Hello Readers, and Happy New Year! Tonight is the 3 year anniversary of a particularly dangerous seizure of mine. I was meeting a good friend for dinner in Uptown and unfortunately had a seizure the moment I stepped out of my car in the parking lot. It was bitterly cold and there were traffic issues all over, and a police car with it’s strobe lights on happened to drive by me at the same time I was getting out of the car, and since strobes are one of my triggers, it sent me into a seizure right there, alone in the parking lot.
My friend found me close to 30 minutes later wandering the area, disoriented, injured, and very, very cold. When the seizure hit, I went straight down on the cold pavement, hitting a cement planter with my head and face on the way down. At some point I was facedown in the snow, and had chipped my two front teeth (which had already been replaced multiple times) and dislocated my jaw. I was also nearing frostbite and hypothermia and had quite a few additional scrapes and bruises. Needless to say, my friend and I never had our New Years dinner!
Tonight, Andy and I are heading out for dinner with another couple. Andy will be driving us and I have my dark sunglasses to wear in the car in case we see any strobes. I have a feeling tonight’s celebration will be much different than my night 3 years ago!
So, I’d like to share with you a few tips to stay safe and seizure-free this New Years Eve:
- Get enough sleep
- Avoid strobe lights and other seizure triggers
- Take your medication as prescribed
- Limit alcohol intake
I hope you all have a fantastic and fun New Years! What is your favorite way to celebrate? Do you have any seizure-free safety tips that you’d like to add to my list?
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Hello from Minnesota! I was diagnosed with Generalized Idiopathic Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in 2006. My goal is to create and contribute to a community for those living with Epilepsy & other neurological disorders, so that we can support each other, raise awareness, and share our hope for fewer seizures in the future!