How Important Are EEG's?

Critter074

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 29

Posted 9/25/2005 5:14 PM (GMT 0)

First a little background....

My sister had a tonic clonic (first seizure) about seven months ago (she was 62 at the time.) The EEG showed a slight spiking in one small area. The Neuro wasn't too concerned at the time (I guess since it was her first seizure).

Then, almost six months later, she had 3 more tonic clonics in a 16 hour period. These 4 seizures have all been nocturnal. Anyway, this time she ended up in the hospital and her Neuro put on on Dilantin. He wanted to see her in 3 weeks to see where the Dilantin levels were in her blood work-up. Now for my question. He did NOT order another EEG. We were surprised. Since she had three more seizures and so close together, we were sure he'd do another EEG to see if there were any changes. He said it wasn't neccessary. That surprised me.

He said (which I've also read) that you can have a normal EEG and still have seizures, or you can have an abnormal EEG and not have seizures. So his theory was (I guess) that there was no point in doing another EEG. Well, if that's the case, why did he do one to begin with? This just doesn't make sense to me.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Critter074

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 29

Posted 9/25/2005 7:40 PM (GMT 0)

~Jennifer~ said...
All doctors start with testing, EEG or MRI to see seizure activity and where the seizures are coming from.

The main thing now is to get the seizures controlled on meds. I am sure he will do a follow up EEG within a year to check brain activity.

This is normal so please dont get to worried about it.

You state she is having these sz in her sleep?

Hugs

Ok, well that's good to know. It's so hard not to worry, though. Yes, all four have been in her sleep.

Critter074

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 29

Posted 9/25/2005 7:47 PM (GMT 0)

Thanks, Mandiann!

To answer your questions....

Yes, my sister had all those tests; EEG, MRI w and w/o contrast, blood work-ups, EKG's, cat scans, the first time she had a seizure. They were all normal except for the small spike on the EEG. She had all the tests AGAIN after she had the 3 seizures in a 16 hour period 6 months later. They came back normal again. That's when he put her on Dilantin.

She has been healthy all her life. Very fortunate, actually, to be 62 and not on meds for anything; very healthy. Then BOOM, out of the blue, she has this tonic clonic in the middle of the night in March of this year. Her next three were August 31st in a 16 hour period. She never really woke up for that 16 hours and lost a total of 30 hours, memory wise. She's been ok since he put her on the Dilantin but that has only been less that a month. Her Dilantin level (during her checkup this week) was 10, which the Neuro said he was comfortable with. So right now we are staus quo; taking it day at a time. Unfortunately, she feels like a walking time bomb. Still having lots of memory problems.

Again, thanks for the welcome.

Critter ((~.~))

RanMan

Veteran Member

Joined : Feb 2003

Posts : 671

Posted 9/25/2005 8:24 PM (GMT 0)

Critter

This just goes to show that epilepsy can stay dormant in your body for several years and then hit you out of the blue, sometimes without warning.

Something has obviously triggered a seizure. Your sis should try to figure out what the trigger might be so it can be avoided in the future.

Randy

Critter074

Regular Member

Joined : Sep 2005

Posts : 29

Posted 9/25/2005 8:44 PM (GMT 0)

RanMan said...
Critter

This just goes to show that epilepsy can stay dormant in your body for several years and then hit you out of the blue, sometimes without warning.

Something has obviously triggered a seizure. Your sis should try to figure out what the trigger might be so it can be avoided in the future.

Randy

Yes, it sure does, doesn't it. That's what she's been trying to do; figure out the trigger. She can't. At our age, your lifestyle doesn't fluctuate much from day to day. Get up, eat, watch TV, read, eat again, do dishes, watch TV again, go to bed, etc.. LOL Not a whole lot of change from day to day so we're really at a loss. The first seizure, 6 months ago, she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. However, this last time, when she had 3 in one day, that wasn't the case. So we just don't know.

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