I recently saw a neuro about some visual symptoms I'm having and he ordered an MRI. My instincts say that this is seizure activity. I'm wondering about your opinion on these tests, should I ask for an EEG or is the MRI good enough to diagnose seizure activity?
Thanks :)

MRI, would not show a seizure. It will show if there is an abnormality in your brain. Normal MRI is pretty common with epilepsy.


I would ask about getting an EEG

The only diagnostic tool used to find and detect epilepsy is the EEG.

IT detects the brain waves and shows whether they are abnormal or normal.

IT can also tell what type of seizuers youare having if you have what is called a photo-induced seizure during the strobe light or hyperventilation parts of it. People who suffer from Myoclonics, Absences, some forms of primary generalized TCs, and particular syndromes like JME, JAE, BRE, LGS, and the more progressive Myoclonic syndromes are highly vulnerable to that type of stimulation.

I have Absence and Myoclonic along with all 3 partial seizure types, so I have a nasty combo to work with.

EEGs als opick up several other things called inter-ictal activty, intermittent spikes, and proxymal bursts. If these are shown in a particular area of the brain, then the person is said to have epilepsy, but further testing such as long term monitoring is done to confirm it. Usually they do this to get a location of the seizure foci, seizure type, and the meds they can beter use to treat them. Some people go in for pre-seizure testing, and then their brains are mapped for seizure surgery. OThers are yet, put in an EMU to see if they even dsuffer from true epilepsy, or if they are having NES. THe numbers are staggering for people who go in there being treated for epilespy and come out with no epilepsy. 20-30% of the people who go into an EMU are not true epileptics.

An MRI can NOT detect any seizure activity of ANY kind. All it shows is the structure of the brain and any possible or known and even unknown deformities, tumors, vessel tangles, scarring, etc.

It does it by a magnetic field that heat seeks and is drawn to the particles in your head and thus forms the picture from that.

Most of the time, when you go in somplace for suspected epilepsy, they run the whole gamat of testing, even if there is no need for it. Most people's MRIs and CTs come back 100% normal, it is the EEG that clinches the diagnoses.

I had 5 and they all came back abnormal. Makes me wonder why they needed so many, but they did them.

Then there was the 9 day stay in the EMU that was abnormal the entire time, so I guess you could say 6 on that one.

Nancy