i have this headcanon that courfeyrac in mod aus has a mild form of epilepsy -- mild meaning it's held in check with medication, but also mild meaning that his symptoms aren't the ones that we see in the media.
for example, he doesn't thrash or foam at the mouth or any of those other things associated with grand mal epilepsy. he just feels queasy and then lightheaded and then loses consciousness for about ten to fifteen seconds.
so he really, really doesn't like discussing his epilepsy because whenever he tells someone he's epileptic, he knows exactly what they're assuming and he hates the look on their faces, the concern and pity, and he hates having to append the amount of time it's been since his last seizure and how he's been on meds for it for years and then having to describe his symptoms so that if he just lies down somewhere this person knows not to freak out, he's just trying to avert the onset of a seizure and if it doesn't work then at least he's already on the ground, so he can't fall and hit his head or anything.
courfeyrac also hates the way people walk on eggshells around him after he tells them he's epileptic, because really, his own symptoms and his own experiences aren't that bad, he can still ride rollercoasters or come to your rave (he's not photosensitive, either, which is lucky because he loves strobe lights and it would suck not to be able to use them anymore). he barely even thinks of it as a disorder, because it's become such a habit to take his meds and then not worry about it because the meds work.
(additionally, courf is very passionate about the responsible prescribing and usage of medications to people who may need them -- he once nearly got into a fistfight with one of those hard-core homeopathic/back to nature remedy kind of people because no, medication is not evil, it helps a ton of people do the things they want to do, so stop acting like it's the root of modern man's issues with health.)
