Would you?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

A

ammeread

New
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I wouldn't mind betting that everyone here who suffers with epilepsy is outstanding at something

I mean that's how it works right? Were our brain is faulty in one area it makes up in others.

Autistic savants. schizophrenica and bipolar geniuses.

Everyone I've met with epilepsy has been outstanding at something. My cousin was brilliant at business, my friend was incredibly talented musically, my Dad was an amazing artist and painter.

So here's my question would you swap your talent to not have epilepsy?

For me that's a tough question, maybe because mines reasonably controlled and I'm kind of used to it. I suppose to some of you who suffer worse than me it might be an easy question.

What do you all say?
 
I've thought of that before, too. I'm pretty talented at and knowledgeable about a number of things, (mostly in the areas of languages, music, creative stuff like that) and can learn and understand things pretty well, but I'm nowhere near "world class" at any of them. Since I think I have had epilepsy for longer than the 30ish years I've been diagnosed, possibly most of my life, and since E is so interwoven with our "self", unlike a more purely physiological condition, I can't imagine that I would be the same person if I didn't have it.
Since I am overall pretty happy with who I am and wouldn't want to be different, I don't know that I would trade my E for who I might be without it. I wrote a poem called Unwelcome Lover, which is in the writing section, which kind of addresses that thought.
That was a good question for you to ask.

Cheers!
 
ammeread said:
I wouldn't mind betting that everyone here who suffers with epilepsy is outstanding at something

I mean that's how it works right? Were our brain is faulty in one area it makes up in others.
Click to expand...

:ponder: Well, I really have to think about that one. I do have a very faulty brain that misfires on a regular basis, therefore making me moody, forgetful, and sometimes wondering why I'm still here since nothing seems to be working correctly.

ammeread said:
Everyone I've met with epilepsy has been outstanding at something. My cousin was brilliant at business, my friend was incredibly talented musically, my Dad was an amazing artist and painter.
Click to expand...

I've met some with E who were in their 30's and 40's and still living with their parents because their seizures were so bad. They couldn't do much of anything except exist. So it can go both ways. But then Van Gogh was crazy but a very gifted artist with E.

ammeread said:
So here's my question would you swap your talent to not have epilepsy?

For me that's a tough question, maybe because mines reasonably controlled and I'm kind of used to it. I suppose to some of you who suffer worse than me it might be an easy question.

What do you all say?
Click to expand...
I don't feel I have any talent to speak of, therefore I would definitely swap my previous life of NO seizures. Before I developed epilepsy, I was in the airline industry and my plan was to travel and see the world. I was married to a pilot, too. Now that's all gone. I've had E for over 30 years and will never get used to it because nothing has worked to control my seizures!
I HATE EPILEPSY!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
If my talent really is a result of epilepsy, which it very well might be, there is no way in the world I would switch off my talent in exchange for no epilepsy.
 
Tough, but insightful, question. I do have a talent, my job, which has required a lot of training and dedication but I can't adequately take part in in it since seizures began 4 years ago. So since I cannot perform my talent "would I be willing to LOSE my talent if it meant getting rid of epilepsy (and the associated medical condition that is causing my seizures)?" YES. But, if you were to ask me this question if my seizures were much better controlled I'd most likely say NO.
 
I don't have any talent at all and I've had epilepsy 50 years.
I've just taught a lot of people about epilepsy I know.But that's know talent.
 
No.

It goes along with my view on regret. I never regret anything because it makes me who I am. I wouldn't exchange a thing. I am who I am.
 
Thanks for the replies guys the threads got a lot of interest which Is appreciated.

You know you guys are quite amazing to me and let me tell you why. I didn't know I had epilepsy until i was in my 30's I was already a grown man and didn't actually think epilepsy was a part of me. However I'm also bipolar and that is a part of me and I wouldn't swap that.

But here's where the respect for you guys come in, bipolar isn't scary, It's just bipolar. Some day's your'e crazy some day's your depressed. some day's your normal(if there is such a thing).

Epilepsy scares me not the tonic clonic's I can cope with them. Auras scare me ,partials scare me. Yet you guys shrug your shoulders and face the fears the fears are part of you and you wouldn't swap them for anything , that deserves high respect in my opinion.

Amazing!!!

