I was scheduled for an EEG, an electroencephalogram. Preparation involved being up most of the night, the night before, since sleep deprivation lowers the seizure threshold. The morning of the procedure we went to the hospital and checked in. My wife and I were taken to an EEG technician to a small room where the test was to be performed. A couple dozen electrodes were attached to my skin. The process was painless. To further induce sleepiness I was given chloral hydrate to drink. This didn't taste like something you would want to drink, but it wasn't the worst tasting thing in the world either.
I lay down on the stretcher with a pillow under my head. This was an unusual position for me to sleep in. I sleep on my side or belly, so as I get tired I get the impulse to roll over. Before I was allowed to try to sleep they first did other tests. I'm not an EEG expert, but I understand some of these tests help make sure the wires are attached and reading correctly. I was instructed to open my eyes and close them several times. I was instructed to hyperventilate for a couple minutes. A strobe light was placed in front of my face. With my eyes closed, the light flickered at various frequencies. None of these seemed to have any real effect on me, and finally the time to sleep arrived.
It was difficult to fall asleep on command, in an unusual environment, lying on my back. I could hear somebody vacuuming in the next room. Is the really the quietest place Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center had for doing EEG's? It seemed the harder I tried to fall asleep the harder it was to fall asleep. Finally I settled on the idea of playing Chopin piano pieces in my head. I did this for a few minutes. The next thing I knew, I was being told to wake up. I said I hadn't been asleep yet. They said I had fallen asleep, just not into a very deep sleep. When I tried to get up I realized how powerful of an affect the chloral hydrate had on me. I was unable to walk without assistance. Although I tried my best to walk down the center of the hallway, I kept bumping into the walls. My wife took me home, where I took a nap.
A few days later the doctor told me the results. He stated that I had 3 episodes of seizure activity during the EEG in the left parietal lobe of the brain. That sort of made sense, since my right arm did sometimes twitch during my seizures. I was started in Keppra. It seemed ineffective, and I didn't notice any effects from it when I first started on it. I wouldn't notice its effects until years later when I was taken off of it. The doses were increased on a regular basis, until I was taking the maximum dosage, 1500mg twice daily. This took several months to accomplish, and my seizures never got better during this time period. This was due, at least in part, to another medication I was taking. The Asacol I was taking for Ulcerative Colitis had instigated my seizures. It was many months before any of my doctors would agree with that statement.
I lay down on the stretcher with a pillow under my head. This was an unusual position for me to sleep in. I sleep on my side or belly, so as I get tired I get the impulse to roll over. Before I was allowed to try to sleep they first did other tests. I'm not an EEG expert, but I understand some of these tests help make sure the wires are attached and reading correctly. I was instructed to open my eyes and close them several times. I was instructed to hyperventilate for a couple minutes. A strobe light was placed in front of my face. With my eyes closed, the light flickered at various frequencies. None of these seemed to have any real effect on me, and finally the time to sleep arrived.
It was difficult to fall asleep on command, in an unusual environment, lying on my back. I could hear somebody vacuuming in the next room. Is the really the quietest place Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center had for doing EEG's? It seemed the harder I tried to fall asleep the harder it was to fall asleep. Finally I settled on the idea of playing Chopin piano pieces in my head. I did this for a few minutes. The next thing I knew, I was being told to wake up. I said I hadn't been asleep yet. They said I had fallen asleep, just not into a very deep sleep. When I tried to get up I realized how powerful of an affect the chloral hydrate had on me. I was unable to walk without assistance. Although I tried my best to walk down the center of the hallway, I kept bumping into the walls. My wife took me home, where I took a nap.
A few days later the doctor told me the results. He stated that I had 3 episodes of seizure activity during the EEG in the left parietal lobe of the brain. That sort of made sense, since my right arm did sometimes twitch during my seizures. I was started in Keppra. It seemed ineffective, and I didn't notice any effects from it when I first started on it. I wouldn't notice its effects until years later when I was taken off of it. The doses were increased on a regular basis, until I was taking the maximum dosage, 1500mg twice daily. This took several months to accomplish, and my seizures never got better during this time period. This was due, at least in part, to another medication I was taking. The Asacol I was taking for Ulcerative Colitis had instigated my seizures. It was many months before any of my doctors would agree with that statement.
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