An epilepsy question.

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Is it possible to have very short 'zone out'/'absences' that wouldn't necessarily be picked up by an EEG?

EEG can only pick up what happens during the test.

My daughter has Epilepsy and her EEGs were fine, even when she did the sleep-deprived ones. She was diagnosed by a Neurologist based on an MRI somehow? and based on years of anecdotal evidence / exclusion of all other possibilities. I can't remember the details of her MRI but there was definitely something unusual in her scan patterns. She takes Epilepsy medication and her symptoms are generally a lot better now.

Conversely I had abnormal EEGs but they couldn't figure out exactly how to classify my brain waves. They said it might be Epilepsy but they decided not to call it Epilespy so that I wouldn't lose my driving licence. In my case I had abnormal slow waves in my temporal lobes, or something like that. This was also noted on my sleep study exams with a different doctor.

I've looked this up when I've suddenly gotten really bad scores regarding my reaction time. I haven't found anything saying that's a thing, and most things say those types of seizures last at least quite a few seconds (not milliseconds). I don't know why sometimes my reaction time is much worse than it normally is.

Thanks both of you. I did have an EEG done via my previous psych team. The reason? my wife said she'd talk to me while I was using the desktop computer, and I wouldn't respond. The result was negative. That was pre Sept 2005 as my wife died then.

I was thinking lapse of concentration except http://www.testmybrain.org/tests/gradCPT/index_down.php

Do you feel an awareness of the zone-out when it happens?

Is it possible it's attention deficit? The computer psychometry used to measure my ADHD measured me zoning out, etc

Difficulty with organising and planning.Don't find sequential tasks easy. If something doesn't come to me easily I tend to give up. Below average visual short term memory.

https://iq-tests-for-the-high-range.com/slobrain/

I think it's something to consider, firemonkey. My clinical assessment for ADHD was really long, and even more complicated than my ASD assessment. The fact you got borderline scores in preliminary online testing suggests it might be the issue. My assessment involved a lot of steps apart from the psychometry, like a full history of my childhood and examination of all my school reports. They were very interested in my spiky profile and uneven success with academics. I spent hours talking to doctors about my adaptive / executive function issues as well. So, I think if you had a full assessment you might find out even more about the reasons for your zone-out delays.

Sorry my second picture was fuzzy. It was a bad photo. I'll have to rescan, and I'll look for any other stats that might help you understand the testing process.

I used to think my profile was quite spiky, but now I'm not so sure. I do quite a lot of high range IQ tests.

Best verbal 168
Best numerical 146
Best non-verbal 143

I'm much better at pattern recognition than mental rotation. The latter tends to be in the borderline to low average range. At public school I was described as 'disorganised and messy'. Was definitely an underachiever.

By spiky profile, I mean that my grades fluctuated a lot, not that my actual IQ is inconsistent. For example some years I would have grades ranging from failure to high honours even in the same subject. It would depend on the teacher or on my ability to focus in certain classrooms. My grades in one subject were 12% (final) and then 99% (final) in two consecutive terms. Teachers made comments about me being disorganised and failing to submit assignments on time. This was consistent from primary until I started Uni. Some teachers called me an underachiever. Some gave me first class honours and departmental awards. I was all over the map from day one.

Here's a better pic of that page. I don't know if those categories help you at all because I don't even remember what they meant lol.

Also from my report (I'll paraphrase to avoid blocking my name several times):

Reason for Referral
Concerns:

Noticing numerous ADHD symptoms including difficulty with attention span, executive function, adaptive functioning, short term memory, task switching, concentration, and time management.

Racing thoughts.

Below average in academic assignment completion for many classes.

Restless mind. FInds it hard to relax. Can't focus on television or movies. Loves reading but has trouble focussing on new material. Reads the same passage over and over again.

Chronic difficulties in life skill, increased after stroke.

History of sleep difficulties and parasomnias.

Multiple sensory sensitivities.

Complex history documented in psychological report.

Strengths in school: English, philosophy, algebra, arithmetic, logic, geometry and trigonometry.

Difficulties in school: Anything 3D, economics, business, sociology, political science, statistical analysis, inference, listening skills, verbal reports, short term memory (sitting exams), group work, organisation of paperwork, time management, social challenges.

Difficulties at work: Organisation, exhaustion, overwhelm, managing materials, peer relationships, group work, time management, burnout.

My situation:adaptive functioning = poor, struggle with practical tasks, executive functioning difficulties, mind wise it can sometimes be like having 20 channels showing at the same time, good = English,history and languages & poor = geometry,science,3D; time management, social challenges(would be contender for most unpopular person to go to my public school in its 457 year existence),no friends,

I didn't have friends either. I used to hide in study carols in the library for every single lunch hour and every single free period. That's why I became such a voracious reader: I refused to enter the dining hall and sit alone.

Your profile sounds very much like mine except that I did very well with 2D Geometry / Trig. Anything 3 dimensional including art or sculpting was awful.

Drawing ability of 6-7 year old. From 8-13 had music lessons and never got good enough to take the grade 1 exam.

I had my first seizure in 1974, the second one I had in 1977 and another one a few months later, these would have been labelled or thought of a temporal lobe epilepsy. A few years later then they developed into absence like seizures then and then falling over ones which weren't really tonic clonic seizures. They became more fequent during the 1980's when I was looking for jobs and the interviewing process not autistic friendly and often not getting anywhere but worsening seizures in terms of frequency. I was diagnosed as having epilepsy in 1987 confirmed by EEG. I was first put onto ethosuximide for absences and carbamazepine which was for the other kind. The ethosuximide was replaced with more carbamazepine. In 1988 and during the time I was taking carbamazepine for the seizures I had done an IQ test a wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale test and scored 110 which was just above the average. When I took the test I had not been put onto carbamazepine long so when I took a small dose of 100mg in the morning I was intoxicated during the test. The results were 112 verbal and 108 performance. This obviously did not explain the excessive demands NTs put on me nor that 32 years later I taught myself how to foil two linear binomials into a quadratic trinomial solve quadratic equations by factorising, completing the square and the famous quadratic formula, square root and factorising some cubic equations. I wasn't allowed to learn that at school because the teachers assumed that I had an IQ of about 72. I also taught myself organic chemistry and have memorised the periodic table. My diagnosis in 2003 was Asperger syndrome (Type 1 Autism). That maths stuff (Algebra I taught myself was the stuff I couldn't learn at college). My art work, well, I have seen people with Down's syndrome who are better at art than I am. I have also developed ctpsd because of abuse I had from 1974 onwards and in places of work.

I have a sudden interest to study Trigonometry again, thanks to this thread.