Personal Narrative: My Life With Epilepsy

I sat there in my room with tears flowing down my blush pink cheeks. Wondering what was wrong with me, as a salty tear ran along my dried out chapped lips. I thought to myself,” Why am I so miserable? What did I do to deserve this? How am I going to escape this life?” I started to ponder that this was the end of my life, this is how I was going to be, sorrowful. At the lowest point of my life, mother came barging through the door with the look of cavernous concern on her face. She knew that it was time for something to be done, whether I agreed or not.

Then I snapped out of my dream with the sound of the phone ringing, we were about 30 minutes from home and my mom looks at me. I automatically knew something was up as she hung up she turned to me and said: “ Will be packing bags they want us to stay in the hospital.” Still so confused and anxious about what they had found they didn 't say anything over the phone. We got to the hospital and sat down with the doctor and an interpreter. and that 's when he dropped the bomb “You have a brain tumor” it almost felt as if I was on a rollercoaster the one where it drops so fast to the ground that you feel your organs fell, I cried and I wished we never came. My mother she was in tears as much as she tried to hold back they bursted out. Later then they settled me and my mom in a room its was all colorful and I felt as if I were in a little kids room except it was a hospital room. The next day I get scheduled for a biopsy and I was pretty terrified and they explained the process to me as if I were to be less scared. They weren’t going to open my skull, go through my nose to take a little chunk of the tumour, then examine it and see if it was malignant or benign. I got the results that it was malignant and I would soon start my chemotherapy.

I awoke in terror. My sister was shaking uncontrollably. Screaming in fear, I jumped out of the bed we were sleeping in to go get my parents. The next thing I knew I was sitting bedside in my sister's hospital room. This is what I experienced when my sister had her first Epileptic Seizure. Although there were many questions and fears running through my mind, the skills and characteristics I possessed allowed me to live life unaffected.

“Do you still want to eat?” my mom said, “I mean you have already eaten too much, and you should eat

When I was just seven-years old, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. I’d been having small and frequent seizures my entire life without ever knowing of it until one day when I was shelling walnuts in front of the fireplace. Everything I ever knew was being stripped away from me. I no longer had control over any of the muscles in my body, my ability to speak, my actions, nor my sight. All I could do was relax and wait for my brain to catch up and regain control over my body. My life has been changed by epilepsy, but I will never let it control my life.

When many people think of epilepsy they think of someone falling on the ground shaking and jerking uncontrollably and the thought makes them uncomfortable. Some believe bystanders should put a wooden spoon in the mouth of the one having a seizure and hold them down. These are both misconceptions. Most people think that epilepsy and seizures are the same, this information is also incorrect. Epilepsy is an often misinterpreted disorder. To better understand the disorder and the lives of people with Ep more information and education is needed.

When I was eight years old I learned what epilepsy was. My family was in the car driving to get dinner, with my dad driving. We were stopped at a stop light, and when it turned green we never moved. My mother looked over at my dad and realized he was having a seizure. At the time I did not know what that was; all I remember is a blur of my sister calling 911, and us going to the hospital. It was one of the scariest moments of my life; I thought my dad was dying. Later that night my mom explained to us what a seizure was, and that he was going to be okay. This was the first time my dad had a seizure, and the doctors did not know why. He was sent home from the emergency room that night with no answers and a shaken up family.

I have no idea what it is like for someone to be battling with epilepsy and I cannot image seeing my love ones go through that. It was interesting listening to Peter Aguero’s humor as he describes his perspective of his wife battling with epilepsy. I thought that the worse part was seeing your love go through a seizure. But Peter shared his story about the postictal stage, “after the seizure,” as he described his wife as a computer trying to reboot herself back online. I can image the vivid image and the loss of hope that Peter had as he holds his wife thinking that she was never coming back and already thinking about who to call in her family. It also was heartbreaking to hear that Sarah’s parents gave no support. That burden and the pressure

On May 9th, 2014, I had an unexpected seizure in the middle of the night. At the time my parents were asleep, and they were awoken in a state of shock. Seizures are really scary because they are unexpected. As a matter of fact, the people who go through them are totally unaware of their surroundings and are left vulnerable to the dangers around them. Because of this drastic event, I had to go through many time-consuming tests, one of which was the EEG, which took one whole day and night at the hospital. An EEG is a very complex, expensive and time-consuming system, also it is uncomfortable for patients, especially for young children.

