Shining a Light on My Journey With Epilepsy
By Vaishnavi Gupta
Namaste! Many people who know me do not know about my epilepsy journey, so I am sharing it now.
I do not know when my epilepsy started for sure, but I was often excited as a little girl, and some things never change. I was diagnosed with mesial temporal sclerosis when I was 9 years old.
I was admitted to the hospital when I had my first seizure. It was midnight, and my oxygen was dropping rapidly. My Mumma and Papa had to provide oxygen via manual means. A very generous person also helped them the whole night to keep me alive.
The following three years were the worst for me because I had frequent seizures. I knew when I was going to have a seizure and all I could do was wait for it to happen to me. I had an aura before losing consciousness, and I could feel and sense everything at the velocity of light!
In my language, seizures are a barrier to consciousness. You do not know what is happening around or within you. You get separated from the universe, or from yourself, and that is exactly how it felt to me.
I am thankful for everyone in my life, and I feel so fortunate. After four or five years, most of my seizures subsided. Now, my complex partial seizures are almost gone, and my last MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) was normal. I am so grateful for my doctor. She is my idol, and I owe her my life!
Epilepsy made me into what I am. I made up my mind to pursue medicine. The brain was never my field of interest until it showed me what it is capable of. Yesterday was good, today is good, and I hope tomorrow is good for me too.
Reviewed By: Sara Wyen