Need help for writing a character with epilepsy
If you have epilepsy or are well educated in it and comfortable with answering some questions, can you please read this?
Okay so in the novel I am writing, there is a character, Jane, with epilepsy. For a bit of context, she is dead and a ghost, so it cannot physically affect or harm her anymore, but some triggers can still affect her and make her feel uncomfortable or make her feel worse, so she still tries to avoid them.
I do not have epilepsy. I do not know what it feels like so I want to try and educate myself more on what it feels like, possible triggers and really just how it actually works. I just did a bit of research, but I think it'd be a great help if I got some help and questions answered by people who actually know more about it through their own experiences, because frankly, I trust people who have those experiences for help and input then a website, because websites, even health websites, can sometimes be wrong, and I don't really want to get this wrong.
So I'm going to put down the bit of research I did just know here below, and anyone with experience or who is a lot more educated on the topic than I am, can you please tell me if it's accurate and what more things I could add. This is only going to be a for a small bit of the story and the character, but I still want to make it as accurate as I can and not fall into a stereotype or something like that. I also have some questions that I want to ask so if anyone has any answers that they're comfortable with sharing, please feel free to do so
This is the brief research I've done:
Seizure triggers don’t cause epilepsy, but can trigger seizures in people with epilepsy. Most people with epilepsy don’t have reliable triggers that always cause seizures. But some factors make it easier to trigger a seizure:
Hormone changes during the menstrual cycle
Symptoms depend on the type of seizure:
Jerking movements of the arms and legs
Psychological symptoms such as fear, anxiety, or deja vu
Focal seizures may have warning signs before the seizure:
Feeling emotions such as fear or sometimes deja vu
Sometimes visual (e.g. steady or flashing light, colour, or shape)
Experiencing dizziness and/or loss of balance
Some people may experience hallucinations
Please tell me if there's anything else I can add for this, or if anything's wrong.
Now onto some more specific questions:
I couldn't really find anything about this, but I know there are multiple types of seizures someone can have, and I'm just wondering if epilepsy can cause any type, or is it usually just one? And can someone experience multiple different types of seizures?
Do you know when the sun can shine through leaves in trees and kind of feel like it's flashing? Can something like that trigger epilepsy or make things more uncomfortable?
Can astigmatism somehow be a trigger?
I've heard that blue tinted sunglasses can sometimes reduce the risk of triggering epilepsy. Is this true and is there certain types of sunglasses that work better? And is it usually just blue tinted ones, or can other types of sunglasses work?
Other than avoiding possible triggers, are there other things that can help? Like the sunglasses or something else?
I can't think of any more right now but I may add more later.
I hope this doesn't come off as offensive in any way, I am generally just trying to eduate myself to help write this, and it could come in handy later as well. If you have any answers or things to add and feel comfortable sharing, please do so, it would help a lot and I'd really appreciate it. Or, you can message me with anything you'd like to say either on this blog, or my main blog @that-one-enby-ranger-2000
Thank you in advance to anyone who helps me out with this!
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