Category: Way too personal

Dealing with epilepsy · Misconceptions · Way too personal

The Biggest Challenge of Epilepsy Isn’t What You Think

Codrin POLeave a comment

When people think about epilepsy, they usually think about the seizure.

I get it. I have tonic-clonic seizures, and they’re dramatic, unpredictable, and honestly, scary to witness. But what most people don’t see is everything that happens between the seizures—especially at work.

I’ve realized that one of the biggest challenges of living with epilepsy isn’t always the condition itself. It’s the misunderstanding that comes with it.

Telling an employer or colleague that I have epilepsy can feel like taking a huge risk. Not because I’m ashamed of it, but because I never know what they’ll think. Will they see me as capable? Or will they suddenly start questioning whether I can do my job?

It’s frustrating because, before they knew about my epilepsy, my work spoke for itself. My ideas mattered. My experience mattered. Then, with one conversation, it can feel like all they see is the diagnosis.

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Dealing with epilepsy · Way too personal

Friendship: The Beauty of the “Non-Flincher”

Codrin POLeave a comment

In many of my previous posts, I mentioned that people often react to epilepsy with fear—not fear for me, but fear that they won’t know how to handle the situation. This fear creates a distance. It makes people treat you like you’re made of glass, or worse, they stop inviting you places because they don’t want the “responsibility” of your health.

However, there is a special category of person I call the “Non-Flincher.” These are the friends who know about the condition and don’t make it the centerpiece of the relationship. They don’t panic if you look a little tired, and they don’t treat a seizure like a scene from a horror movie. If one happens, they simply follow the protocol, wait it out, and then ask if you want a glass of water or to talk about something else entirely.

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A friend in need
Blog · Dealing with epilepsy · Way too personal

A friend in need

Codrin PO

In my first years with epilepsy, I was scared of telling anyone about it. That’s because I was diagnosed at 14. It’s hard enough for an introvert to make friends and adding the image that epilepsy gets in society would have made it worse. In my early years, I didn’t have too many seizures and they happened at home.

Going to university, I had my first public seizure – right before taking one of my first exams. I would have preferred honestly to take the exam instead. In university, I had good friends that knew and understood me. I realized that there are people out there that actually look at the person and not at the disorder. That was good. Not teenagers, but still not adult persons (between 18-24) aren’t judgemental, it seems.

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Dealing with epilepsy · Way too personal

Professional cuddling for epilepsy

Codrin PO

Professional cuddling, here is something I didn’t know existed. I found about this due to a friend. There are people out there, others than psychologists, pshyciatrists and friends, that offer to help you with a nice talk, a sensitive discussion and a cuddle (for a fee, of course).

But how can this help people with epilepsy?

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Blog · Dealing with epilepsy · Way too personal

Is it fear or lack of respect that you see the most?

Codrin PO

I was speaking with one of those Facebook friends that you never met the other way. She also has a very specific disorder, although not epilepsy, but close to the spectrum.

When asking what she hates the most about her condition, she said “the way the others perceive her”. Thinking about epilepsy, how do friends and acquintances see you and what do you hate about it? I saw in the eyes of people that know about my epilepsy many things, but two stick out:

  1. Fear – people fear that you’ll have a seizure anytime, anywhere. But the fear is not that you’ll get hurt, but that they won’t be able to handle what is happening.
  2. Lack of respect – there are many myths about epilepsy (see my past articles) and many people believe them. Many people think that we are all photosensitive, or that we inherited it, or that we have a smaller IQ because of it. The last one is the one I saw many times, regardless of saying to people that Caesar, Dostoyevski, Agatha Christie, Alfred Nobel, Van Gogh and Theodore Rosevelt (among many others) had it.