[scar12346]

So I was thinking.. I saw that video of this woman having an EEG to test if dissociation can be seen with the brain activity thing.. and I wondered if it will show on my test? Maybe if it does it will make me slightly more calmer that it is there.. but still I don't want to discuss it with those people as well -.- (the psychologist and psychiatrist)
So to anyone who had an EEG, does dissociation affect it?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by scar12346

So I was thinking.. I saw that video of this woman having an EEG to test if dissociation can be seen with the brain activity thing.. and I wondered if it will show on my test? Maybe if it does it will make me slightly more calmer that it is there.. but still I don't want to discuss it with those people as well -.- (the psychologist and psychiatrist)
So to anyone who had an EEG, does dissociation affect it?

An EEG is a test where a person is hooked up to electrodes on their heads with this goopy/glue-ish substance. some places use a one piece hood like swimmers cap that already has the electrode site holes so all the technician needs to do is place the electrodes in those holes.

then they have you lay down on the table like bed and go into another room. on the computer they can record your brain activity of brain waves and electrical impulses. sometimes they tell you to open and shut your eyes and sometimes you have to look at pictures.

this test doesnt show whether a person is dissociating or not. its a test to look for seizures, migraines, brain tumors, physical brain injuries, sleep disorders and other physical health problems.

the reason a person with dissociative problems usually has to go through this test now is because of the diagnostic criteria stating the problem can not be because of seizures and other physical health problems and the dissociative like symptoms can not be better explained by other mental disorders.

again its not a test for dissociation. its to rule in or out physical health problems that share the same symptoms that dissociative disorders do.

[Shaly78]

What is looked at in the video the amygdala volumes, pituitary gland, lobe, hippocampus etc, if you google the parts of the brain they help the body do so many things....If it was diagnosable that way sure would help. If you read the research papers on the topic it makes plenty of sense. Basically there is more going on there rewired plural, than normal so until you can get increased communication with alters the inner world it will make better sense...It is my understanding some people have it some people don't...Not sure if it is required, but it will come out of your mouth some at certain times some at other times. What, their names, ages, created, emerged,created for then you have to work on consciousness with other alters in the system etc

[amandalouise]

I just reread the original post and see that you want to know whether dissociation will affect the outcome of an EEG....since this is a test for physical health problems one of two things will happen if someone dissociates during the test...

1. nothing will happen, since the test is about brain waves dissociation most times shows up as the person fell partially or fully asleep ( lower brain waves, lower electrical impulses being fired)

or

2. Since and EEG is a medical not mental exam the person doing the dissociating will be diagnosed with a physical health problem like seizures, epilepsy, cancers, Alzheimer disease and other brain injury problems like Parkensons disease, MS (multiple Sclerosis) and other physical health diseases where the brain doesnt fuction like normal. (higher than normal brain waves, higher than normal electrical impulses firing and mis firing.

my suggestion is let the doctors know you have a dissociation problem so that they can schedule many follow up EEG's that they can compare to each other to get an accurate diagnosis of whether you have any of the physical health problems that EEG's test for.

on rare occasions another situation can happen..

3. getting an inconclusive, unreliable reading...

Most times in my location when a person has a problem that may interfere with a tests results or they feel someone is trying to mislead or manipulate a test, they do multiple EEG's and long term EEG's in an inpatient setting. then compare all the results to come to a final conclusion\diagnosis of whether the patient is having seizures, epilepsy or other physical health problems that can cause a person to have dissociative like symptoms

I'm going to request a brain SPECT imaging this monday to check for abnormalities like the size of my hippocampus and any physical aspects to having memory problems, gender dysphoria, and any other oddities.

They can use an mri to observe electrical brain activities that can show a dissociated person's brain activity compared to a normal one.

When I was 17 I was tested for petit mall epilepsy because of my zoning out. Dissociation was never mentioned. Two of the tests were the one where they glue a bunch of wires to your head, and a scan in one of those machines that looks like you are being slid in to a polo. The results came back negative for petit mall, but the neurologist did say they found - an abnormality I think- in the front temporal lobe. They never expanded on that, and said it was nothing to worry about. Im wondering now though, could this have indicated something to do with dissociation? I haven't done as much research as you guys, so really no idea what it could mean, if anything.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by AlwaysChanging2

I'm going to request a brain SPECT imaging this monday to check for abnormalities like the size of my hippocampus and any physical aspects to having memory problems, gender dysphoria, and any other oddities.

