I Have Been Having Migraines For About 3 Months. I

Posted on Sat, 27 Oct 2018

Question: I have been having migraines for about 3 months. I started having these periods of kind of zoning out. They only last a couple of seconds. I went to a neurologist and he did an MRI and it came back normal and an EEG and it came back abnormal. He is wanting to do a 72 hour EEG to see if he can gather more data. Since then I have begun to walk strangely. As I'm walking, I occasionally suddenly veer off to the left as if I am turning. But I'm no doing it on purpose. It's always to the left, never to the right. Can you tell me what an abnormal EEG indicates? Any ideas as to what this is?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Erion Spaho (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Primary stabbing headaches to consider.

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome to 'Ask a Doctor' service.

I have read your query and here is my advice.

Headaches that last for few seconds are not usually migraines, ice-pick headaches are most likely the cause.

Since the MRI resulted normal you should not be worried about anything serious, and these headaches are considered as primary headaches.

About the abnormal EEG, it remains to be confirmed by the extended EEG if there is anything to consider such as seizures for example.

Veer off to the left may be related more with inner ear dysfunction than with the abnormal EEG or the headaches.

In my opinion, only follow up by the Neurologist and by periodic EEG are sufficient in your case.

Hope you found the answer helpful.

Let me know if I can assist you further.

Best regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee