Confused and Frustrated with EEG Results

Hi everyone. 

I'm a 26 year old male with a somewhat insignificant medical history until recently. 

When I was 19 (2007) I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder after having what we thought at the time were panic attacks. During my attacks I would experience a strong sense of déjà vu, like I was in a time loop and had experienced that exact moment before, followed by escalating fear of going crazy or dieing, palpitations, rapid breathing, nausea, numbness and tingling in my arms and legs, confusion, tremors and shaking, and abnormal sensations like electricity flowing through my body or needles being weaved through it. Sometimes I would have weird vision changes like seeing stars or objects swaying and sensations of moving.  

Aside from these attacks I would get brief jolt like twitches (almost like shivers) that affect my upper body maybe once or twice a day. I didn't think much of these until recently.

I've been on several antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds like Ativan. The attacks seemed to be controlled after taking Ativan. 

The attacks seemed to have improved over the last few years but every so often I experience the strong déjà vu and escalating fear which eventually passes.

Recently I had a stroke due to bi-lateral vertebral artery dissections with pseudo aneurysms developing consequently. After the stroke the mri showed changes in my left temporal lobe, occipital lobe, and left thalamus. I've had surgery to repair my left vertebral artery and my right vertebral artery has healed. 

Last month I was hospitalized with uncontrollable jerking and shaking spells which started with my upper body and progressed through my entire body. I remember feeling very anxious that day like my nerves were shot and my feelings seemed intensified. While in the ER I had a ct and mri which showed no changes. I was given ativan followed by Dilantin which caused the jerking and shaking to stop. 

I saw my neurologist and the theory was I could be having seizures related to my stroke. My neurologist ordered an EEG and I had it conducted on Monday. 

During the EEG the tech exposed me to a strobe light with my eyes closed. When the frequency increased, my facial muscles started to tense up and began twitching and I started to jerk and shake. After the strobe light test she had me fall asleep, it seemed like I was out for only a second before I jolted myself awake. During the breathing test, I got light headed and anxious. 

So I left thinking "great they at least got something on the EEG."  Well my neurologists office called today to go over my results and told me my EEG was normal. I was shocked and confused to say the least. I do have an appointment with him in March to follow-up. 

After reading about different seizure types, temporal lobe epilepsy really caught my attention because of the association with déjà vu and abnormal sensations. I've since made a list of all my symptoms past and present to take to my neurologist appointment.

During the EEG the tech did say that sometimes the test isn't conclusive. I'm really confused that I had those reactions yet my EEG was normal. Is it common to have those types of reactions with a normal EEG? And is it common to have some form of epilepsy despite a normal EEG?