Questions about EEG and Epilepsy

cakegirl

Regular Member

Joined : Nov 2016

Posts : 308

Posted 12/14/2016 1:00 PM (GMT -5)

Hi, I'm new here. My mother is 68 and has severe short term memory loss. Her neurologist wants her to have a sleep deprived EEG. I was wondering if anyone knows whether an EEG is useful for diagnosing any illness besides Epilepsy? Most information on the net indicates it’s used for Epilepsy.

Also, I am sure she will not fall asleep if she has it. There is no family history of Epilepsy and we don't think she has Epilepsy

My other questions are – can you have Epilepsy with no seizures? Can Epilepsy without seizures cause short term memory loss and impaired thinking?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

RanMan

Veteran Member

Joined : Feb 2003

Posts : 671

Posted 12/15/2016 3:41 PM (GMT -5)

Hi cake girl and welcome to Healing Well.

Yes, other illnesses can be detected through EEG such as Sleep Apnea (which can cause nighttime seizures)
Sleep Apnea can also effect headache in the morning, short term memory loss, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, lethargic or feeling tired in the morning, as well as several other symptoms.

One way to see if she might have Sleep Apnea is chronic snoring which is causing a lack of oxygen to the brain and could result in several nighttime seizures without her even knowing it.
A lot of this can be determined with a sleep deprived EEG or sleep test set up by your Doctor.
Please let me know what you find out.

Randy

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