Not telling people

First of all, it is very much out of line for your sister's friend to have yelled at you for it. The friend is not your parent and from the look of your profile pic, you are quite old enough to make your own decisions, thank you very much. Do you have a driver's license? I just lost mine, but I will get it back if I can go 6 months without a seizure. A year is a long time. I agree with you that not everyone needs to know your business. For safety reasons, I think *some* of your friends should know, especially the ones that you hang around frequently. However, that is YOUR friends, the people YOU hang around. That does not extend to your sister's friends, unless you have the same group of friends and are around each other all the time. You know your body.

OK, Reality check for you. Life is only going to get a little bit tougher telling people for safety reasons. Lisa is right, you need to educate people you know for safety reasons. While your sister's boyfriend shouldn't have been so mean to you, and yelled at you. Perhaps he could've taken a different approach & been concerned about your safety & explained it that way....that asside read the rest of where I'm going with this. Before I go there, quick reality check for your sister as well -- how a guy treats your friends & family should matter. I'd be asking her where she was to jump in & say hey! don't treat my sister like that & I'd be asking her if she's tolerating verbal and/or physical abuse from him. If so, tell her there are better guys out there, and she doesn't need to be with an insensitive prick. Now, I'll jump back to you! While he was an insensitive prick as I see it (by screaming at you). Dealing with seizures, and having to tell people that you have a seizure disorder, or epilepsy can be tough. There are times where it is necessasary. At 19 (or if you're American) 21, odds are you'll go out to a bar. You'll need to tell people, so they can monitor you and make sure nothing happens to you. Also, it's not the most brillant plan to drink on seizure meds, so people will wonder why - you'll have to come to terms with that & explain it. Second, some day you'll have your own significant other & I've found it's best to tell them you have a seizure disorder from date 1. The guy I'm with now (oh ya, I'm 32) and have been for 5 years, just knows it's part of who I am and he accepts me for who I am, all parts of me - unlike some abusive loosers in my past. Third, employers - legalities get complicated if you're not upfront. Boyfriend's and friends in your life and your sister's may come and go. Start there, it's telling the people you really care about that is really tough. It's for your own safety. People have to know. In the great scheme of things though, at least your sister knew (I'd assume) so really her boyfriend doesn't need to know, if you don't want him to. But, what I'm saying is, he's probably an easy one to tell - you're going to come across people in life that will be not quite as easy to tell. Work up to that gradually by telling people who you may/may not care about. Make sure you have the confidence in yourself to deal with telling people when it counts. And, as I said, I would definately have a talk with your sister & see why she didn't jump in when her boyfriend was yelling at you? Is it something she's used to? If so, there relationship has issues & she needs to take a good look at it. Good luck to both you & your sis. Hope this helps, Erin