This is a drawing of a girl
having an EEG.
An EEG is the most important test to identify epilepsy. The
EEG picks up electrical activity in the brain and draws squiggly lines
representing them on paper or a computer. These squiggles are called
your brain waves. The stronger the electrical activity in each part
of the brain, the taller the waves will be. Tall waves on the EEG
are called "spikes". Finding spikes on a person's EEG means that
that person's brain cells are firing very strongly and often. If
brain cells (neurons) fire strongly and often, it is likely that the person
will have seizures.
This is a drawing of a girl
having an EEG.
This is the difference between brain waves and spikes.
This is an EEG machine.
Notice the little wires wrapped in the towel. Those are the leads
that are pasted onto the patient's head. Then they are plugged into
the "head box" the rectangular box to the right of the computer screen.
The computer records and shows the electrical activity of the area of the
brain that is under each wire seperately, so the doctor can find out where
the seizure activity is coming from in the brain. The EEG is so sensitive
that it is picking up movement in the room - the black vertical stripe
on the computer screen was from when I wiggled on the bed. And the
leads are not even attached!