Epilepsy is not what you think. It is a complicated disease, a disease that doesn't just affect one type of person or age. Over fifty million men, women, and children cope with this disease daily. Epilepsy is a mysterious disease to those who are unfamiliar and uneducated about the disease. Many people have preconceived notions about Epileptics. Researching the topic thoroughly, the five preconceived notions I explored have been proven to be false.

Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes, BCECT (also called rolandic epilepsy, RE), is an idiopathic focal epilepsy of childhood and its underlying structural causes and possible genetic aetiology are unknown. It is the most common epilepsy syndrome in childhood and accounts for 15%—24% of all paediatric epilepsy cases between 5 and 14 years of age, and there is a male predominance. The prevalence of BCECT is estimated to be about 2% in children and it is four times more common than typical absence of epilepsy. It is considered an age-dependent epileptic syndrome with a high genetic predisposition (Shields and Snead, 2009; Miziara et al., 2012).

Epilepsy, also called seizure disorder, chronic brain disorder that briefly interrupts the normal electrical activity of the brain to cause seizures, characterized by a variety of symptoms including uncontrolled movements of the body, disorientation or confusion, sudden fear, or loss of consciousness. Epilepsy may result from a head injury, stroke, brain tumor, lead poisoning, genetic conditions, or severe infections like meningitis or encephalitis. In over 70 percent of cases no cause for epilepsy were identified. About 1 percent of the world population, or over 2 million people, are diagnosed with epilepsy.

Epilepsy can happen to anyone of any age. The largest(47%) percent of people, developing epilepsy for the first time, being children from birth to nine years of age. The next largest age group would be ten year olds to ninteen year olds at 30%. The least amount of first time seizures comes from the forty plus age group. (According to EFA publications) Over 2.5 million people suffer from epilepsy. The international league against epilepsy describes a seizure as an alternative term for "epileptic attack". Seizures vary in there length and severity. A "tonic-clonic" seizure can last for one to seven minutes. " Absence seizures usually last for a few seconds. However, complex partial seizure" may last for thirty seconds or two

Epilepsy is a condition in which a person has two or more seizures affecting a variety of mental and physical functions. Epilepsy is one of the oldest conditions of the human race. Epilepsy Awareness is important because Epilepsy is a widely misunderstood disorder. The reason that Epilepsy has been misunderstood has been mainly due to research not being conducted until the middle of the nineteenth century. There are six main types of seizures and many treatments that can assist an epileptic patient. Many facts and myths exist about a person who has Epilepsy, which, is why it is an important disorder to understand. A person living with Epilepsy can typically have a normal life after seeking medical advice from doctors.

When I was in the 5th grade, I was home alone with my mom. Something really strange was happening so I called 911. The ambulance came right away and took my mom to the hospital. Later that night, she was diagnosed with Epilepsy. Epilepsy is, “a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain”. My mom has grand mal seizures, the worst kind. When she has them she loses consciousness, it sounds like she can not breathe, she has violent convulsions and usually when it is over she has a concussion. They last about 4 minutes which is almost dangerously long. After my mom’s convulsions stop, it takes about 15 minutes to a half an hour for her to ‘wake up’. Once she is awake, she doesn't know what has happened and does not comprehend what she is told. It takes her a few days to fully recover from a seizure. Growing up seeing your mom having seizure after seizure, not being able to help and not knowing if she is going to be alright is a really scary thing. Since that day I have had the same fear, that