Why do Dr's do EEG while the patient is on med

Re: Why do Dr's do EEG while the patient is on med

Submitted by pgd on Fri, 2011-07-15 - 09:40

No, can't explain it to you. Ideally a person is given an EEG in a med-free state to see what's actually there. Also, cognitive memory tests ideally are given to persons in a med-free state. At the same time, it seems like a number of persons giving these tests (for money under health care plans) simply ignore the topic you bring up, refuse to discuss it candidly, or in some cases fib (aka lie) about it. Often times the idea is proposed to: give a person an EEG in a med-free state and then give the same person days later or longer an EEG after the person has been on an epilepsy med a while and then to compare the two - assuming that the epilepsy medicine will somehow reduce any spiking previously shown in the med-free EEG. It all sounds good (wonderful - Star Trek level - perfect science) but in the real world with EEGs that can be given in under one hour vs EEGs which can take 72 hours or a week plus, the whole area becomes very dynamic to discuss (dynamic = often the topic is swept under the rug so to speak - no one wants to talk about it due to the idea that the topic raises large questions as to what EEGs can detect accurately and not detect accurately). One of the few books I've come across which has addressed this topic straightforwardly is the Nerves In Collision book by Walter C. Alvarez, M.D. (about the many epilepsies). Bottomline, in a lot of cases, EEGs are quite helpful since they do hint at what's going on for some persons; at the same time, in the real world, a lot of people with known epilepsy can have normal EEGs. Again, Alvarez is one of the few authors I've come across which is candid about the topic. An EEG is only measuring what happens at the time of the EEG is given; the EEG does not measure what happened yesterday or what may happen tomorrow. Persons with epilepsy can have a seizure today but yesterday they were seizure-free and tomorrow they may be seizure-free too. Historically, the EEG was a major advance in the field of epilepsy and it has its place. It can often take persons with seizures weeks, months, even years to very slowly sort it all out. Words: written seizure diary.

Re: Why do Dr's do EEG while the patient is on med

Submitted by tonialpha on Fri, 2011-07-15 - 21:05

For many reasons.....

One to see the control of medication is given to the patient.

Two if the patient is still having seizure activity.

The doctor can do the EEG to check my sleep patterns and breathing during Hyperventilation and photostimulation and it will be noted during the test.  They might see a spike, or sharp wave  or slowing indicating an abnormality.

EEGs are done for wake or wake/sleep.  They can be done in the monitoring unit too.  A lot of us can tell you about that too. 

I have an abnormality everytime I have an EEG.  I am on 3 medications. 

It is true people w/ a normal EEG can have a Seizure Disorder.   Normal MRI Normal Blood tests.   It varies from patient to patient.   The causes are infinite!