This question is one I know people can relate to: “You have epilepsy, what are your seizures like?”
You might as well be asking a woman, “You’ve given birth, what did it feel like?”
The problem is that in some cases, you don’t have the luxury of being able to roll your eyes and walk quickly in the other direction. In some cases, you have to try to describe the seizures to your doctor so he or she can recommend treatment.
“Well, my head feels a little tingly, I get a mild sense of vertigo, there’s a rush of energy in my head…”
“Vertigo?”
Words like that are all it takes for a doctor to wonder if it’s safe for you to drive and you may have to try a variety of explanations to convince them that everything is fine.
I was talking to a nurse this morning about changing my medication schedule and I told her about a seizure I had last week. I was eating at Culver’s with my mother and saw a t-shirt hanging on the wall. When I looked at it, the text was describing some kind of epileptic seizure. I wasn’t sure if it was the kind I was having at that moment, but some kind of seizure.
Thirty seconds later, I looked back at the t-shirt and it said FARMERS ROCK!
I don’t know if that description will affect what I’m taking for medication, but if nothing else, I’m sure telling the nurse about the t-shirt was enlightening and a lot easier than explaining the joys of childbirth.
