Going for an EEG (the Sequel)

Did you know about 1 in 4 autistic individuals may begin to have seizures during puberty? Riley was almost 15 when he was diagnosed as having Complex Partial seizures. He has been on medication since diagnosis and has been seizure free to date.

This Wednesday at 1:00pm Riley will be going in for another diagnostic EEG to see if he is still having seizures as we have noticed some behaviours lately that are similar to previous symptoms. An EEG is the only way to monitor seizure activity before making any adjustments to his medication. 

The first time Riley had a diagnostic EEG it was inconclusive so a 24 hour ambulatory EEG was required (an entire blog post in itself which I will save for another time). In preparation for the EEG, it is best if Riley is sleep deprived as they would prefer it if he falls asleep during the test (something that did NOT happen the last time). This means keeping him up until midnight on Tuesday night and waking him up at 5am. Since his appointment is not until after lunch that means he can go to school in the morning. Lucky them. I have my reasons. No need to judge too harshly here.

We are 2 days away from the test. Time to let Riley know this is going to happen. How do I go about preparing R you might be wondering? Well since this is not his first time; R is 3-1/2 years older and much more cooperative than when he was younger, I am going to start at the most logical point. I go to his visual schedule and add “Lunch at Home” on Wednesday. Yup you read that right. Seeing Lunch at Home on a school day is THE best thing EVER in Riley World. I later added doctor and hospital to his schedule and had a brief chat about it with R who, by the way, was more interested in adding McDonald’s after the hospital to his schedule.

So for tonight we are done talking. The hospital has a great on-line photo book explaining the procedure that I will go over with Riley tomorrow.

I will be sure to let you know how it all goes.  Wish us luck!