Will an EEG show anything if there is no headache at that time?

[frauhahn]

I'm having an EEG tomorrow and wondering, will the EEG show migraine pattern even if I don't have a headache?  I had an accident just before Christmas and totalled my jeep.  I had a really bad headache that morning and had taken an Imitrix about 10 minutes before I got into the car, and was searching for the Aleve in my purse with one hand, but watching the road.  The next thing I was aware of was that there was something white in front of me.  The Aleve bottle was in my hand, and I reached out and ran my hand over the white "pillow".  I realized fairly quickly (I think) that it was an airbag-I had hit a tree.  I had no memory of the accident at all, but my head was fairly clear.  I felt extremely calm.  I called 911 and described exactly where I was (within 50 yards of my own property line).  I then called my husband, and the collegue I was going to pick up on the way to work.  My husband arrived almost as quickly as the ambulance and the police.  I stepped out of the car and the medic asked if I would come with him into the ambulance.  He commented that I was very wobbly.  He took my blood pressure and asked if I would like to go to the hospital to be checked out.  I was sore through my ribs, and my knees were sore, but I didn't see any reason to go.  My husband took me home and I called school to tell them I wouldn't be in.  Then I went to bed.  When I woke up, my head felt better, though I had the usual after-effects of my migraine-I felt like a wet dish rag.   I waited to go to the doctor until after New Years, when my personal physician returned.  He did an EKG and found nothing, so he sent me to a neurologist.  The neurologist asked several times if I was sure that I hadn't just fallen asleep.  I really doubt it-and my husband said that I was as alert that morning as I usually was.  And I didn't feel the car go off the pavement or hear the noise that I'm told would occur when the airbag exploded.  The neurologist sent me for a doppler mri, an electrocardiogram and a hostler monitor.  I haven't heard anything yet from him about these.  The last test is the EEG.  I'm told I can't drive for 6 months, or until they can be sure that they have the situation regulated.  I'm wondering if anything will show up on the EEG if I'm not suffering a migraine at the time.  I have noticed that they are often brought on by sudden changes in the barometer.  Sorry this is so long, but I'm really wondering if this will prove anything-nothing I've read seems to deal with  EEGs when there is no migraine at the time.
Thanks for any advice.

[frauhahn]

The eeg showed nothing, as did all of the other tests.  The neurologist still says that I can't drive until 6 months pass without further incident, though my regular md says he has no doubt that I blacked out because of the migraine.  Funny-the migraines had been gone for several months and had come back after a root canal procedure.  So other problems also started turning up-my md put me on cipro 2 days ago, and sent me to a different dentist-who found that I have a raging infection due to material that seeped out during the root canal procedure-have to go to an endodontist on Friday, and then most likely have oral surgery-there is no end to misery in this ordinarily very healthy old gal!

[alagirl]

and yes, to answer your question, my EEG showed abnormalities not only when I did not have a headache, but also when I was on seizure medication to control my migraines.  I felt for certain that being on seizure meds would control abnormal brain wave patterns, but apparently it doesn't.

[alagirl]

I'll be interested to know what you find out.  I've been a migraineur since around puberty and I'm 40 now.  I have headaches lasting sometimes as long as three weeks or more (or as little as a couple of days) and all that can be done is pain management, there is no way to get rid of the headache (although I do use as many relpax as I'm allowed per month in an attempt to calm the headaches down somewhat at least that way).

However, I've had, I believe, about four or five EEG's now over the course of the past twenty five years, and all of them have come out abnormal to some extent or another.  None of them have shown clear seizure disorder, but none of them have been normal, and all of them have shown the most bizarre wave length patterns during two different periods, when asked to hyperventilate, and during the photo-stimulation portion of the EEG's.

All of my catscan's and MRI's have been completely normal.  I do take 200 mg of topamax as a prophylaxis daily and it does seem to help (better than not taking it) but its a long way from perfect prophylaxis unfortunately.

My understanding is that a good many of us have funky EEG's but the reason isn't really known.  There's a feeling that there's probably some type of connection between migraineurs and people with seizure disorders, or perhaps a lower threshhold, or who knows what, but there's just no clarity as to what that might be.

[Vanessa Lacuesta]

Hi,

EEG is not used as a primary diagnostic  tool for headache evaluation.There seems to be conflicting literature on EEG showing any abnormalities among persons with migraines.Unless, a seizure disorder is associated with migraine then an EEG may be able to subclassify the headache.Thus, EEG serves as a supplementary test in patients with headaches to rule out post seizure headaches but it may not point to a definite cause of the headache.

I hope this helps.