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EEG seemed to "flip switch" and cause frequent seizures
Thu, 11/26/2015 - 17:02Hello,
I'm new here, 23 years old and was diagnosed 6 months ago with Epilepsy. I had 1-2 lost time episodes a month, but after having a sleep deprived EEG I now have regular seizures.
I went to the Mayo clinic for head and spine issues (I have Chiari and have had several brain and spine surgeries). After hearing of my occasional 'lost time' episodes they did a sleep deprived EEG. I had had a few non-sleep deprived EEGs in the past that had some abnormalities, but nothing concrete enough to diagnose. When the Mayo did the sleep deprived EEG I had 15 minutes of seizures, an absence seizure a few minutes later, and a grandmal seizures a few hours later in my hotel room (I actually managed to break the toilet tank with my head, so now I am dealing with the concussion and effects from that).
Ever since that EEG at Mayo that caused them to diagnose me with Epilepsy, I have been having seizures regularly. It's as if a switch was turned on in my brain that I need turned off! I have had one more sleep deprived EEG that has resulted in me regularly having seizures in my sleep, so no more EEGs for me!
Has anyone else experienced or heard of this (seizures getting way worse following EEG) happening?
Any and all help/comments would be greatly appreciated!
~LindseyF
I had had a few non-sleep
Submitted by just_joe on Mon, 2015-11-30 - 11:08
I had had a few non-sleep deprived EEGs in the past that had some abnormalities... Abnormalities are what the neurologists are looking for in the EEG. They are spikes or waves ie. electrical discharges going off wrong in your brain. The EEG is a test and nothing but a test to find out where in your brain those discharges are coming from. You are probably familiar with a EKG, You know the test done on your heart to fond out the beat and if it is right? It is the same thing. The difference is one is on the head the other is on the heart. So the EEG's did not cause your seizures. Those abnormalities did cause then. All a seizure is is an electrical impulse going off wrong in your brain. That impulse going off wrong (start of a seizure) causes a chain reaction (the seizure) and until that chain reaction stops you are in the seizure. As for having regular seizures in your sleep you may have been having smaller ones in your sleep without knowing it. Have you ever slept and still woke up tired? If you have then you might have had a seizure in your sleep because each seizure drains energy. If you had seizures without knowing it and started seeing them then it happens to a lot of people. I hope this helps Joe I had been written up for daydreamiong in class for about 2 years. I had a grand mal seizure and other seizures. It wasn't until the diagnosis was done that we found out that those daydreams were seizures. Petite mal seizures and some focal motor seizures are seizures that the person having them look like they are in day dreams. So the EEG did not cause you to have more seizures. Each person has a threshold for most things that happen. Some people can take more pain them others so their pain threshold is higher, Yes each person has a threshold for seizures.