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How to prepare for a visit to an epilepsy monitoring unit Shampooing your hair the night before. Bringing button up or zip fronted tops (avoid t-shirts and pullovers because you will be wearing an EEG on your head) Spending a few days at an epilepsy monitoring unit can get boring!

Based on our results, it is common to require 3 or more days in an epilepsy monitoring unit to record and diagnose the nature of paroxysmal episodes and not rare to require more than a week.

While you are in the EMU, you will be recorded on video and computerized electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring equipment, which will be connected to your scalp 24 hours a day, recording your movements, speech and brain waves.

"If seizures are not controlled and/or there is diagnostic uncertainty or treatment failure, children, young people and adults should be referred to tertiary services soon for further assessment."

Managing epilepsy involves monitoring (keeping records of) what medication you take and how it affects you, and when you have seizures and what they are like. This is a way of seeing if your treatment is working.

During your stay, we continuously monitor and record your seizure activity. This information helps the doctor to: • learn more about your seizures, • safely adjust your antiepileptic medication if needed, and • provide the best possible care for you.

Our epilepsy monitoring unit is a safe environment for assessing seizure activity over several days. This type of monitoring is also called video EEG monitoring because of the two methods we use to record seizure activity: Electroencephalogram (EEG) measures electrical activity in the brain.

Intracranial monitoring is a test for people with epilepsy whose seizures cannot be controlled with medication. Intracranial monitoring helps doctors pinpoint where seizures are starting in the brain. In addition, the tests help “map” the brain, identifying areas that govern the brain's essential functions.