Helloooo again! How are we all doing? Hope you’re all doing well! I’ve been getting an on/off cold for the past few weeks now which suckssss, and I don’t think it helps when the weather is -30/-40 degrees c. This is officially what I expected Canada to be like. Molly even came home yesterday and said it was ‘warm’ up the hill as it was -20… crazy stuff.

I have got some form of blog posts coming your way soon in the next couple of weeks, I know I said that last time etc but I promise they are coming! They still haven’t all arrived in the post yet so just waiting on that but I’ll head to the P.O. today and see whats happening. But happy news…. If you go onto the Boux Avenue front page, you’ll see a little piccy of me on there hehehe.

Anyway, I thought I would hop on here today to do a little blog post all about epilepsy. Today, 11th February, is International Epilepsy Day. WOO. How exciting…. I have only just come across it through my email from The Epilepsy Society and I am glad I did because epilepsy is one of those conditions that doesn’t have much recognition.

BIT OF INFO ON IT

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder which can affect people of any age. Someone is diagnosed with epilepsy when they have two unprovoked seizures or if they have one and are likely to have more. More than half the time, the cause is unknown. 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy in their lifetime and it can occur at any age, so like mentioned above, it isn’t uncommon.
Some people are able to grow out of it or can get treatments/medications to stop it, however we don’t think mine will go away which suckssss.

ME AND MY EPILEPSY

So I had my first seizure in March 2013 and was diagnosed with epilepsy in May 2013 after having a few tests done at the hospital. I remember my first seizure so vividly which is absolute madness because it was so long ago. It was on the morning of the German Exchange which I was super excited for and then bam, wake up at 2am, start getting ready, start shaking (I thought I was just cold) but then the next thing I remember is sitting on my bed with a paramedic and a needle in my finger. It was really bazaar but I got to go in an ambulance for the first time which was fun..! Unfortunately it meant I had to miss the German Exchange :(( Anna made me THE cutest little thing, I don’t know what to call it, but it said ‘I’m sorry you couldn’t go to Germany’ and I loved it and still have it somewhere.
My second seizure was on my birthday. I had a couple of friends over and we all slept in the lounge and it was a pretty late night so we were kinda tired etc, but again, I don’t remember anything of it, apart from the pancakes in the morning…
My third was in the hospital after the tests. They asked me to stay awake all night, so me and le parents stayed up and watched a bunch of movies and then headed to the hospital in the morning. I think it was an EEG they did and then they let me go to sleep and that is when I had my fit. I woke up, looked in the mirror and I had a fat lip, like a mix of being punched and botox. It was a good look for a 14 year old.
We found out that my seizures were related to tiredness, so like if I were to wake up at like 3am I was at a high risk of having a fit. We thought it may have been related to my periods as every time I had a fit, I was on. But it was just a weird coincidence. My last fit was in May 2014, so it took a while for it to be controlled and for the medication to start to work. There are still moments where I’m a bit twitchy (usually after a night out so I bring it upon myself really), however it is rare so happy days 🙂
I am so glad that my epilepsy hasn’t affected my day-to-day life too much as I know how much it can restrict you. I can drive and go out and do normal stuff, just have to be careful yno. I have got such a big support base from friends and family which I’m super grateful for. Throughout school I struggled a little bit because people didn’t really understand it and bless my little sensitive soul, I got a bit funny when comments were mentioned because it was all new to me and it frustrated me. It still does sometimes and I guess when I have a day where I have been a bit on edge with it, it brings on the anxiety and all hell breaks loose and my day just gets a bit crap really. Thankfully being in Canada I am having the best time with some of the best people so I am not worrying about it and I’m just in a really good place, until someone triggers me on a bad day then it ain’t fab as Bethan knows lol, but in general its allllllll good in the hood.

I know epilepsy isn’t the biggest condition to be worrying about etc because there are so many other illnesses that affect lives a whole bunch more, however with International Epilepsy Day, I just hope more awareness is raised for it. The Epilepsy Foundation is an organisation with the goal of helping people with epilepsy and to help find cures and treatments to allow more people live their lives to the fullest potential which I think is an amazing mission to have. For more info take a look at >> this document << , it may help you get a better understanding if you are affected in any way.

So yeah, a bit of a different post but I hope it has brought a bit more awareness to the whole topic. It feels good to finally do a biggish post surrounding epilepsy and actually like telling my ‘story’. It isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially knowing that this is going out to thousands, as it’s not something I scream about and it’s not the most positive of subjects but all is good over here. If anyone has any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. There’s heaps of info online too. The best sites are probably Epilepsy.com 
and Epilepsy Society.
Also check >> this << out to see how you can get involved in helping raise awareness.

G X

p.s. should I bring back the ‘X’ after the G? I’m kinda feeling it at the moment. let me know. thanks x