Just imagine for a moment that it's Sunday morning and you've been planning a picnic all week. The whole week has been sunny and warm and you've really been looking forward to it with all of your heart.
Then you wake up to overcast skies and steady rain...
You can't change the weather. No amount of positive thinking is going to make the rain stop and the clouds roll away and the sun come out. You can sit down and cry. You can stand up and scream. Or you can simply accept the fact that there isn't going to be a picnic today and go to plan B. Maybe spread a blanket out on the living room floor and have a picnic there or something. They used to say, "Roll with the punches" back in my day.
That's how it is with Epilepsy...
You don't know what the weather is going to be like until you wake up in the morning. And you can't change it, whatever it is. All you can do is accept it and deal with it accordingly.
Now that analogy doesn't cover it perfectly because there are things an epileptic can do, and should do, that may influence his or her situation to an extent, however small- either positively or negatively, depending.
- Take your medicine at the same time every day (and don't forget them of course)
- Keep a regular rhythm as much as possible
- Avoid excess stress
- Avoid your triggers
- Get enough sleep
- Find out what does you good and do it
- Find out what doesn't do you good and don't do it
The things I'm writing are pretty general and I'd like to claim that they pretty much apply to the majority of epileptics. The fact is however, and I believe I mentioned it in my very first entry, that every Epilepsy is like a fingerprint and no two experiences are exactly the same. There are varying degrees and intensities and sets of symptoms and problems, etc. There are much lighter cases than mine, and much, much worse cases.
So now on to the past week. It was kind of middle of the road, I guess. I had 3-4 seizures every day but they were all rather light and each lasted only 1-3 minutes. I can live with short, light seizures. I had a migraine the whole week too, but Thursday was the only day that it could be called intense- and even then it could have been much worse. Other than that it was like a steady thing in the background the whole time. That whole thing, the whole week, may have been worse if my attitude had been different, I don't know.
You see, I was able to stay calm the whole week. I was able to simply accept the seizures, accept the migraine, like the person who wakes up on Sunday morning and can't have their picnic because it's raining.
I don't normally have to leave for work until 7:30 am and need an hour to get ready. Still, I set my alarm clock for 5:45 am. I hit the snooze button at least once. After that I get my first cup of coffee and go back to bed where I just sit there in the dark, nursing that coffee and doing my utmost to simply be still for like half an hour. Utterly still. It worked fairly well last week. That alone seems to set the tone for the entire day for me. I get out of bed at 6:30 and try and maintain that inner stillness as I get ready for work. Slow and easy, nice and quiet. On at least one day last week the first seizure hit within a half hour after waking- while making my sandwiches for work. I simply stopped and waited in peace, letting it happen, knowing that seizures are simply part of my life and that it could be much, much worse. The seizure passed after 2-3 minutes and I went on making my sandwiches. I did that every time I had a seizure last week. I met the migraine with that same attitude; that's my life and it can't be changed. Be calm and accept it. Keep going. Don't fight it.
As I look back on last week I can't say that it was thoroughly unpleasant, even though there isn't one single smiling smiley- meaning seizure and migraine free- in my seizure log. It was calm. It was peaceful. I went slow and steady. My work was productive and successful because of it, bringing satisfaction.
I wonder if the seizures themselves would have been stronger if I hadn't been as balanced inside? I wonder if the migraine would have been worse as well?
I'd love to read any comments you might have...
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