Epilepsy stories from around the world.
Knee tendinitis, ankles that sprain easily … most marathon runners are nagged by a particular body part that is prone to injury. My nag is my head. I have epilepsy that, for whatever reason, tends to be provoked by running. I’ll be in the middle of a run, cruising along, feeling great, and – bam! – suddenly have a seizure. Bummer when you’re trying to set a personal record.
Adjusting to university life was a bit of a struggle, as I tried to balance the stress of work and becoming more independent. The seizures still occurred from time to time.
As a child, my seizures were a very pleasant experience, but for the longest time my parents thought I was just daydreaming. I went undiagnosed until I was 8. I was having over 100 petit mal seizures a day, and my grades were so poor that I was put into English as a Second Language (ESL) courses because my teachers didn’t think I knew English.
I realize that I am lucky because I have read stories of people and how they struggle with epilepsy. I ask myself, should I be struggling? Should I be worried all the time? But, then I stop and tell myself, NO! This is MY life and MY epilepsy story.
My seizures have persisted through those 60 years at the rate of about 4 seizures per month. Still, I’ve had a pretty good life.
The journey since my diagnosis of Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy has made life precious in a way not everybody gets to experience.
One minute I am hitting the snooze button, the next I am seizing in the shower. What just happened???
Seizures have been a part of my life for 15 of my 34 years. Initially medication was able to control them. However at the age of 31 things changed. I had to give up driving & my teaching career. Thanks to brain surgery I have been seizure-free for a year.