Epilepsy Awareness

Epilepsy Awareness

November is a good time of the year, you can recover from all the candy you have eaten because of Halloween and tricker treating, see family and friends on Thanksgiving, and for people who like to shop Black Friday, Shop Local Saturday, and Cyber Monday too. But it is a great month because it is Dedicated to Epilepsy Awareness, and I wanted to share some positive information on Epilepsy and recovery.

But what are the positive things about Epilepsy Awareness?  You can get questions answered about what it is, how to deal with it, treatments, medication, and the possibility of recovery.

As I pointed out in Epilepsy: My Story, I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 8. Which at that time were called Grand Mal seizures, which are now referred to as Tonic-Clonic Seizures.

Now as that article points out I have recovered from my Epilepsy but only because of hope, determination, and taking Chances.  You may ask but what about the surgeries and medication? Let me explain.

HOPe

Hope was the most important one to me. Suppose you don’t have hope that things will get better, that you can change things, or that you can have the strength to deal with epilepsy. You will find it much harder to deal with epilepsy. Ways to get a stronger feeling of hope are things like therapy, support groups, friends, mentors, influencers about epilepsy about how they recovered from it themselves, and family.

Another good way to find hope is to look into the religion you believe in. I don’t talk about religions much to others because everyone has their own choice and freedom to decide on what they believe in. But I know that the religion I believe in, Christianity has been a strong support in my journey of recovery and dealing with epilepsy

Determination

Determination was the most difficult thing for me to do. I still have a hard time staying determined to follow through with goals.  I will admit I procrastinate too much. But Procrastinating can commonly be connected to your mental health so keep that in mind. Another key thing to remember is even if you don’t take a big step one day, just taking a small step that day matters. Doing something small is still better than doing nothing towards reaching your goal.

Firmness of purpose is the Oxford definition of Determination, and it does make sense to be firm in purpose. Referring to Epilepsy, you must be firm on what your goal is. It can be anything from making the week, day, or hours without a seizure, getting an income while still having seizures, socializing with people, making new friends who understand your situation more, and many more reasons for great purposes.

There are ways to help prevent seizures but always remember you are not in full control of what triggers or timing of seizures. Try never to feel it is your fault.

Epilepsy is still labeled as a lifelong disease and there is no true-to-the-bone cure for epilepsy, but with determination, you can still live a fulfilling life even living with epilepsy.

Taking Chances

The reason taking chances is a key stepping stone in ways to live with epilepsy is because if you don’t take chances in life, you won’t reach long-term goals or make the changes in life to be happier. If I hadn’t taken the chance with surgery, I wouldn’t be a blogger, peer support, or a happily married man.

Life for everyone is full of difficult obstacles. They are different for everyone. Life lifelong problems like epilepsy can cause trauma, depression, and much more. A good wellness tool when dealing with life obstacles is to catch it, check it, and change it.

Catch it

What that means is you catch the idea of your problem, for example, epilepsy. You admit to yourself you have epilepsy. But always remember you might have epilepsy, but you are not epilepsy itself and you are not the problem, epilepsy is the problem.

Check it

Check it stands for you to look at your problem and see what truly bothers you and find facts about that problem. It is known that mankind has a personal trait of being emotional and emotions are a great thing to share and not hold back but do not let emotions make your decisions in life.

With epilepsy when you check it, a good idea is to look for information on new drugs, treatments, surgeries, and other ways that may help you deal with epilepsy. Talk to your doctor, google information, visit the epilepsy foundation website, talk to others with epilepsy at support groups or events, and find out more information on new ways that may help you.

Change it

Now with catch it, and check it done, you are almost at the end, but the biggest step is changing it. If you don’t change it nothing different will happen and you will be in the same boat all over again.

. I know plenty of people I have worked with as a peer support who have caught the problem, and who have checked the problem but never changed anything to help solve the problem, and because of that, they always return venting about the same thing repeatedly. To change it, is taking the chance of making a difference in your life.

Conclusion

As said earlier in the article epilepsy can be a lifelong problem but you can still have a happy life with epilepsy by changing things in your life.

I still take medicine and see my neurologist to take care of my epilepsy, but I am also a married man, have a career in writing, and work with others as peer support to help them reach recovery. All because I had hope and determination and I took the chance to change things in my life.

Remember the steps to a more positive life with epilepsy are to have hope, determination, and take chances. The steps you take can be different for everyone. But it is always good to remember you will always have decisions you can make.

One good thing I must remind myself of is that things in life never stay the same for long. A new choice of medication, treatment, or surgery can be right around the corner.

Here are a few links to finding resources to help you in your journey to recovery.

Home

https://www.epilepsy.com/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/psychiatrists

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/groups

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/treatment-rehab

(This is an informational and personal experience article only, for more specific information to help you individually deal with your epilepsy or mental illness talk to a neurology specialist, psychiatrist, therapist, your local doctor, or nurse first.)