Seizures

Our daughter who is 18 had her 1st seizure in Aug.  She was not put on medication.  Cat scan, MRI, and EEG showed nothing.  She just had another episode but this week and this time they are calling it a Syncope.  I spoke to the neurologist and over the phone he called it a seizure.  Should we be seeking a neurologist who specializes in seizures.  If test results are all negative is she considered to have epilepsy?

[kay221]

If youve had more than 1 seizures I believe its then called epilepsy. Go see a neurologist. Same thing happened to me but my EEG was positive. I guess that when you have an EEG, if the spike is less than 3 seconds long its in the "normal" range. I had a friend who had the same problem with the EEG being normal. Finally she went and her EEG was just at the cutoff. She started taking meds and shes much better. Maybe your daughter should try a 24 hr EEG. Theyll give her a little fanny pack like box to bring home and shell come back in the morning. In the meantime, get a referral for a good neurologist.

[JKJ]

My son has Frontal Lobe Epilepsy, and all these years all of his EEGs have always been normal, yet when he has been hospitalized so that they can do sleep EEGs...they see his seizures in person...still with normal EEGs.

So yes, find a neuro-doc who specializes in epilepsy (I forget what they are called, but it's a really long word).  And be persistent and insistent!!!

[Dr Santos]

Hi,

How is your daughter? A normal EEG does not exclude epilepsy because between seizures the brainwave patterns could be normal. During an outpatient's standard EEG there may be no abnormal activity occurring in the brain, so several EEGs may be needed. Other ways in which the EEG is used to detect epileptic activity include sleep EEG, ambulatory EEG, or Video-telemetry. This is a test that uses a video camera linked to an EEG machine. The camera will visually record your movements and at the same time the EEG machine will record your brainwave pattern. Both the video and EEG are stored onto a computer that can be reviewed once the test is finished. Discuss this with your doctor for proper evaluation.

Take care and regards.

[pmdk]

Thank you all for your responses and words of encouragement.  I will take all of this info with me to get the tests done that we need.  Our daughter is okay physically (from the seizure) at this point but from the fall she dislocated her shoulder so she is recovering from that.  She was close to 6 months not driving, now she will not be able to drive for a longer period.  For a teenager this is hard to take although she does understand why she is not able to drive.
This is the 1st time I have ever participated in a discussion group like this and I just want all of you to know how helpful reading your responses has been.