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seizure during an mri?
Sat, 10/16/2010 - 11:55Topic: Epilepsy.com Help
I had an mri the other day and during the mri, my legs started moving uncontrollably. I felt someone rubbing my legs. They stopped my mri and pulled me out. They started asking me if I could feel them rubbing my legs and I responded by nodding my head yes. They asked if I was ok and again I nodded yes. By then they had gotten others to come into the room. Someone asked me what day it was, the month, and the date. I answered all their questions as I was completely aware. They sat me up and my legs continued with the uncontrollable movements. Then the movements went to my torso. They asked if I could feel it and I said yes. They called my neurologist and he asked me to come in. They said that they had never seen anything like it before. They wheeled me to the car and my sister drove me there. All the while my body is still having uncontrollable movements and I was still conscious. I had to walk from the car to the neurologists office and I was so embarrased. I felt like a cross between a chicken and a bobblehead. My sister said that I looked like one too. When I finally was able to see my doc, he checked my vitals, had me walk, checked eyes and other movements which everything was normal except my walk and the involuntary movements. He said he had never seen anything like it and felt it was "psychological". He prescribed me 4 valum and told me to rest and come back at the scheduled appt. time that I already had(4 weeks). It is hard to explain the movements, I wish it was videotaped. It was really weird. It continued until I took one of the valum, then stopped within 3 minutes. Was this a seizure or what?
Re: seizure during an mri?
Submitted by phylisfjohnson on Sat, 2010-10-16 - 17:20
It could have been a normal seizure or a psyochogenic seizure.
Seizures that are psychological in origin are often called psychogenic seizures. These seizures are most likely triggered by emotional stress or trauma. Some people with epilepsy have psychogenic seizures in addition to their epileptic seizures. It’s a legitimate seizure and should be treated that way, but it is not caused by a problem in the brain.
My only other idea is that it could have been a reaction to the magnetic field of the MRI...
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – is a safe and non-invasive scanning technique that uses a magnetic field, radio waves and a computer to produce two or three-dimensional images of the brain. This detailed picture of brain structures helps physicians locate possible causes of seizures and identify areas that may generate seizures. No X-rays or radioactive materials are used, therefore this procedure is not known to be harmful. An MRI offers doctors the best chance of finding the source of seizures. Because seizures can arise from scar tissue in the brain, an MRI can show scar tissue and allow doctors to determine the nature of it. The images produced from the MRI are extremely precise. The information provided by MRI is valuable in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with epilepsy.
Perhaps a Video EEG would be more user-friendly?
Video EEG Monitoring – allows prolonged simultaneous recording of the patient’s behavior and the EEG. Seeing EEG and video data at the same time, permits precise correlation between seizure activity in the brain and the patient’s behavior during seizures. Video-EEG can be vital in the diagnosis of epilepsy and epileptic seizures. It allows the doctor to determine: whether events with unusual features are epileptic seizures…the type of epileptic seizure, and…the region of the brain from which the seizures arise.
I hope this is helpful... Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com
It could have been a normal seizure or a psyochogenic seizure.
Seizures that are psychological in origin are often called psychogenic seizures. These seizures are most likely triggered by emotional stress or trauma. Some people with epilepsy have psychogenic seizures in addition to their epileptic seizures. It’s a legitimate seizure and should be treated that way, but it is not caused by a problem in the brain.
My only other idea is that it could have been a reaction to the magnetic field of the MRI...
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – is a safe and non-invasive scanning technique that uses a magnetic field, radio waves and a computer to produce two or three-dimensional images of the brain. This detailed picture of brain structures helps physicians locate possible causes of seizures and identify areas that may generate seizures. No X-rays or radioactive materials are used, therefore this procedure is not known to be harmful. An MRI offers doctors the best chance of finding the source of seizures. Because seizures can arise from scar tissue in the brain, an MRI can show scar tissue and allow doctors to determine the nature of it. The images produced from the MRI are extremely precise. The information provided by MRI is valuable in the diagnosis and treatment of individuals with epilepsy.
Perhaps a Video EEG would be more user-friendly?
Video EEG Monitoring – allows prolonged simultaneous recording of the patient’s behavior and the EEG. Seeing EEG and video data at the same time, permits precise correlation between seizure activity in the brain and the patient’s behavior during seizures. Video-EEG can be vital in the diagnosis of epilepsy and epileptic seizures. It allows the doctor to determine: whether events with unusual features are epileptic seizures…the type of epileptic seizure, and…the region of the brain from which the seizures arise.
I hope this is helpful... Phylis Feiner Johnson www.epilepsytalk.com