EEG

[jenk1]

DD has to go for an EEG scan at pendlebury childrens hospital soon.

I have heard of this and seen threads mentioning it but i cant find anything to tell me what it is and what the doctors request it for, can anyone help?

TIA

this should give you some information.
My dad used to be an EEG and ECG technician

is it a normal thing for a toddler to have an eeg i dont know how they will keep dd still throughout it,

I'm sure my daughter had this when they thought she had a heart murmur... it didn't hurt and she was wired up to a monitor....
She was about 6 at the time....

they havent told me anything so dont know if it is a sleep one or not, will have to wait until we get the letter, its driving me mad though because i think the consultant knows what is wrong with dd but obviously doesnt want to tell us until he,s sure, but, the sister from the childrens ward rang me yesterday to talk about the scan and when i queried as to why dd needed it she said its routine for all under 2 year olds with a water infection to have one of these.

I dont really think thats the case but we will have to take their word for it, me and dh think that dd could have very mild CP,although she has been diagnosed with development delay but would they ask for an EEG for this?

DS had one years ago at Guys to check for "seizure activity". They sedated him, or at least they tried to! There was no way it would work otherwise with a 4yr old non-verbal child with ASD.

sorry... that was a ECG she had....

Hi, i think that paeds refer all children who have had more than afew convulsions for an eeg. Harry cant move so he lay still anyway but they do one that the child can walk around with. they have the electrodes on the head and the leads go to a back pack which you can carry. Harry has had about 6 six now, and all showed very abnormal patterns. He was supposed to have a 24hr one to capture a few seizures but 3hours into it and he had more than 20 so it was stopped. Good luck with it.

Yes, an EEG is to test for any abnormal "electrical" type activity on the brain, i.e. seizures. Usually they require them to be asleep. Has your DD had any kind of convulsion or suspected epilepsy?

my neice's ds2 is having one as he has suspected autism and is having episodes like petit mal.

xxxx for your dd jenk1

Sorry, just read your other thread, which makes it clear that she has had convulsions. I'm very sorry to hear this. We had a very similar time of it with our DS, but he has now been free of seizures for over two years.

Hi Jenk;

OK, an EEG is completely routine with seizures. Seizures are classified into different types and the different types can have different effects and be treated differently. It helps them greatly with classification/diagnosis if they can work out where in the brain the seizure is "starting".

The process is:

• you sit in a comfy chair with DS on your lap.
• they glue (with sticky gunk rather than anything permanent!) little electrode tabs all over his head. There are a LOT of these - 20-plus and this part of the process is what Helena finds hardest. It is much easier if you get it done in a children's unit where they are used to kids not staying still for this part and they work VERY fast.
• they put a rather fetching tubigrip hat on top to stop the wires being pulled off. If you are feeling cruel, now is the time to take pictures .
• you play with DS (the room should have a lot of toys in it) while the computer records what is going on in the head
• they may put a small strobe light on at diff frequencies, as this can induce seizures in some people and give them something to measure.
• whole thing should take 1/2 hour to 1 hour.
• you won't get any results from the operator. A report goes back to the consultant who ordered the test and they should discuss it with you.

If DS has seizures only when asleep, they may do a sleep EEG, by asking you to deprive him of sleep before hand and hoping he will nap during the procedure. Or they may give Melatonin (sleep hormone) to induce the same thing. Generally they do a plain EEG first and only go to sleep ones if the first one didn't give the info they needed.

Be warned - a lot of EEGs come up blank because the brain is behaving normally most of the time and the test didn't catch any odd signals. Helena has had 4 now and only got any results from the last one. Also, the results are often inconclusive. One doc described it to me as "trying to work out what is happening in a football match by listening to the crowd from outside the stadium".

thanks r3dh3d, you have really explained it to me and it helps for me to know what will happen before hand

hi ya my son has had 3 eeg's, one when he was 8 weeks, one when he was 9 months and one when he was 14 months, all 3 have been in the day when hes been awake, and r3dh3d bascially said everythign u need to know
with matthew they done lights which startred off slow and then got faster, they also covered his eyes a few times to

hes due a sleep EEG very soon along with a MRI
all matthew EEG'S have come bk clear, he has seizures also,

the test is painless but very hard to keep the child still, make sure u take a drink etc and they normally have toys

do u know when ur dd is due to have it done?

love natalie