Epilepsy changes your life overnight. This is how I cope.

A diagnosis of epilepsy can mean a complete change of your life, for life.

For me, nothing has been the same since, and I’ve adapted around it.

But there’s healthy ways of coping with it.

And I wanted to group those under three core areas: You’re allowed to feel it, you don’t have to pretend everything is OK.

There’s a difference between being negative and letting yourself process your emotions towards something that is a huge deal.

Lean on what you can control, and leverage the people in your life that can help you get some level of stability back.

Talk to people.

Take it from me, someone who kept it inside for so long.

Even telling random people I have epilepsy sometimes feels like a weight off my chest.

Like I’m living my own life without fear.

Judgement is inevitable but when I own it I feel less scared.

I’d be lying if I said coping with epilepsy is easy.

It’s not linear.

But this is how I keep going.

One I let myself actually feel it I had to stop pretending I was fine when I wasn’t I had to accept that grieving what epilepsy took from me enables healing, it’s not a pity party feeling the bad things helps you appreciate the good ones two I focus on what I can control epilepsy is defined by a lack of control, you can’t control independence, seizures, meds… the list goes on and on!

But I can control my routine: Sleep, stress (sometimes), diet, alcohol consumption this helps provide some stability when everything else feels uncertain three I stopped hiding.

I talk about it.

I kept epilepsy secret for years, from so many people, even close friends being open helped people around me understand what I need and how much epilepsy really affects me day to day and if sharing my story can help someone feel less alone, it’s worth it there’s no perfect way to cope.

But you don’t have to figure it out alone.