by Hiqmat Humaidan

Created on: November 15, 2008   Last Updated: December 26, 2008

I have epilepsy.

I had it as a child and it was very serious in my case.

So serious it became life threatening i had to be hospitalized and put on steroids which later on led to weight problems, bullying and of course depression.

It made me want to commit suicide,

The question i wondered was i did not have any more seizures until i was 18.

So ten years on i am back to square 1.

Older and wiser i discovered more and more about this condition and how it effects me and i am 22 years of age and still learning.

It is basically over active electrical activity in the brain cells

In some cases not so serious like people can just have temporal lobe epilepsy which is not the whole brain effected.

I have generalized epilepsy which is my whole brain effected.

It makes you dizzy, sick, tired it can cause loss of conciousness, faint or sometimes you jerk and your whole muscles go numb.

Your body can sometimes vibrate or even shake completely.

Your breathing can be affected most of the time i have found i bitten my tongue thats because i don't know what is going on or what happened i only knew when my family tell me.

I find i cannot speak or react after having serious seizures, sometimes i can have very bad faints and i can hear, but not react or move i find it very difficult to get up, i also get severe migraines where i find myself if out with somebody desperately trying to hang onto something to keep me from collapsing.

Sometimes medication is the best option, but not always meant for security or reliability.

It can sometimes make you depressed as you find you lose controll because it can happen anywhere at anytime as with me it appears with no warning signals what so ever,

It can affect your normal daily activities and work situations and sleep.

It affected me as i am now disabled and with studying i am forgetful now and also have problems with travelling as i fear.

I am alot better than before, but still need special care and i do have a carer my lovely younger Brother, my mom helps too as much as possible.

The sleep issue was bad from the depression then it got better, but i found i tried to wake early to an appointment and it made me very dizzy so i left college due to the circumstances, but hopefully i should be well enough to go back soon.

Epilepsy can also be controlled by diet there is certain foods to avoid such as too much caffeine which is hardly good for you in large doses anyway.

This is about as much as i know about my condition as i hope to learn more

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