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Is my son having seizures - preliminary EEG report

Mon, 07/31/2006 - 17:56
Hello, I am new and looking for some guidance. just received by fax the preliminary EEG report on my son (he had a sleep deprived EEG because we've been noticing leg twitches while he sleeps). Our neuro called me last Thursday with the results and said there was abnormality on the left side but it could be seizures or just because of the brain damage....if you remember in one of my previous posts, he asked me if I wanted to medicate. I said not unless I know for sure it's seizures. His recommendation was an ambulatory EEG. Well, I called his office today to see if they had the final report yet...nope, still showing preliminary. I told the secretary that this was holding up our decision so I really needed to know who was supposed to be doing this report, why it was taking so long, etc. She said she didn't know. She said she would call the EEG department for me (because they wouldn't send stuff to me directly) and that I should give them another 3 - 5 business days to find out the results. I just couldn't let this go, so after a little while I called the EEG department myself. They were pretty vague too, saying it was our neuro's office job to get that info for me and that they couldn't release it to me because I was the parent....whatever! I called back the neuro's office and asked if she had called already and what she found out because it's really bugging me and I need to know. For those of you familiar with Children's, it's Dr. Riviello who read the EEG, he's not in today but his assistant was asked to expedite the final report...told our neuro's secretary that I wasn't going to wait 5 days for an answer. I needed to know because it was holding up our decision to have the other EEG done and if my son is in fact having seizures in his sleep then we are wasting valuable time!...asked her to fax me the preliminary report. Under description it states this: Occasionally the background on the right is 6 Hz and the left does not appear as well formed. With drowsiness, there is some waxing and waning of the dominant rhythm with eventual replacement by a mixture of beta, alpha, and theta activity. As the patient enters stage II of sleep, symmetrical spindles and vertex sharp waves are present. Arousal is unremarkable. The sleep spindles are asynchronous with the sleep spindles in the right appearing more well formed than the left. Sharp waves are seen in P3 and C3 and occasional triphasic sharp and spike waves are seen in P7 and T7. There is much muscle artifact. Then interpretation section states that the EEG is abnormal in awake and asleep due to occasional multifocal sharp and spike waves in the left central, parietal and temporal areas, asynchronous sleep spindles, right greater than the left and background slowing on the left. Clinical correlation: This EEG suggest the diagnosis of epilepsy with potential multifocal onset in the left central, parietal, and temporal areas. The EEG also suggests a left sided cortical dysfunction. Clinical correlation is recommended. OK, this is a stupid question, but is this saying what I think it's saying and how serious is this? I'm really reaching out to all you seizure experts right now because I can't stop crying. Who should we be requesting to see - the Dr who read the report, our neuro, another epileptologist? For those of you in Massachusetts, who would you recommend?

Comments

Re: Is my son having seizures - preliminary EEG report

Submitted by shannon1220 on Mon, 2006-07-31 - 21:57
Hi, Im sorry you are going through this, I know how hard it can be - my 10yr old son was diagnosed with frontal lobe epilepsy when he was 6 and we now are in the first stages of determining if he is a surgical candidate. Anyway, I really think you should request an MRI if one hasnt been done already. And you should try & find the best childrens hospital in your area - how close are you to boston? I know there is an excellent childrens hospital there with pediatric epilepsy drs on staff. The one thing I have learned through all of this is that you need to be seeing a pediatric epilepsy specialist - not an adult one, they dont understand what kids go through. Hope this helped a little and as far as medications go, my son currently takes trileptal and topamax with pretty much no side effects at all -there are some that he didnt do well on at all & those were lamictal, depakote & tegretol - all of those made him very aggressive. I wish you the best! Sincerely, Jack's Mom

Re: Re: Is my son having seizures - preliminary EEG report

Submitted by elijahstrust on Tue, 2006-08-01 - 12:04
Hi, We try to avoid MRI's if at all possible because Elijah has a programmable vp shunt for his hydrocephalus and magnets, especially one from an MRI will change the setting on his valve. He has a subdural hematoma because a common household/toy magnet adjusted his shunt, so I really don't want to go that route if at all possible. I'm sure his neurosurgeon would rather avoid them too. What would the MRI be able to tell us? We already know there is some subtantial damage from his stroke. Would it show something different? All of his specialists are at Childrens in Boston. Are you also from Massachusetts or surrounding? I know that Dr. Riviello is an epilepsy specialist there and he is the one supposedly who read the EEG, but I'm not sure who is really the best there. Dawn, mom to Kendra 14, Sierra & Rhiannon 6, and Joshua & Elijah 4 (rh, cp, hydro, G20210A heterozygous, MTHFR heterozygous, and possible seizures/epilepsy?

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