My name is Enric, I am 21 years old and I am epileptic.
I have had epilepsy since I was one year old, that is, I was very young. I didn’t know what epilepsy was, nor what was waiting for me to live.
My seizures are focal, but the doctors are not sure.
At the beginning, when I was very young, I went to the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona, until I was 15 years old when my doctor retired. Then I went to a private doctor until I was 18, and finally, now we are with a doctor called Sierra.
“In every group of friends I do like one or two people to know what epilepsy is, or how to react to a seizure.”
The medication over the years has been changing, when I was very small, I only took Trileptal with syrup, then they gave me Depakine, they gave me Kepra and now they have given me Topamax.
Normally, saying that I have epilepsy is something I don’t like to tell everyone, but in every group of friends I do like one or two people to know what epilepsy is, or how to react to a seizure. In my school I have two classmates that if I have a seizure they would know how to react, and this is important.
I usually have seizures every month, month and a half, although right now the doctors don’t know if it’s epilepsy or anxiety. Normally my seizures are all the same, that is, from what I have been told, I usually first, if I notice them, I tell someone, (I have the seizures) and then I go back to normal. I don’t need to rest.
Luckily all my best friends also know that I have a mobile application called Safe365, it is used to locate people, ideal if I have a seizure or something happens to me. It has a button that calls my closest contacts.
I’ve been swimming since I was two years old, because it relaxes me, but there have been doctors and friends who have told me to stop, because if I have a seizures when I’m in the water I can drown.
