My 24 Hour Jaunt as a Sci-Fi Character

For those of you who know me very well- which I'm pretty sure everyone that reads my blog does, seeing as it isn't well read- I had an Ambulatory EEG yesterday. I've been battling what my family has come to call "the Twitch" for over three years now. At first we thought it was muscular, likely the result of hundreds of hours of ballet. However, after attempted stretching, chiropractic work, and massage therapy we finally got the problem checked out by a neurologist and after a MRI and a regular EEG the doctor told me she thought it was seizures!
After such a diagnosis we started medicine and then went in to another doctor to get a second opinion. Much like the first neurologist, this one immediately wrote off the possibility of it being seizures. I stay completely conscious during each attack and the activity is completely isolated to the right side of my neck. With such skepticism, the doctor prescribed that we retest, this time for more accuracy.
So, I got the unique experience of getting a 24 hour EEG. Here's how it went down!

First they attached the wires to my head. I promise my hair wasn't that nasty to begin with. They kind of make a mess of it when attaching those wires. Even though you can only see the wires in front from this picture, they are all over my head, including dastardly ones behind my ears which drove me crazy for the entirety of the test. This made me able to empathize for movie stars who have to play aliens in movies or such, who spend hours getting makeup done before filming. Putting the EEG on took TWO HOURS. Not the most enjoyable two hours ever, but certainly interesting. 

Once all the wires were attached they gave me all the necessary equipment to transmit the information being recorded. For those of you who don't know, an EEG takes pictures of your brain waves to allow doctors to see what is up with your brain, so I was constantly streaming what basically looks like a heart monitor, you know, a little grid with the lines going up and down, but instead of measuring heart rate, we were measuring brain activity. And heart rate. I got to wear heart rate monitor stickers to, which left residue on my skin which still refuses to come off, btw. 

Equipped with my fannypack transmitter and wire carrying shoulder strap, I felt like an alien bounty hunter. Epic posing was definitely required. I actually like this pic, considering I was wearing zero makeup. It was against the rules after all. 

Upon arriving home I made a little video to describe how the EEG worked. Unfortunately, I took it kinda sideways, but I still think it's pretty interesting. :) Wearing the EEG was uncomfortable, especially when it came to sleeptime, but I hope getting it will lead us to figuring out what exactly is going on in my brain, and that we will be able to correct the problem.

Plus, while I was all hooked up, I saw the most amazing double rainbow. That made my day. I look silly in that picture, but it shows me outside, with my gauze looking mummy wrappings, excited to see a rainbow, so I included it. 

In the elevator on the way up to take it off, a man looked at me and asked if we were doing brain testing. I told him yes, and his response was "Then you must have a pretty important brain." That was a pretty cool way to look at the experience.