What does this EEG mean?

[iris986]

EEG Findings:

This waking and sleeping EEG was done in referential, bipolar and transverse monages using photic stimulation and hyperventilation as provocation measures. The posterior dominant rhythm is 10 Hz. Drowsiness is manifested by a dropout of the posterior dominant rhythm and presence of 4-7 per second activity over the frontcentral regions. Sharp waves are noted over the left temporal region. Photic stimulation produced no driving response. Hyperventilation with good effort produced little electrophysiological change. Stage two sleep with vertex waves, K-complexes, and sleep spindles was seen briefly.

Impression:  This is an abnormal waking, drowsy, and sleeping EEG with evidence of focal abnormality over the left temporal region.

[iris986]

Last Friday I woke up with a mild headache across my forehead and went to Home Depot with my husband, we went to the chemical section where I had an ocular in which I lost the left half of my vision in my left eye, it last about 5 minutes. We went home after that and I sat down at our table outside where this happened: I had the feeling as if someone was running their fingers up the backside of my head and then it spread through my brain and I lost focus in both eyes and I started shaking all over and I lost my concentration. It lasted for about 5 to 10 minutes and then afterward it started all over again. The rest of the day I lost vision in a different area of my left eye at least 10 times that day and through til about 1:30 in the morning. The next morning it happened again twice and then I didn't have anymore of them.

The night before all this started I smelled fire in my house where there was none and then the next morning it started is when it started.

The reason for the EEG was because after having oculars with auras and  without headache since 1997, they suddenly changed two weeks before the EEG. The auras don't happen anymore and I started getting pain over my right eyebrow and the oculars have changed-at times I feel like someone is pushing my eyes real hard together as if they are being crossed and other time its like they are out of focus, the blindness is always the left eye and the blindness moves around the eye. I have only had one episode where I was totally blind in my left eye for about 15 minutes.

My Neurologist called and said I had an abnormal EEG on both sides of the brain and I asked her if it was bad and she said it was on both sides and that she wasn't putting it down as epilepsy until she saw if the meds work, which is Lamictal.

Today, I had to go see an associate of hers and what my Neurologist said and what she said conflicts.

[Christopher R Newey, DO]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history and view the EEG myself, (EEGs can be different based on the experience of the person reading the EEG), I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

A sharp wave is a transient high-voltage waveform that when found in certain clinical contexts are called “epileptiform discharges” suggestive of a region of the brain, particularly the temporal lobe, that is susceptible to seizure. There are several ways electrophysiologists use to elicit epileptiform discharges. These include sleep deprivation, photic stimulation, and hyperventilation.

Do you have a neurologist? If so, I suggest you follow up with one who specializes in electrophysiology/epilepsy.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.