I hope one day I can just shrug my shoulders and say when an aura comes on "you know what I've been here before no big deal"
 
ammeread said:
Epilepsy scares me not the tonic clonic's I can cope with them. Auras scare me ,partials scare me. Yet you guys shrug your shoulders and face the fears the fears are part of you and you wouldn't swap them for anything, that deserves high respect in my opinion.
Click to expand...

no, no, no my dear, we don't shrug. some can just take it as it rolls in, but that's not the same as 'shrug.' shrugging means you don't care or you've moved on- someone not caring they have epilepsy is very rare, and 'moving on' means one has evicted something from their life, which is not possible for anyone with e.
for those of us that treat and accept it as part of who we are, it's mostly due to the length of time we've had it. like arnie, 30+ years, me 20 years this month, and many others - we accept there's nothing we can do but live with it and make ourselves the best we can.
some will swap and some won't, completely based on how far epilepsy has affected their life and whether or not they've never really felt 'like themselves' since seizures started.

ammeread said:
I hope one day I can just shrug my shoulders and say when an aura comes on "you know what I've been here before no big deal"
Click to expand...

hi-5 if you really think that's something you're capable of, but keep in the back of your mind, always, that there is a chance it takes over again. denial or thinking 'great i got this licked' is the worst thing one with epilepsy can feel, as 99% of the time it bites you in the ass.

:hugs: and i hope you all the best, nat.
 
N Sperlo said:
No. It goes along with my view on regret. I never regret anything because it makes me who I am. I wouldn't exchange a thing. I am who I am.
Click to expand...

:clap: well said sperlo, and for myself i agree 110%.
 
masterjen said:
Tough, but insightful, question. I do have a talent, my job, which has required a lot of training and dedication but I can't adequately take part in in it since seizures began 4 years ago. So since I cannot perform my talent "would I be willing to LOSE my talent if it meant getting rid of epilepsy (and the associated medical condition that is causing my seizures)?" YES. But, if you were to ask me this question if my seizures were much better controlled I'd most likely say NO.
Click to expand...

If a job is considered a talent, then I guess raising two children is a talent, huh? So in that regard, no, I wouldn't change places because we all learned SOOO much when my kids were growing up. They witnessed many CPs and TC seizures. So many times they were scared I was dying. And so many times I was unable to even function because I was so depressed on top of having seizures, too. So all that was a better hands-on learning experience then anyone could have ever taught my two now grown, well educated kids. Now that's talent. ;)
 
ammeread said:
Everyone I've met with epilepsy has been outstanding at something... So here's my question would you swap your talent to not have epilepsy?
Click to expand...

Very interesting. For so many years I never thought of this, but reading it today, the thought of my photography and just when it started... it started after my first brain surgery and has become the main part of my life to date. Well the main part of my life aside from the people I truly care of.

When asked by my neurologist about another surgery, my reply was no, not unless it was necessary to life. If I had the surgery I probably would lose photography! (But that's not why I said no.)
 
Last edited:
That's hard to answer. I was pretty damn good as a critical care nurse before the big E hit. Then my memory problems started and occasionally it seems my cognitive function is off. Can I return to nursing? SSI seems to think so, apparently it's OK to have an RN just drop at the bedside and convulse, or if that's not bad enough, forget the dosing of emergency meds when it REALLY matters. But on the flip side, had I not had the training, at times when I am given a new drug and id f's with my head and makes me want to suicide, I immediately don't let the doc force me to "give it time" I had pharmacology and study the FDA info on drugs.com everytime. I once had a neuro discharge me for challanging him to much when I asked him to many questions. So It's a hard qustion for me to answer. After getting the diagnosis, I taught myself to hand sew quilts, and it is the only time that I feel truly at peace and free and as if I am not sick. Maybe i would'nt have gotten that skill if I was never diagnosed with E.
 
Good question! I have always been a philosophy thinker partial to 'bend your mind' true fallacies and a lover of art. I still have strange/philosophical thinking but now (since E 20 years ago in my late 20's) I make art full time and it is the biggest part of my love in life. Making art i am in a 'zone' where creativity is not me, i am a medium for the universe to make art. I would not trade that for anything. Unfortunately I can not know for sure that it is a result of E. it seems like it, given the circumstances.
 
I have heard many times that I think differently. I am quick thinking and can really make people laugh but when the seizures were out of control I lost those abilities and it took a couple years to regain them. If that was my talent then given that I lost that for a couple years I would have to say maybe.
On the other hand I can be a real a$$ (not meaning to) and that has never changed. If that is my talent I would love to trade that in. Might have been able to avoid a couple regrets by doing that.
 
That is such a tough question. On the first front I double majored in fine art and accounting, so my councilors said I was nuts - fully utilized brain? While my art is still there just less time for it, my job has $350M on my desk to manage and I'm quite good at it, and it's been a successful career for 25 years. Is that due to e? Right now I'm doubting my ability to go on because I'm unsure of my memory. If e affects my ability to go on then it's not a help and I would trade it. I don't know.
 
Hmm, would i trade what is behind door#1 (Life with Big E) for door#2 (being a little bit more retarded) Hell ya, i'd trade. I've had E for 8 yrs, and you don't get use to it, u just get more accustomed to it. Nothing worse than the onset of a seizures.


:piano: :pop:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom