How would the signs of "psuedo" seizure show on an EEG? Didn't I hear before that you had "activity" that only showed up on your "hole drilled" EEG test? How would a Dr. come to the conclusion that an epileptic seizure must be psuedo if some activity can be "hidden"?
Does that question make sense ?

Thanks!!

Hi flopper,
The signs of a psuedo sz. would not show up on an e.e.g. because it's a fake sz. the person is acting out a sz. and it looks real to many but when the person is put in the hospital for oberservation the Dr. can tell by the way the person is pretending to have the sz. Often a person will do this when they are having emotional or mental problems. Sometimes they will do this to get attention from family.
I don't have psuedo sz. My sz. are from a scar on the RTL of the brain from difficulties while my mother was carrying me. Yes, when I had a veeg my epi and neurosurgeon found more brain damage on the left side of the brain and that's because the electrodes were placed in 7 different areas of my brain I had 4 electrodes on the right side and 3 on the left side of my brain for 5 days . Since the electrodes were deeper in the brain instead of on top of the head they found more brain damage and I was told that the reason I have brain damage on the left side of the brain is because I had so many absence and cp sz. over the yrs. that it caused more brain damage. I hope I've been of some help. Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

Hi Porkette- I hunted down your old reply stating "surgeon drilled 7 holes into my head. " So basically had they not drilled in & had a regular VEEG it would have recorded the same info. correct?

Thanks again!!

hey Sue, this is jen from oz just wondering, wouldnt an mri pick up on these liesions in the brain, or deep within the tissue, that test sounds pretty invasive to me, i'm asking due a the neuro i saw yesterday is giving me a take home 24 hour monitor eeg, as my episodes are mostly happening around period time,i had a totaly clear MRI, so why if i was having seizure wouldnt the mri show leisions as so many others do.
i thought the MRI was the best tool for viewing the brain?
just wondering thats all. thanks

Hi flopper,
You are correct if the Dr. hadn't drilled the holes in my head they wouldn't have been able to pick up the brain damage, it wouldn't have shown all the brain damage, just like the regular e.e.g. did. Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

Hi Jen,
I've had many MRI's which are great but the brain damage was so deep in my brain that it couldn't pick up anything on the tests. It wasn't until I had a veeg witht the electrodes on the brain that they were able to find all the areas that were causing sz. for me. Take my word I've had CT scans, spinal taps, MRI's, Pet Scan, Spect scan, and wada tests and nothing showed any detail like the veeg where the electrodes were right on my brain. The reason why they couldn't find anything is because the brain damage was so deep into my brain. When I had my last surgery the removed 75% of the RTL and had to leave the other 25% of it there because it was to risky to remove all of the RTL without a chance of me going blind or being paralyzed. That's why I still have sz. each month right around my period but it's much better than having 300 sz. a yr. like I used to. Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

Hi Sue , i'm so sorry you've been through so much, thats discusting, your a very brave person.
i'm having trouble dealing what apears to be small problems around my period time , it dose effect my anxiety and i feel pretty out of controll as i have balance type ataxia as well, when i read some of the other peoples post i feel sounds awfull but i'm pretty lucky so far. but it dosnt stop me from being pretty frieghtend though!

i hate asking you this but here go's do you ever see like an eclipes of the sun or say a ring of bright light when you awake or blink in the dark. just curious as to whether this is a part of epilepsy or not, some have said maybe?

are you getting good help from ur doc's?
do you cope on the meds or do they wash you out?
i have been on and off antidepression drugs over the past 13 years as i started suffering pannic attacks ,due to the all over feeling of falling and rocking balance, my neuro who is the 1st ive seen said ataxia has nothing to do with epilepsy, so im very confused as i must have somthing else as well, wich after having an MRI that was normal, she said my rocking wasnt from the epilepsy or the brain, and she dosnt seem willing to talk about any other test , as of yet. its only early days but i can feel in my bones she going to blow me off as other doc have.
i suppose all we can do is keep pushing and asking people in the know.
thank so much. take care. jen

Hi Jen,
I've learned to stay away from antidepressants because they just mess up the AED's I take. You asked if I see an eclipse and the answer is:"no" but right before a cp sz. I see colors of the rainbow flashing back and forth in my eyes and sometimes I will hear one word being repeated over and over again but it's all a hallucination nobody is saying anything.
For yrs. I saw many different neuros until I found a good epi at a Epilepsy Center and I have been very pleased with him, but it's 103 miles one way to his office so I'm going to see a new neuro closer to home within time and if I don't care for him than back to my epi.
As far as AED's go I've been on 13 different AED's only to find I was drug resistant. I take diamox and mysoline right now along with vitamin B12 and folate (folic acid). I've found that the diamox was the biggest help for me because just like you I have sz. before and after my period do to the hormones changing and the extra fluids in my body. The Diamox helps get rid of the extra fluids which can cause sz. for some people. As far as being washed out on drugs that happened when I was 10 yrs.old and my neuro at the time had me on phenobarb, zarontin, dilantin,mysoline, and tegretol. I was taking 106 pills a week and I was out of it. I've found the fewer AED's I take the better off I am and I have much more energy.
Here's wishing you well and May God Bless You!

Sue

In addition to backing Sue up - I have to agree with her in
regards to the medications, I too have been on Dilantin, Mysoline,
Depakote, Phenobarbital, Felbatol, Tegretol, and so much more.
And at one point I was on 5 anti-convulsants (which we call them
AED's - anti-epileptic drugs today), while it worked for a time being
really messed me up. It would only be a matter of time before my
body would develop a tolerance to the medication or I would develop
a side-effect(s) or allergic reaction(s) to it.

I agree - less is better.

Back then it was tough remembering when to take all these meds,
some of them had to be taken like 2 hours after this, but before
you had to take that - enough to make your head spin. And some
of those meds made me seize more, and some did absolutely nothing
but make me sleep all day and all night. I hardly got anything done!


However I do want to stress that one of the most frustrating thing
for an Epileptologist or Neurologist are those Frontal Lobe seizures
where it doesn't record on the EEG's and the patients are seizing,
especially those who have had head traumas, birth defects, or
something. While it may or may not show up on the Scans, it's
still frustrating to them. But it is possible for a person with Epilepsy
to also have pseudo-seizures - having both. And there are also
tell-tale signs of those who have "fake seizures" (noticed I'm not
using the word pseudo-seizures) which are psychological in nature
that they are able to treat via a Psychologist and/or Psychiatrist
or sometimes via a Social Worker.


Neuroscience has my deepest sympathy, because it has to be
the most frustrating Medical Field in part, as I've been studying
and reading up on it; all because I'm not satisfied with the
answers and responses I receive, and now I can see why. But
they are doing all they can with everything they've got and have
come a long ways in progression (and yet still have along ways
to go) in spite of all the technologies they currently have.

i've been avoiding the computer for a while , sorry i didnt get back and say thanks,
so thanks so much guys , i was in a second hand book store and found a copy of THE HANDBOOK OF EPILEPSY
second edition, Thomas R. Browne and Gregory L. Holmes
it's giving me a bit more insight, but it was really wierd , i found i read and was amazed. there is a whole section on my symptoms under simple partial seizures and some other stuff under cps, so it appear's to be coming from the frontal lobe somewhere. you see i did think i was going crazy as my symptoms where, dreams states, color changes in the inviroment, very visaul.
i will let you all know what my eeg says , as soon as they have a take home one avail there's a long wating list for them. and only 1 unit in Queensland where i live.
anyways hugs and god bless.
jen from oz