hi hi!

[datajana]

My name is Jana and I was diagnosed with epilepsy shortly before I turned 19.

I had a benign brain tumor removed from my right frontal lobe when I was 14. I was fine for five years, then BAM! had 3 grand mals in one day.

Regardless of my condition, I attended college and earned a BSE in Social Science Education.

However, after one semester of grad school, my seizures started to increase dramatically. Since I've never had an aura, I had to surrender my driver's license (I had stopped driving off and on for nearly 4 years at this point) and give up on my dreams on becoming a teacher.

At the moment, I'm fighting with the SSA over disability. I had a hearing last fall and the judge basically called me a liar since a doctor has yet to witness me having a seizure, even though family members, my fiance, and numerous friends have seen me have many seizures.

I'm always recovering from injuries I receive from my seizures. I've had stitches in my face, dislocated limbs, pulled muscles in my arms, legs, and face, bitten up the inside of my mouth and my tongue, busted my lips and bruised my shines and knees from atonic seizures, and the list goes on...

It's nice to meet all of you and thank you so much to the people who created this forum!

cheers,

jana

[Bernard]

Hi Jana, welcome to the forum.

We have not tried to obtain disability benefits from SSA, but I have read of others who have and others who have had to fight over it.

Congratulations on finishing your degree. Stacy has really had to struggle at times with her schooling because her cognitive functions were impaired.