Mara’s Story

My name is Mara and I'm 19. I'm really lucky to only have one medication and I've been seizure free ever since my second seizure in 2003. I used to have some shaking in my hands but then my doctor lowered my medication and that went away. Having epilepsy makes no difference to how I live. I do everything a normal person would, in fact the other day I was horse back riding and I fell off and the fence broke my fall! I go out and party with my friends and I can do anything a normal person can. Ideally I'd like to do something with animals maybe even with horses. I'd like to be a conservationist or even like a TV personality and travel a lot. Maybe go to Africa or something like that. I don't think my epilepsy limits me at all really.

My biggest problem with other people is my friends don't really know what epilepsy is. I've had friends who think I have narcolepsy, so really it's just a good opportunity to educate my friends and other people about my condition. I talk to my friends about my epilepsy, mostly my close friends. They're really comfortable talking about it and so am I. Your doctor is really someone that you can talk to they can help you make any kind of change and it's really worth it to be completely seizure-free.

eCommunities is a great way to connect. There are whole threads and groups about college students and I know there's groups on FaceBook for people with E. And you can find people that even go to your school. That's always really interesting and fun to meet other people.

We all know life can be crazy at this time; epilepsy is not a big deal. Really, you should just talk to your doctor, I mean when I had my shaking, even if it seems like a small thing and you could deal with it, it's better to have nothing at all and you really should just make a change and ask your doctor and see if you can get rid of any side effects because it's completely worth it to be side effect-free.