Personal Narrative: Epilepsy, Depersonalization, Depression

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.

I was born in Northern, New York, about forty miles from the Canadian border in a wasteland of a town called Carthage, sixty miles from the nearest walmart. My mother, now Louise Percy, is ex-navy and worked for the federal government on Fort Drum until she retired ever since I was born. My father, Donald Bishop, was a beauty. He was in and out of prison all his life, including juvenile. He was imprisoned much through my baby-toddler stage and when he wasn’t imprisoned he jumped from construction job to construction job, drinking and smoking marijuana heavily until the day he died, last May 28th. I was born into a household with my mother, father, brother and half-sister for the first few years in my life. My half-sister skipped town after developing a heroin addiction and my father drove my mother psychologically insane until she ended up in a psych ward and we spent a few weeks with my grandmother (father’s mom) until she was released. My mother and father split up and my father never fought for custody nor paid child support. My mother had been a single mom for ten years

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 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.

There was always a problem in my mind that my parents never came to support me. I always begged them to come see me, until one day my mom said to me “ you're pathetic and making a fool out of yourself”. Over those words i became very distant from everyone and changed me forever like don miguel described “ you were put in a spell over the word”. I became very shy and antisocial. I let any opinion get to me.

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.

I have been recently diagnosed with depression, over the course of eight grade year, my life gradually got worse. From getting my phone taken away, to attempting suicide, and planning on running, to drug use, abusing prescription drugs, day drinking, getting into fights with peers, prostitution. Anything that could distract me from my pain. I would do anything to escape reality. I started getting bullied towards the middle of my eighth-grade year, that was also around the time I began cutting and doing drugs. After that I planned on running away with one of my friends, then my dad found out, about everything. He gave my phone to the police and had me institutionalized, I stayed in the

I told mom I wouldn’t make it through front doors b/c I would hurt someone in the parking lot. Overwhelming feelings of rage when I think of that place. No one understands this fear of death I have. While it may be irrational it is very real to me. Punched my neighbor for calling her 1 year old stupid. Falling apart in school and at home. Don’t want to fail in anything.

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.

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.

Every-time I see the faintest glimmer of him caring I realize I’m not done with him and deep down I still care and want him to care about me too so I get my hopes up, but then he always lets me down again. I am not a violent person, I rarely swear, and I hate fighting with people. Somehow whenever I am talking to my dad all of those things bubble up inside of me, I get violent, angry, and I can honestly say that he is the only person I’ve ever sworn at. I hate being that person, but I’m so stupid that if I get the chance to see him I jump at it. I hope eventually I can tell myself I’m done with him and deep down it will actually be true and I can be free from the

A literature review revealed that families with a CWE had lower parent-child relationship quality, increased rates of depression in mothers and reported problems with family functioning (Rodenburg, Meijer, Deković, & Aldenkamp, 2005). Childhood epilepsy has been associated with family life impairment due to the worries of seizures and medications (Aytch, Hammond and White, 2001). A recent study showed that having a child diagnosed with epilepsy lead to a lower parental quality of life and increased apprehensiveness (Ciancheti et al, 2015). An increase in parental anxiety, stress and fear has also been documented (Wu, Follanbee-Junger, Rausch & Modi, 2014). To date, many studies have investigated the psychosocial impact of childhood epilepsy, however the impact of the condition on the family has not be extensively researched (Ellis, Upton & Thompson, 2000).

Today was the day that I learned nothing in life is free. Nothing is just handed to you. Ever. Everything you want or need, needs to be worked for. Maybe not super hard or really easy but some method of payment is definitely needed. Even those “free” cups and souvenirs they give out a festivals come with a price. For instance, I went to a national park over Christmas break and they had Chevrolet out front “handing out” shirts. Yeah you could get the shirt, but before you could you had to take a “quick” survey and provide contact information. So even though you didn’t need money to receive the shirt, it still wasn’t free.

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.

1. No matter how hard we try to prepare ourselves for challenging experiences and try to stay positive, it becomes harder to do than planned when the time comes. It was the end of the last semester and I was on the verge of emotional depression that totally overwhelmed me. During the exam period, I wasted my weekends on the Internet, chatting and Facebook-ing. I needed to submit an important paper on Tuesday morning. On Sunday night, after wasting so much time of mine and having a little red eyes because of so much exposure to electronic screens, I sat down to write my paper. Only then did I realize that the paper was due the next morning, not on Tuesday. I was extremely nervous because it was too little a time to finish it. Moreover, I was so angry with myself that I wanted to cry. It was a realization that I was off course in my study habits and that I had not overcome my habit of willingly putting myself in difficult positions. The more I thought about being in that mess, the angrier I got with myself. I got even angrier thinking about how it was not the first time in my life that I put myself in such a situation. I could not concentrate on my paper because of that emotional response. Then suddenly I thought that I just needed to talk to someone and calm down. I called my classmate and just told her about everything. She said that the instructor had actually extended the deadline until Thursday. It was such a relief. I thanked her profusely and decided