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6yr old ASD daughter, EEG came back Abnormal
Sun, 04/22/2018 - 07:40Topic: Parents & Caregivers
Good Morning,
I’m hoping someone can help me here. Last week, my daughter had an eeg done because she’s been having slight twitching in her sleep at night. The nurse called me the day after to say that her eeg came back with one-two “generalized bursts” and to make an appointment with her neurologist to discuss further testing, options, etc. The EEG was an hour long and sleep deprived. My daughter was sick with a stomach bug during the week and recovering from it when she went to do the EEG. The nurse said the neurologist wasn’t too concerned as there was only one-two bursts (she called them this). My daughter is also autistic so I’m not sure if that too would raise any risks of abnormal EEG readings.
Does anyone have experience with this (only one-two bursts/spikes showed on EEG)? Is this enough to diagnose epilepsy? I am so scared.
Thanks for your help.
Comments
Make sure you see an
Submitted by RTLEmum on Mon, 2018-04-30 - 10:27
Make sure you see an epileptologist and not just a neurologist. I think 30% of kids with ASD have a seizure disorder. You will want to turn over every rock on this, as the autistic behavior could be the result of seizures and if you get the seizures controlled, the ASD symptoms could improve. I would go to a Level 4 epilepsy center and do an overnight video EEG, they should be able to get to the bottom of it. Until you do this, you won't really know what is going on. If you do this, and she's clear, then you can feel pretty confident, she's okay. Yes, having ASD does raise the risk of an abnormal EEG, but it also raises the risk of having epilepsy--so you want to make sure.
It's possibly too early to
Submitted by Amy Jo on Mon, 2018-04-23 - 00:23
It's possibly too early to say for sure, night twitching might requite a sleep study or an overnight EEG to really know. Part of the diagnosis depends on your child's history, which your neurologist is more familiar with and oftentimes additional EEGs give additional info. But if it turns out to be epilepsy, isn't it better to know and treat it than not? People on the spectrum have a higher chance of epilepsy (over 10% higher) than the general population so one can't assume one condition explains away the readings. Has your child had any MRIs? If the doc is leaning towards epilepsy, ask about imaging.