Epilepsy is Invisible

Epilepsy, 

a chronic neurological brain condition

invisible, and not really there, 

as long as it is controlled

Should we keep away from the public eye ~ just in case.....

Epilepsy

caused by anything that affects the functioning of our brain including

scar tissue

head trauma

altered brain chemistry 

A more confusing form ~ idiopathic:  no known cause!  

Where there is no known cause, 

there is no known cure, 

leaving the individual

in an entirely vulnerable position 

powerless and alone.  

Cures - there is nothing 

broad based

standard

across the board.

Conventional medication seems the only solution, 

sometimes the only part of a solution presented 

‘you’ll have to learn to live with it.’

And so many of us with epilepsy 

do learn to live with it

as do our families.

Living with epilepsy means knowing 

what kind of seizures 

how predictable they are - or not

who will be there to help us with 

recovery from seizures

letting us know what happened and when it happened

what spaces of time we have to live seizure free -

an hour?  

a day? 

a couple of weeks? 

More? 

Less?

so that the control epilepsy holds in our lives is a small as possible.

Living with epilepsy means

taking medication once or many times a day

taking one or more medications

surgery

recovering from surgery

so that the control epilepsy holds in our lives is minimized.

And in all this, we wish to share and participate in

family, 

friends, 

employment, 

community

“Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it...

We will one day understand what causes it, and then cease to call it 

divine.  And so it is with everything in the universe.”

~ Hippocrates

BC Epilepsy Society

Phone: (604) 875-6704

Phone: (778) 533-0790 (Victoria Office)

No longer active: 

Victoria Epilepsy and Parkinson’s Society

813 Darwin Avenue

Victoria, BC  V8X 2X7

Email:   help@vepc.bc.ca

Web:     www.vepc.bc.ca