Can Regular Drug Abuse Affect EEG Results That Is Diagnosed As Epilepsy?

Posted on Tue, 27 Mar 2018

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 27 Mar 2018 Answered on

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 Last reviewed on

Question : If someone has a history of head injury and regular illegal drug abuse, does screening for TBI (because of mild memory loss) which indicates a normal MRI with an EEG with "rare temporal and frontal sharp waves" give a definitive diagnosis of epilepsy? Can an abnormal EEG be caused by drug abuse (LSD, Mushrooms, Pot...)? Can the EEG result be caused by anything else other than epilepsy?

Answered by Dr. Dr. Erion Spaho (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
EEG result may be affected by other conditions besides seizures.

Detailed Answer:

Hello,

Since the MRI resulted normal, TBI is very unlikely to be the cause of such symptoms and EEG findings.

Rare temporal sharp waves in EEG may indicate seizures, but the main diagnostic indication of seizures is the clinical findings.

So, EEG may support the seizures diagnosis, but other factors including drugs, intoxications and metabolic disorders may interfere with the EEG results.

Hope you found the answer helpful. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Take care. Thank you.

Regards,
Dr. Erion Spaho
Neurologist, Surgical

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Raju A.T