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privacy at work?
Thu, 10/06/2016 - 07:16Topic: Women With Epilepsy
I'm going through peri-menopause, which may explain why I had an atonic ("drop") seizure in my classroom last week. I'm an instructional assistant working with preschoolers with autism with autism (in a large, special-ed preschool program in a relatively large elementary school), so at least a few of my co-workers have some understanding of seizures, but since my seizures have been mostly nocturnal for years, I've been able to keep this part of my life pretty private, as I think it should be as much as possible.
My neurologist has ordered some blood work and put me on a medication similar to one I'm taking now that has worked for a long time, except it may work better because it's absorbed differently. However, I can't be 100% sure I won't have another seizure next month. I know that legally, I don't have to tell my employer much aside from "my doctor and I are working on it," but my teammates deserve to know what's going on, and, as we all know, people talk. I know it may not be realistic to think I can keep at least some of my privacy, but I refuse to give up yet.
Any advice?
Comments
Also understand that hormonal
Submitted by just_joe on Thu, 2016-10-06 - 11:20
Also understand that hormonal changes can affect medications If you checked women with epilepsy you would see many posts from women who have seizures while in or near their time of month
So you now know that you may
Submitted by just_joe on Thu, 2016-10-06 - 11:16
So you now know that you may have seizures other then those you had at night. Welcome to the club of never knowing when. As for your privacy issue. At times being private can cause harm. It you had a heart condition would you tell them about it? Or Breast cancer? Or Diabetes? Or would you wait until you had a heart attack and had it at work where you were in the room. Understand that a heart attack means seconds or minutes between life and death. If you have drop seizures you can also have tonic-clonic and they can go into status epilepticus. With that you also need treatments and care rapidly. I know. Was in status epilepticus for hours. Stayed in the hospital for about 2 months. Was at home for another month or so. It wasn't fun having what I was told 40 convulsive seizures an hour. So it is your decision to determine whom you inform. For me the main people on the project I worked on knew. They didn't tll others. I informed the ones I worked with daily so they knew. The other thousand or so never knew