Lessons Learned From Epilepsy

It took a crash. A what could have been a fatal car crash and the diagnosis of epilepsy in order to open my eyes. To assess my entire life. The life that I had been currently living. The habits that I had adopted. The way in which I was treating my body. In not so very healthy ways. Epilepsy left me with a decision. Continue my current lifestyle and repeat a cycle of seizures and risk my life in the process or change my current lifestyle and fight back as I walked a journey of this diagnosis. I learned a lot of lessons having being diagnosed with epilepsy. That in which I took to mind and heart. I adopted these lessons because I had made the decision that I wanted to change my life for the better. I wanted to fight back that in which had decided to pick a fight with my brain and overall body.

What lessons can be learned from epilepsy?

• Get plenty of good sleep each night.
• Avoid situations where there will be strobe lights/flashing lights. If you find yourself in an unavoidable situation, cover your eyes.
• Alcohol does not mix well with your epilepsy medication. Give up the alcohol.
• Eliminate the stress. Whether it be calming music, exercise, taking a walk etc.
• Choose the foods/beverages you eat wisely. Read labels, eat foods that have positive benefits for health and eliminate unhealthy food choices.
• Give up caffeinated foods/beverages as some have indicated, such as myself, that this has triggered their seizures.
• Choose an exercise routine. There are numerous benefits including improving memory and increasing heart rate which pumps more oxygen to the brain. My husband and I began attending the gym and have been going for quite some time. It is very beneficial in numerous ways. (Before attending a gym, consult your doctor first.)

Bottom line, if it doesn’t benefit your life, your success in overcoming epilepsy, avoid it.

Taking on these habits listed above don’t happen over night, however they are great benefits in fighting back. In our world today, we have plenty around us regarding food, beverages, entertainment etc. We as human beings and most of us, adults have the option to say yes or no to what it is that we want for ourselves. However our lives become altered when we become diagnosed with epilepsy. Two paths stand before us. One is to do very little to nothing at all to fight back and the other is to give it all we’ve got in order to fight back, rise above and overcome. I choose to give it all I’ve got because life is a beautiful wonderful gift given by God and I am surrounded by loving family, my incredible spouse, I could list many blessings. I will not allow epilepsy to win over my life.

Since becoming diagnosed and choosing to adopt these lessons set out to help me fight back against epilepsy, not only did it help me in this aspect, it helped me as a person overall. It gave me a new perspective on who I wanted to be, how I wanted to treat my body, face situations in life and much more.

There are a lot of positives that can come out of a negative situation. You just have to be willing to look for them.