CLINICAL HISTORY: This is a 22-year-old woman with epilepsy starting from childhood. Symptoms include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, bowel urgency and a postictal phase.
MEDICATIONS: Tegretol and Topamax.
INTRODUCTION: Digital video EEG is performed at the bedside in the EEG Long-term Monitoring Unit using standard 10-20 system of electrode placement with one channel of EKG. The patient had multiple episodes of mild abdominal discomfort.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RECORD:
Random Wakefulness and Sleep:  intermittently in wakefulness, the background demonstrates generalized theta.  There are portions of the wake record which have little in the way of background theta and a 9 Hz PDR is seen.  The background EEG shows rhythmic slowing with excessive theta activity.  No definitive epileptic activity was identified.
HR:  78 BPM
IMPRESSION: Abnormal EEG due to:
Excessive theta activity in the background, more remarkable on the first day
Sharply contoured  delta and rare left temporal sharps
Multiple seizures characterized by abdominal discomfort but without clear EEG change.
CLINICAL CORRELATION: The background slowing supports a diffuse disturbance of cerebral function.  The sharp waves support a partial mechanism for epilepsy.  The events recorded had no definite EEG change.  This pattern may be seen in simple partial seizures or non-epileptiform seizures.