Here's a little background:
I was diagnosed with epilepsy November of 2013. My first seizure happened while I was working; I was a server at a pizza cafe. I was diagnosed a couple weeks later. I didn't want to take medication at first, because I knew that my body would end up relying on it, but I didn't have a choice, and now I do rely on it. I've gone through three different medications, the first one was the worst one I was on. I'm still taking the second two together every single night.
Here's the essay. Hope y'all like it.
Drug Facts
KEPPRA
Symptoms may
include but are not limited to: sleepiness, weakness, dizziness, and
irritability. You will experience all of these symptoms. You will not speak to
anyone, and when you do it will be curt and annoyed. Your mom will cry because
she doesn’t know why you’re so rude, but she does know why, and that makes her
cry more.
You will have to
quit the dance team because practicing two hours a day at 6:00 a.m. five days a
week will take too much of a toll on your mind and body, and you’ll bawl your
eyes out when you see the Spring Showcase at the end of the year, because you
had to give up something you truly adored.
Your grades will
fall because you do nothing but sleep. You won’t be able to help it. Exhaustion
will overcome you. You won’t remember you had homework until it’s too
late—you’ll get rejected to the first college you apply to.
LAMICTAL
Symptoms may
include but are not limited to: tremors, drowsiness, back pain, and sleep
problems. You won’t notice these side effects until much later, but they come,
and you won’t be surprised. You’ll be happy though, because, unlike the last
medication, you won’t feel moody all the time. It will be like stepping out of
a bubble. The bubble that you’ve been in for over a year. The one that made
your friends go away.
Eventually,
you’ll have to increase the dosage, because the twitches won’t go away. They
won’t ever go away, but you don’t know that yet.
You’ll probably
be on this medication for the rest of your life.
ZONEGRAN
Symptoms may
include but are not limited to: loss of appetite, loss of coordination,
drowsiness, and headaches. The headaches won’t be much of an issue, but you’ll
start to notice other things. You won’t know whether it’s from the medication
itself or from the epilepsy. You won’t care. You’ll just hope the combination
of this drug with the one you’re on now will actually work. It will.
You’ll go over
three years without a seizure. Technically, your doctor can try to take you off
the medicine if you go over three years seizure free, but you’ll be too scared
to stop taking it. You know it’s a crutch, one you might not be able to live
without. You’ll purposefully miss a dose every now and then to see what would
happen. The next day the twitches get worse, and you’ll be embarrassed when
someone notices it, and you will pretend like you can’t see their face change
when they do notice it.
And you’re back
popping pills that same night.
 |
| The day of my first seizure ☮ |
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