Sunday, May 16, 2010

EEG Education

This is a picture of me during my last EEG. They hook up wires to your head to measure the brain while you have a seizure. In the photo you can see they gave me a really crappy gown in the emergency room, but I asked for a nice one after they hooked me up :). The experience is very odd. It's like having a long ponytail-leash. You ring the nurse to go to the bathroom (or go in a bed urinal) and the nurse knocks on the door every minute to see if your okay. All along you have a looong cord from your head to the macine across the room.

There's a screen behind the bed monitoring every move my head makes, literally every blink. It looks like a digital version of the needles on a lie detector test. It's kind of cool to watch. I'd find myself opening and closing my mouth, raising my eyebrows, etc... just to see the "needles" move rapidly.

In the room they put pads on the bed rails so I don't hurt myself when I have a seizure. They're embarressing for some reason, like a kid bowling with the bumpers. I can't quit understand why I feel this way. I also get a little button to push when I start feeling a seizure coming. For me words start looking like a foreign language and I get tunnel vision. I push the button and it's lights out. When I wake up I don't know who I am or what happened. The nurses ask me questions like do you know where you are? What your name? Where are you? I can't speak and I don't know the answers, but I do remember the event later that's why I can tell you the story now.

Once the doctors have their results I'm released with a huge bill and a headache that lasts for days. I get small answers and a new mix of medication. One EEG worked and one didn't... I'm 1 and 1. Shit.


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