What's an EEG like for a kid?

[Indianamomof4]

Anyone have their child get one? I want difficult child to know what to expect. He's having one on Monday. They did tell me to not let him sleep for more than 5 hrs. Sunday night... um.... ok... how's that going to work? I'm freaked out as I need my 8 hrs or I'm worthless. Ah, well. Do you know what they look for on this test?

 

[BestICan]

My son didn't have a sleep-deprived EEG but he had a couple of EEGs when he was younger. in his case, they attached several leads to his head with gooey gel and kind of a shower cap looking thing. It was a small, dark room, but I was in there with him and so was the tech. The tech instructed difficult child to sit still for a while, close his eyes for a while, and then try to hyperventilate. Then they flashed lights into his eyes. They were hoping to induce a seizure. The tech was obviously bummed - even apologized to me - when they couldn't get my son to have a seizure. LOL

Other than the gooey hair it was really no big deal for my son.

 

[Kjs]

In October my difficult child had a 48 hour EEG. Neurologist told us that the quickie tests do not show enough info. For this one we went in and they attached all the wires to his head. Smell was strong. difficult child really didn't like that.
Then they covered his head with gauze like stuff. covered the wires with a sock thingy and put the machine in a backpack. He looked like he had on one of those big stocking caps.
By the time we were to take it off his head was so itchy. We took it off a few hours early.
No pain.

When easy child had it when he was young, they gave him something to relax because they wanted him to sleep. Then a short time later they say "wake up". He was still all groggy from the drug they gave him.

It will be fine.

 

[susiestar]

They glue leads onto his head. The EEG's that are NOT sleep deprived do not show much. Then the head is wrapped in gauze for a longer one, or not for a shorter one. My daughter had FITS getting the glue out of her hair. But it did come out.

They are looking for seizure activity or other abnormal brain activity.

When we are low on sleep we are more prone to seizures, or so our neuro told us. We took Jess to see the neuro when the psychiatrist thought she had inattentive adhd. I learned from others on the board to get the EEG before we started ADHD medications because seizures can look like ADHD or any number of other things.

We were all surprised (especially the doctor) that Jess was having Absence seizures. None of us knew.

Good luck, I know it is hard to handle the hours of missed sleep. Is there someone who can help you with her the night before?

 

[Indianamomof4]

Thanks... my dex is driving in for the test. My SO said he will help out as he can stay up later than me, but I can get up early. I do have the other 3 kids to think of too. And, I can't take off work that day because it's the first day of our next term at the university and I have to be "on call" if anything should occur (I work for the online portion, so you never know if things happen). That's the crappy part.

I'll make it work somehow. I think getting him to bed at 12 will work as I can wake up at 5 without a problem.

Will they sedate him? Could brain activity suggest any disorders, or just rule some out?

 

[Dara]

Sammy just had a 23 hour EEG. The day before we told him he was going to look like a robot and he was very excited about that. We didnt have to keep him up the night before or anything like that. It takes about an hour to glue the elektrodes on their head but we had a TV in there and Spongebob was on so we were good there. After they glue all the wires on they wrap their heads in gauze so they dont play with the wires and then everything was put in a little backpack. Sammy did very well allthough he didnt sleep at night there. It wasnt too bad. Waiting for the results is a different story! Is this an overnight EEG or just one they do for an hour or 2?