I believe there is a need for more people to know a bit more about epilepsy. As a sufferer of eizurethe condition I have written this article explaining what epilepsy is to the best of my ability, expressing my feelings on it and sharing some of my personal experiences of having a life with epilepsy to you.

Epilepsy is a condition of the brain under which a mixture of wrong and confused messages are sent from there to other parts of the anatomy sending the person into short fits or seizures. Many people only associate epilepsy with the more severe seizure which is wrong to do because there is another more mild type of seizure as well. The severe, tonic clonic seizure is one that affects the entire body sending the sufferer into a fit of falling and shaking. The mild, complex partial seizure is one that effects parts of the body. The type of fit these seizures can send one into would vary, depending which part of the body is affected. Some examples of this are squeezing hands together, wandering off, a sudden stop in conversation or mincing of words, tightening grip on something like a cup of hot drink and losing control of it, dribbling from the mouth and tremoring.

When someone has a seizure they can be in full consciousness and sometimes not be conscious of it. When someone is seen having a seizure and if you come to their aid a few things not to do are restrain them or put anything between their teeth or move them unless they are in danger. Things you would be right to do are stand by and leave them as they will come out of the seizure in their own time. Move the epileptic away from danger or the danger away from them, at least if it is safe for yourself to do so. If you are with an epileptic you know to ensure they are out of the seizure just ask them a simple question such as do they know who you are or do they know where they are. For a while the epileptic might come up with wrong answers, never mind if they do that but once the right answer comes from them you can be sure they are out of the seizure. If the epileptic is still in the seizure after about 10 minutes they are better off in hospital.

From my own experiences I have had tonic clonic seizures but I usually have complex partial seizures. This condition is controlled by medication. Some things that can bring it on and have done that with me are excitement, if I am looking forward to something that I am soon to be doing such as travelling somewhere, stress from worrying a lot about something like an injuy or other illness I am suffering from. Having epilepsy can restrict some people as a result of the incorrect association of it with severe seizures as mentioned above. Other restrictions are nonqualification to do some work in which there are health requirements, an inability to drive esspecially when seizures occur regularly as they do with me because if I have been in an accident my driver's licence will be revoked for 12 months. This means that a person's driver's licence is taken off them and held by LTNZ until they have received a letter verifying that the person has not had any more seizures over 12 months from a doctor and I can never seem to let 12 months go by without having had a seizure. So for me and restrictions as a result of epilepsy driving is one thing I will never get an opportunity to do. Sometimes people can over-react too much to epilepsy and restrict epileptics unnecessarily.