I would like to take this time to rant, so if you don’t want to read a rant about epilepsy then please, keep scrolling, I won’t be offended. Now then, let’s go off.
I’ve heard over the years, by many people, that caffeine is bad for epileptics, but, guess what! It’s not! Not all of us at least. I’ve heard people say that they read an article about why it’s bad, and it makes us more vulnerable to seizures, and while that might be true for a few of us, it’s not for all of us.
I have been having seizures since I was like, twelve maybe? It’s biological I’m afraid, my sister has them as well. We both started having seizures at the same age, and around the same time in our lives. She’s older than me, so my parents already know what to do. But I have had far more than she, for a while I took giant pills to help ward them off, I have changed my entire fashion over the years to accommodate this.
I *have* to wear glasses outside or else I run the risk of having a seizure. If I want my mom to put the top down on her convertible in the summer while we drive, I *have* to have glasses and a hat. If I’m gonna be outside for a long amount of time, and it’s sunny, you guessed it, hat and glasses. I have changed so much about my life so I don’t run such a high risk. I have to be wary of swimming. Swimming! I haven’t expienced swimming the same way in years! When I can swim safely, I feel so good! Safely meaning in an indoor pool, which where I live don’t come around often.
When I go to the store, I have a fifty fifty chance of them have LED lights, which aren’t the best and put off a slight flicker, which gives me a headache *and* could maybe start a seizure. I sometimes have to wear sunglasses in the store. In. The. Store. I have changed almost everything to accommodate my disability, medications, fashion, restrictions. My brother and I *love* EDM, but I can’t go to a rave with him because they have strobe lights.
The one thing I have never had a problem with, it caffeine, I’ve been drinking things like Mtn Dew and Pepsi for years. And never had a problem with them. I’m getting sick and tired of people who think they now what it’s like to have epilepsy try and give me advice. It’s one thing if you work in the medical profession, another if you read a Buzzfeed article.
One of my favorite movies is the Incredibles, and I’ve already posted about it, but I had to wait almost two weeks to see Incredibles 2. I ran the risk of having a seizure in the movie theater because I just couldn’t take it anymore, I had to see it. I closed my eyes at certain points because the strobe got so bad.
It doesn’t matter if I take my medication, that doesn’t completely solve the problem, it doesn’t stop them, only helps keep them at bay. Just because one of us has trouble with caffeine, doesn’t mean all of us do. This isn’t an attack, this is just a venting post to try an help you understand, that there is a whole lot more dangerous stuff in this world for us than caffeine. I use to have so much fun outside, but now I don’t. I sometimes have to drive with one eye if I’m driving by an orchard. And I live in the country, there’s a lot of orchards. There are more things that can hurt us, more dangerous things. We already deal with so much, don’t make it worse by taking the simple things away.
I don’t speak for all the epileptics out there, I’m sure some people disagree. I’m just putting it out there. Don’t bunch us up as one, we are all different. Dont make us all seem the same because we aren’t. It’s rude. I don’t mean to be mean, I don’t want to attack anyone, or offend anyone, I just want to put my two cents in. Thanks for listening.
