A seizure is a kind of electrical storm in the brain--symptoms of a seizure include convulsions, unconsciousness, falling to the floor or a general mental absence. There are many types of seizures. Everybody has what is known as a "seizure threshhold," and significant sleep deprivation can cause almost anybody to have a seizure, according to Epilepsy.com. If you experience recurring seizures, you may have the neurological condition epilepsy. Several tests are used to find out whether sleep deprivation is causing seizures and whether these seizures warrant an epilepsy diagnosis.
EEG
Perhaps the most likely test if you are suffering from sleep-deprived seizures is an EEG, short for electroencephalography. In this test, multiple electrodes are attached to your scalp using a kind of glue or paste. The electrical activity of your scalp is measured by these electrodes, typically for a period lasting around half an hour. The electrical readings can clearly show whether you have epilepsy and may identify a particular type of epilepsy. Although sleep deprivation is a common seizure trigger in most types of epilepsy, it is particularly often identified as a cause of seizures in JME or "juvenile myoclonic epilepsy." Despite the name, adults or children can have JME, and this kind of epilepsy produces a characteristic and readily identifiable pattern on an EEG. Writing in the 2009 issue of the journal "Neurology", Dr. Steven Karceski states that this pattern is known as the "3-hertz spike-and-wave"; this is what appears when the EEG results are examined.
Seizure Diary
Your doctor may recommend you keep a seizure diary. This is a way to record when you have your seizures, and whether there is any pattern of causation. Typically, a seizure diary will include daily records of how much sleep you had, the number and type of seizures experienced and any other factors that may contribute to seizures, according to Seizurediary.org. These could include certain types of food and drink--particularly alcohol--smoking and eating habits. Your doctor can then look at your seizure diary over a period of weeks or months in order to assess which factors could be contributing to your seizures. A correlation between the amount or quality of your sleep and your seizure rate may become apparent.
Sleep Deprivation EEG
If you and your doctor believe that sleep deprivation is causing some or all of your seizures, a sleep deprivation EEG may be used. This is similar to the regular EEG, but you will be intentionally deprived of sleep either before or during the EEG test. For a shorter EEG lasting less than one hour, your doctor may instruct you not to sleep the night before the test, or to have only a few hours' sleep. In some cases, you may be fitted with a portable EEG, which will take a reading for 24 hours. You would be instructed not to sleep, or to minimize sleep, during this time. A 24-hour sleep deprivation EEG is relatively common; longer periods of sleep deprivation are less usual, according to the Epilepsy Information Community at Epilepsy.com. Because sleep deprivation may cause you to have a seizure, it is very important that someone else drives you to and from a sleep-deprived EEG test.
References
- "Sleep Deprivation"; Steven C. Schachter, M.D.; December 15, 2006
- "Epilepsy Currents"; Sleep Deprivation and Epilepsy; Beth A. Malow; September 2004
- Bellaire Neurology: Overview of seizures, their cause and diagnostic tests
- "Neurology"; Juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, a common epilepsy syndrome; Steven Karceski; 2009
- Seizure Diary: Seizure Tracker
