Cost of Control

I complain so much about the side effects of the anticonvulsants that I’ve been prescribed—the infamous Topamax, not Lamictal, which I also take but tolerate very well—that I forget how lucky I am to be able to afford these meds in the first place. When I go to the pharmacy to pick up a monthly … Continue reading Cost of Control →

Cutting It Out

I’m currently on the waiting list to go back to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at a hospital in my city so that my epileptologist can capture more data about my seizure activity. The prospect of a week or two of hospital time isn’t exactly thrilling, but at least there’s potential for productive information gathering and … Continue reading Cutting It Out →

Summertime

Summertime living traditionally hasn’t been especially easy for me. I attribute this to the fact that there isn’t one of my favourite things—school—to give me structure and keep me intellectually engaged. In contrast with most of my peers in undergrad, who for whatever reason looked forward to the last day of classes (what??), I dreaded … Continue reading Summertime →

OCD Redux

Since writing about OCD a few weeks ago, I’ve had time to think more about some issues that I maybe should have addressed in that original post and others that have come up since then. Cue oversharing. Without getting into too many details, many of my OCD behaviours involve numbers; I have, for example, three–four … Continue reading OCD Redux →

Summiting

I’m very, very happy to have been chosen to attend the 2014 Young Adult Epilepsy Summit from July 25 to 27 in Washington, DC. According to its website, during the summit, organized by the Epilepsy Foundation and the North American Region International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE), “young adults will gather to network, share epilepsy experiences … Continue reading Summiting →

OCD

Pretty much no one I know in real life was surprised when I was officially diagnosed with OCD a few weeks ago. My mom’s reaction was simply “duh.” The most common among close friends was some variation of wanting to know if this is actually news. Indeed, I was more taken aback by my psychiatrist’s … Continue reading OCD →

Dopamax

I’m the first to concede that I had pitifully low expectations for Topamax when it was added to my pharmaceutical regime in early May. My bad attitude was, in my admittedly negative opinion, warranted: I’d unsuccessfully tried many other AEDs and had no reason to expect that this would be any different. It has been, … Continue reading Dopamax →

Off

I’ve been on leave for five days now, and I’m officially unsure what to do with myself. (I shouldn’t be spending much time writing, so I’ll keep this short.) (Also, I love parentheses.) I’ve been trying to strike a balance between preserving my mental health and recovering from this last concussion. I have this need … Continue reading Off →

Concussion: Take Two

Yep. A little over three weeks after my last concussion, I got another one. I’m kind of mad at myself. I probably could have prevented this from happening, but I instead let my stubbornness and sense of duty get in the way. Though I was still under doctor’s orders to refrain from mental work, I … Continue reading Concussion: Take Two →

Taking Time

I’ve toyed on and off with the idea of taking a medical leave of absence from my program for a while now, but the prospect's always made me uncomfortable. If I’m honest with myself (and with the entire internet), I’ve always felt that it would represent a personal failure of sorts, though this judgement is … Continue reading Taking Time →