First EEG, any words of wisdom? I got some questions too

[girlwithadog]

As I posted in the other thread, I saw my neurologist for the first time today.

He says he's fairly certain I have epilepsy. So he ordered an EEG for next Thursday.

When the receptionist was making my appointment she didn't seem too concerned. Like she was making a regular appointment or something. She said not to use conditioner or gel or anything on my hair and handed me the card. So I asked if there was anything special I needed to avoid or anything, like food or drinks and she said no.

I was looking up online and it says avoid caffeine (which I do anyways) and that they may need you to sleep during and to not get good sleep the night before because lack of sleep does something to make it show better or something? I don't know. But I was wondering...

What should I do to prepare for the EEG? Should I cut my sleep down to 4 hours or 3 hours or something?

Also, if it does induce a seizure, will they count that as my last seizure when determining when it's safe to drive again? It's a year and May will mark one year, if I have epilepsy it's not frequent, so I'm holding onto the idea I may be back and driving in August (I still want to wait a little longer with all the testing being done and if I go onto medication). Will the seizure (if I have one) durring the EEG count in pushing back my license?

And yeah, driving should be the least of my worries but... Gosh it's hard to get anything at all done without a license! I don't even know how I'll be making it to the EEG yet since I can't drive

 

[Froggy901]

Hi, I'm an aspiring psychologist and have both administered and received EEGs so I hope I can help!

Firstly, if the receptionist didn't give you any specific requests (asides from the hair stuff), then you should assume that they just want a baseline reading and you should therefore get a normal amount of sleep. Unless you have been specifically asked to, it would be far better to be well rested than sleepy as blinking (which you do more when you are tired) can cause a lot of 'noise' on the EEG and make it hard to read. It was always a pain when I was doing my research project and our student volunteers would come in with hangovers and were constantly losing focus and nodding off!

Also, I doubt they would want to induce a seizure without telling you beforehand - it's not very ethical if you have to drive home afterwards! However, there is of course a chance you could have one during the procedure (but depending upon your personal triggers, it's no more likely than any other situation). You need to be able to sit still whilst they put the cap on, and then for however long they want to monitor you for. If you think something might trigger you, make sure they know this.

Just stick to what the receptionist said about your hair (baby shampoo is favoured if you have it but I wouldn't worry about buying some in specially!), get plenty of sleep and also, bring a hat! Most places will use a conductive paste on your scalp and it's not a good look!

I hope that helps, but if you're still in any doubt, ring up and double check

 

[Nakamova]

If they're looking for a characteristic brainwave pattern that occurs between seizures, then a sleep-deprived EEG would be a better bet. This means getting little-to-no sleep the night before. All of my EEGs were sleep-deprived. And I've never had a seizure during an EEG -- but my brain has produced the pattern than would be expected to show up in someone with "classic" epilepsy.

I recommend that you call and ask for clarification on the sleep or no sleep question.

 

[HidyHo]

Not sure if you've already had one or not. Myself, I was told to not sleep. My appointment was for 5am so staying awake that long wasn't so hard.

They did in fact go out of their way to induce a seizure and I was not told of this. Strangely the nurse kept telling me to sit still (wtf right?)

I imagine it would count towards when you could drive again.