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Just saw this article (http://people.com/bodies/melanie-griffith-reveals-epilepsy-diagnosis/) where actress Melanie Griffith reveals that she was diagnosed with epilepsy 6 years ago. On the one hand, great! -- it helps to destigmatize epilepsy when celebrities talk about their own experiences with it.
On the other hand -- booo! -- much of the information in the article is misleading. It implies that she had "genome testing" to determine whether she still had epilepsy, and the negative results show that she no longer has it. I think it's more likely that she had EEGs that indicated her epilepsy may be in remission. There's no mention of treatment, if she was on medication or is still on medication. She suggests in the article that her seizures were caused by stress, and that they stopped because her life became less stressful. Which is fine in a way -- stress is a known secondary seizure trigger -- but also gives the impression that all we have to to is eliminate stress in our lives and then our epilepsy will disappear.
So... one step forward, one step back, one step sideways...
On the other hand -- booo! -- much of the information in the article is misleading. It implies that she had "genome testing" to determine whether she still had epilepsy, and the negative results show that she no longer has it. I think it's more likely that she had EEGs that indicated her epilepsy may be in remission. There's no mention of treatment, if she was on medication or is still on medication. She suggests in the article that her seizures were caused by stress, and that they stopped because her life became less stressful. Which is fine in a way -- stress is a known secondary seizure trigger -- but also gives the impression that all we have to to is eliminate stress in our lives and then our epilepsy will disappear.
So... one step forward, one step back, one step sideways...