Category: Dealing with epilepsy

Dealing with epilepsy

My “favorite” seizure: epilepsy at work

Codrin PO

My first job, back in 2008, was in consultancy. To be more precise, I wrote project proposals that helped private/public sector entities to get European funding. My second job was the same.

The field is an extremely tiresome and stressful. It was a job where the smallest mistake could have cause a project to be successful or rejected.

During the one year, I spent in the second company, I had a seizure at work. It came after a few long days, a week or so before a project submission deadline. But my colleague and bosses were great. Continue reading “My “favorite” seizure: epilepsy at work” →

Dealing with epilepsy

Why I started counting my seizures again

Codrin PO3 Comments

For those who read my earlier post, you already know that I stopped counting my seizures between 2001 and 2005. This was the decision of an adolescent (I was 17 years old in 2001) who didn’t want his life overturned by epilepsy.

In 2006, a series of events came into play. I started my Bachelor studies in 2003 and, soon after, I had seizures “out-in-the-open”. I wasn’t ready to tell everyone that I had epilepsy. But, in my junior year, I had a seizure in the IT lab, almost breaking a keyboard with my head (I still have a scar over my left eye). After that I had a seizure in front of the grocery store near my dorm and so on. Before my first exam (math), I had a seizure (5 minutes before to be more precise). Continue reading “Why I started counting my seizures again” →

Dealing with epilepsy

Why I stopped counting my seizures

Codrin PO

Despite what you can see on my “About me” page in my “seizures’ calendar“, between 2001 and 2005, I stopped counting my seizures and writing down the days. What you see in the calendar is an average per year, although in some years there were more, in others less. But I had them each year.

The reason was an obvious one: I did not want epilepsy to take over my life. I recognized (to myself) that I was a person with epilepsy. I said to myself that if I am not fully aware of them, I can carry with “business-as-usual”. It didn’t work out as I wanted.

Dealing with epilepsy

Steps of grief through the eyes of a child with epilepsy

Codrin PO

I saw in movies that there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

In my opinion and experience, for a child with a new diagnosis of epilepsy, these do not apply.

When I was diagnosed (after my 3rd seizure back in 2001) with grand mal epilepsy (generalized tonic-clonic seizures), I had no reaction. I didn’t deny that it was the right diagnosis, nor I was furious.

The steps through which I went when I was diagnosed were:

  1. Ignorance – I prefered not to search for more information, not to really know what epilepsy is or what is and will be its impact on my life. I didn’t deny that I had epilepsy. “Ignorance is bliss” after all (quote from Thomas Gray’s poem “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”).
  2. Acceptance – at some point in time, I accepted that I had epilepsy. I started searching for information, contacting association that dealt with epilepsy, contacted neurologists around the world and so on. “Acceptance is the road to all change” (quote from Bryant McGill).
  3. Embracement – after I accepted that I had epilepsy, the next step was to embrace. Epilepsy does not have just negative side effects, but it can also help you obtain some things that are not available to others. A capacity of relaxing when everything goes wrong or having the opportunity to see the world in alternatives are two of the ones I care the most. I was able to find alternative ways of surpassing a challenge that most people would have never thought about. “Embracing change is the key to happiness” (quote from AL Kennedy).

The lack of alcohol consumption is another great thing. You do not get to choose whether to drink or not, but it’s great to be able to be always sober.

Dealing with epilepsy

5 things that a “junior” person with epilepsy doesn’t understand

Codrin PO

There are things only a person with epilepsy knows and understands, but there things a newly diagnosed person with epilepsy doesn’t understand.

  1. Epilepsy is not a disease – although there is not an official definition, epilepsy is not considered a disease, but a disorder (in the electrical functioning of the brain). When someone calls you sick, just tell them you are as sick as they are. It’s the truth.
  2. Photosensitivity is not a rule – although many people associate epilepsy with flashing lights, only 2-3% of people with epilepsy are photosensitive. So don’t worry: you can watch TV, go dancing with friends or play karaoke, with some precautions. Epilepsy seizures can be triggered by fatigue also.
  3. Epilepsy doesn’t mean decreased intelligence – although many associate epilepsy with a lower IQ (than in general), this correlation is NOT true. To give some examples to prove this -> famous people with epilepsy: Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Agatha Christie, Richard Burton, Neil Young, Danny Glover and many, many others. Just to name a few.
  4. Epilepsy doesn’t mean seclusion – with some precautions, people with epilepsy have a normal life as any other person in the world: personal life, education, work and so on.
  5. Epilepsy isn’t rare – there are over 50 million people diagnosed with epilepsy in the world. Each year, about 200,000 persons are diagnosed with a different type of epilepsy. During their life, 1 in 40 persons will experience some type of seizure.