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Irish and Lucky: an anonymous epilepsy story of hope

cc By Cygnus921, via Wikimedia Commons

The following epilepsy story was sent in anonymously. This person, after 48 years of living with epilepsy, has found a way to see a glimmer of hope. Check out this story.

Hi, all! I am a lifelong epileptic, having been diagnosed as a child at the age of 7. I did not have a pre-seizure event of any kind. By that I mean, there was no accident or infection. But I had a grand mal seizure, anyway. Later, I was also diagnosed with absence seizures.

I am lucky and blessed to say that my grand mal seizures have been very well treated with Depakote over the years. It was a new drug when I began taking it around 1976! So I have had only 6 or so seizures in my 48 diagnosed years. This year (2013) I saw an epileptologist and he saw the need for a second drug to combat the absence seizures I was still having. They are invisible to anyone, even good friends and do not seem to interfere with what I am doing. We’re working on how to best treat them now.

I find it hard to explain to people that a disorder they cannot see evidence of, an invisible one so to speak, affects me. I am a creative sort and I’ve written a short play about my first 12 years with seizures. I was able to start driving a few years after starting the depakote. I have recently retired (early!) from my corporate day job and I am hoping to make a dent in the misinformation and stigma that still surrounds this disorder!

Just say no to spoons!

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