Hello everyone, I decided to make this thread because I would like to know what disabilities you may have and how well (or badly) you cope with them. What are they? How do they make you feel? How do you tolerate having them?
I will begin with the story of my own disability. Around age 5 or so, I would wake up from naps drooling quite a bit and unable to talk straight. My parents took me to a neurologist, who diagnosed me with epilepsy. I grew up pretty much as an only child, because my two sisters and brother are so much older than me, and by the time I was ten or so, they had all moved out on their own. My childhood was hard, and for the huge part, very unhappy. I had seizures every day, both grand mal and petit mal. I even had seizures at school pretty much everyday also. My classmates had never seen anyone drop onto the floor and convulse into a grand mal seizure before, and they did'nt fully understand what I had. The other kids were very nasty to me--not because of my seizures, just because that's how kids act in high school!! LOL. I felt very ostracized and out of place. There was another girl at my school with epilepsy, but she never had seizures in school the way I did almost every single day.
I got shuttled from doctor to doctor, and each one put me on something different. I have been on several seizure meds in my life, and not even ONE of them worked really well. Some made me gain weight, others made me very sleepy. There was no tolerable in-between. As a child, and then a teenager, I HATED taking my meds with a passion!! I would pretend to take them if my mom was around, then I'd go downstairs to a little cubbyhole in the wall and spit them out and hide them. One day, my hiding place got discovered when my dad found it. I received quite the stern lecture from my mother about it too!!! LOL. She is a former nurse, and thought she always knew what was best. When we would go to the doctor's, if he or she asked me if I'd had any seizures, I would lie and say no, because I did'nt want them adding or changing my medicine. As I said, I hated taking pills.
Fast-forward a little to the year 1997. I was referred to a new neurologist, who promptly took me off Tegretol and Dilantin, and started me on Lamictal and Keppra. None of the other meds had worked, but the Lamictal and Keppra stopped my grand mals altogether!!!! I was sooo happy about that. To this day, I still have petit mals, or what I call "startle seizures" because loud, sudden noises usually trigger them. I know for some people, bright lights such as ambulance lights can trigger seizures. I've never had any problem with that. I am still on Lamictal and Keppra today. I am glad to say I am seizure-free except for the petit mals. I'm even happier because I was taking 7 pills a day a few months ago, but my doctor figured the dosage out so that now I'm only taking 3 pills a day!!! Yay!!
Whenever I went into a grand mal seizure, I remember thinking each time, "God please bring me out of this." And he always did. I have'nt always coped the best with my seizures. They embarass me, especially if I have one in front of somebody else. It might sound strange now, but if I did NOT have seizures anymore, it would feel strange. Strange in the sense that I've endured them since the age of five, and they are a part of me. Having epilepsy, having seizures, and even having had cancer four years ago, gives me a very compassionate, personal and first-hand stance on others who have the same disease(s). I know exactly how they feel, for I have been down that dark road of pain and loneliness and ridicule because I have a disease that no one understands. I can relate to others on a first-hand knowledge basis. Just as I know God gave me cancer for a specific reason, he also gave me epilepsy for a certain reason.
Please dont think I'm being bold or arrogant when I say I know his reasons, for I truly do know his logic behind it. We are all given certain crosses to bear. Depression, suicidal thoughts, epilepsy and cancer have been my crosses, and I am glad for each one. Each situation has given me insight and made me stronger, into the person I am today. The reason God gave me all this, is to see how well I cope with what I'm given. I have'nt always made the best decisions, but with God's grace and love, at least I'm still here to share my life's tales with all of you. I never once stopped believing that God loves me, and is with me. He gives me strength and courage to take on anything he throws my way!! This is my story, and I'm honored to be able to share it with you. May it give those of you with disabilities the courage to fight and rise above whatever you have. God bless you.
I will begin with the story of my own disability. Around age 5 or so, I would wake up from naps drooling quite a bit and unable to talk straight. My parents took me to a neurologist, who diagnosed me with epilepsy. I grew up pretty much as an only child, because my two sisters and brother are so much older than me, and by the time I was ten or so, they had all moved out on their own. My childhood was hard, and for the huge part, very unhappy. I had seizures every day, both grand mal and petit mal. I even had seizures at school pretty much everyday also. My classmates had never seen anyone drop onto the floor and convulse into a grand mal seizure before, and they did'nt fully understand what I had. The other kids were very nasty to me--not because of my seizures, just because that's how kids act in high school!! LOL. I felt very ostracized and out of place. There was another girl at my school with epilepsy, but she never had seizures in school the way I did almost every single day.
I got shuttled from doctor to doctor, and each one put me on something different. I have been on several seizure meds in my life, and not even ONE of them worked really well. Some made me gain weight, others made me very sleepy. There was no tolerable in-between. As a child, and then a teenager, I HATED taking my meds with a passion!! I would pretend to take them if my mom was around, then I'd go downstairs to a little cubbyhole in the wall and spit them out and hide them. One day, my hiding place got discovered when my dad found it. I received quite the stern lecture from my mother about it too!!! LOL. She is a former nurse, and thought she always knew what was best. When we would go to the doctor's, if he or she asked me if I'd had any seizures, I would lie and say no, because I did'nt want them adding or changing my medicine. As I said, I hated taking pills.
Fast-forward a little to the year 1997. I was referred to a new neurologist, who promptly took me off Tegretol and Dilantin, and started me on Lamictal and Keppra. None of the other meds had worked, but the Lamictal and Keppra stopped my grand mals altogether!!!! I was sooo happy about that. To this day, I still have petit mals, or what I call "startle seizures" because loud, sudden noises usually trigger them. I know for some people, bright lights such as ambulance lights can trigger seizures. I've never had any problem with that. I am still on Lamictal and Keppra today. I am glad to say I am seizure-free except for the petit mals. I'm even happier because I was taking 7 pills a day a few months ago, but my doctor figured the dosage out so that now I'm only taking 3 pills a day!!! Yay!!
Whenever I went into a grand mal seizure, I remember thinking each time, "God please bring me out of this." And he always did. I have'nt always coped the best with my seizures. They embarass me, especially if I have one in front of somebody else. It might sound strange now, but if I did NOT have seizures anymore, it would feel strange. Strange in the sense that I've endured them since the age of five, and they are a part of me. Having epilepsy, having seizures, and even having had cancer four years ago, gives me a very compassionate, personal and first-hand stance on others who have the same disease(s). I know exactly how they feel, for I have been down that dark road of pain and loneliness and ridicule because I have a disease that no one understands. I can relate to others on a first-hand knowledge basis. Just as I know God gave me cancer for a specific reason, he also gave me epilepsy for a certain reason.
Please dont think I'm being bold or arrogant when I say I know his reasons, for I truly do know his logic behind it. We are all given certain crosses to bear. Depression, suicidal thoughts, epilepsy and cancer have been my crosses, and I am glad for each one. Each situation has given me insight and made me stronger, into the person I am today. The reason God gave me all this, is to see how well I cope with what I'm given. I have'nt always made the best decisions, but with God's grace and love, at least I'm still here to share my life's tales with all of you. I never once stopped believing that God loves me, and is with me. He gives me strength and courage to take on anything he throws my way!! This is my story, and I'm honored to be able to share it with you. May it give those of you with disabilities the courage to fight and rise above whatever you have. God bless you.