They can use an mri to observe electrical brain activities that can show a dissociated person's brain activity compared to a normal one.

in my location this doesnt diagnose DID or other dissociative problems. it diagnoses

Hippocampus Sclerosis ( a problem where the brain's hippocampus cells have stopped working, and have developed lesions)

epilepsy (a seizure disorder that has an abnormal sized hippocampus causing the brains neurons to be firing off at abnormal rates)

long term drug and alcohol users also have abnormal hippocampus sizes which causes the brain not to work right...

here in my location a SPECT image looks at blood flow in the body. this diagnoses things like

cancers, tumors,
broken or deformed bones, '
alzheimer/dimentia
diseases of organ failures (liver disease, heart disease, kidney disease...)
seizure disorders..(epilepsy..)

the reason people with dissociative symptoms go through this test is to rule out dissociation by verifying whether a person has any of the health problems a SPECT image diagnosis's

in short a SPECT imaging is like taking x rays of the body. I had to do this when they were trying to figure out if my symptoms were dissociative, MS (a physical health disease) or Parkensons. i was diagnosed with MS. I did let the doctors know I had dissociative problems and they told me not to worry about that dissociating during a SPECT image wont do anything and doesnt show up on a SPECT image.

my point a SPECT image by itself will get you diagnosed with a physical health problem because thats what its for. I even had them check for a health problem that I knew one of my alters had that I did not. nothing showed up on the SPECT image. All that showed up was images of my physical body and MS. the one time I did dissociate during the testing the image showed I had a possible a seizure disorder so they had to do an EEG, when the EEG showed no seizure disorder epilepsy was ruled out and the seizure like activity was ruled part of my MS.

Originally Posted by amandalouise

in my location this doesnt diagnose DID or other dissociative problems. it diagnoses

Hippocampus Sclerosis ( a problem where the brain's hippocampus cells have stopped working, and have developed lesions)

epilepsy (a seizure disorder that has an abnormal sized hippocampus causing the brains neurons to be firing off at abnormal rates)

long term drug and alcohol users also have abnormal hippocampus sizes which causes the brain not to work right...

here in my location a SPECT image looks at blood flow in the body. this diagnoses things like

cancers, tumors,
broken or deformed bones, '
alzheimer/dimentia
diseases of organ failures (liver disease, heart disease, kidney disease...)
seizure disorders..(epilepsy..)

the reason people with dissociative symptoms go through this test is to rule out dissociation by verifying whether a person has any of the health problems a SPECT image diagnosis's

in short a SPECT imaging is like taking x rays of the body. I had to do this when they were trying to figure out if my symptoms were dissociative, MS (a physical health disease) or Parkensons. i was diagnosed with MS. I did let the doctors know I had dissociative problems and they told me not to worry about that dissociating during a SPECT image wont do anything and doesnt show up on a SPECT image.

my point a SPECT image by itself will get you diagnosed with a physical health problem because thats what its for. I even had them check for a health problem that I knew one of my alters had that I did not. nothing showed up on the SPECT image. All that showed up was images of my physical body and MS. the one time I did dissociate during the testing the image showed I had a possible a seizure disorder so they had to do an EEG, when the EEG showed no seizure disorder epilepsy was ruled out and the seizure like activity was ruled part of my MS.

Yes amanda...this is a really good place start, though. An mri and/or cat scan would be nice, also. I'm just hoping for a clean bill of physical health to have a base to begin my recovery on because it is after all, up to us to want to recover.

Besides, a brain scan is neccessary to rule out any physical contributors.

Besides, we lived a crazy life and damage has been done.

[Luce]

Was this the video you watched? (A woman switches on command while undergoing an EEG)

Or this one? (Woman switches on command while undergoing MRI scan)

While EEGs and MRIs are not currently used to diagnose DID I think there is a LOT more research that can be done in this area. When it comes down to it mental disorders are biological disorders as well, and there will be a way to pinpoint what is happening on a neurological level in disorders like DID... even if science hasn't quite figured it out yet.

Two of the issues that are likely to be barriers adequate research are firstly in getting ethical consent, and secondly getting an adequate number of subjects for valid control based studies to be done.

[scar12346]

Thank you to everyone.
But now I have another question. If for instance one of us comes out while doing the EEG by an accident will it interfere with my results? And because I am not the one born with the body, more so an alter who took over, will it show my waves or the body original's?

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by scar12346

Thank you to everyone.
But now I have another question. If for instance one of us comes out while doing the EEG by an accident will it interfere with my results? And because I am not the one born with the body, more so an alter who took over, will it show my waves or the body original's?

if a person dissociates during an EEG it will either register

the person has fallen partially asleep (slowed electrical impulses, slowed brain activity, different parts of the brain activated as if in REM sleep state) which will get you diagnosed with a sleep disorder or seizure disorder.

or

that the person has a seizure disorder or medical health condition (Alzheimer\dementia\parkensons, epilepsy/ MS and other medical conditions that the EEG looks for.

as for the videos posted they are now in the midst of controversy as to whether they are real or faked. the premise is that anyone who knows how to regulate their breathing and focus their thoughts can manipulate EEG's. the videos under scrutiny is because the patients have a background of perpetrating mental illness fraud and as part of their treatment learned self help tools like biofeedback.

to show how that is possible I have been using breathing and focusing my thoughts so when doing my EEG's the test includes the technitions having me do things (open your eyes, close your eyes, take a deep breath, one time they even asked me what color under clothing I had on as a distraction when the test was showing more intentional breathing \focusing activity) even now that all my alters are one whole person with me I can if not distracted through the EEG's off and end up being mis diagnosed.