EEG Testing and Medication Selection

There are a few ways EEGs can help with making better treatment decisions.  It can help identify some triggers, e.g. photosensitive triggers are often checked for and some might choose to have special lenses to help in certain circumstances. EEGs often identify seizure types - does someone have generalized seizures and which ones, partial seizures or both or perhaps they can't tell and that is also something that would affect medication choice as not all medications treat all kinds of seizures but some meds treat both major types to some degree. EEGs might also indicate a specific type of epilepsy which could really help tailor treatment options by avoiding what usually doesn't work. And also, EEGs might be done in a follow up manner to check if medications are doing their job.EEGs are not a definitive test. People can have epilepsy and have a normal EEG, or many normal EEGs. In some areas a normal EEG is definitive - if one doesn't respond to the photosensitive triggers, that's pretty clear, but many people don't have photosensitivity so there you go.

The EEG can help if abnormalities are seen. But a person can have several different types of seizures and types of epilepsyThey may help when looking at meds to stop seizures. But the neurologists know a medication that works for one person may not for the next. When prescribing medications the neurologists will generally prescribe a medication that one of their patients takes at the same dosage. That patient is doing well and is the same sex,age and has the same type of seizures and epilepsy that they are trying to stop.Just like a cardiologist prescribing medications for high blood pressure knows which ones will work and they have many to chose from