you can get more accurate info from a video eeg? It sounds like they may show something that the ambulatory could miss. You just have to hope that you'll have some seizure activity while you're there. Anna's seizures stopped as soon as she checked in, so we still wonder if those were psychogenic because we couldn't prove them to be epileptic.