Alcohol

Long time no speak but it’s been pretty quiet on the seizure front lately – not that I’m complaining.

I was in Wales at the weekend for my cousins wedding. It was a good weekend, and I managed to get drunk without making a fool of myself which is an accomplishment to be sure. I’ve only ever had one seizure after drinking alcohol but personally I don’t think it had anything to do with the alcohol.

I had been out for my now ex boyfriend’s birthday and on the way back to his house I fell asleep in the taxi which turned out to be a very bad idea. Because the main trigger for my seizures are sleep related, it means that I shouldn’t fall asleep unless I can be asleep for a long time, in other words until I wake up myself and am not woken up. When we got into his house I started shivering from the cold, but even when I had warmed up I kept shivering – probably because I was nervous about having a seizure.

I managed to sleep for a wee bit, but because we had forgotten to turn out the light I woke up and my arms started jerking. That was the last thing I knew before I woke up confused after having a ‘big’ seizure. It was actually rather embarrassing, it was my first seizure I had had that wasn’t in my house and the first time The Mother hadn’t been there, and so waking up to your boyfriends mum when you are very confused is not the best, but the boyfriend and his mum were actually very understanding.

Lots of people do ask me if I can drink alcohol because of the epilepsy and at first I used to say no, largely because I didn’t know myself. I was so worried about having a seizure I avoided alcohol especially after the ex-boyfriends birthday because I thought it was because of the alcohol, but when I thought about it, even if I had been completely sober, I probably would still have had a seizure.

So now I embrace the vodka, though I will admit at times I do worry that I am going to have a seizure. But I am determined not to let epilepsy stop me do anything, so now I do drink but just in moderation so not to overdo it.