Living with Epilepsy/Seizures

My first seizure came when I was 33, and came after a period of stress and inability to sleep. I had also not been eating well.

I had never had any experience like this before, and doctors later concluded that my seizure was a result of the above factors.

I was watching T.V., late at night, when suddenly I could see a light, a small light, which I actually thought was part of the program. However, when I looked away from the program, the light followed my eyes, then moved to the side, so I could no longer look directly at it.

Then it began to pulsate and get bigger, giving the impression that it was something in the room and coming towards me. I had no idea what it could have been, and was genuinely scared, until I noticed that the room was getting darker and darker, and I thought I was actually dying.

I called to my wife (who was in bed), and tried to get to the bedroom. I fell, and crawled the rest of the way. I found her getting out of bed, and I just grabbed her hands and told her I was dying.

That was my last memory, until I woke up in a completely different part of the room.

I was taken to hospital, and the doctors did MRI scans and other scans, and they all concluded that there was nothing physically wrong with me. So we talked about lifestyle, and they told me it was the sleep-deprivation that had caused it, and there was nothing to worry about as long as I fixed that. I felt relieved. However, I now experience approximately one or two of these a year.

It only worries me because I have since divorced, and am now in my home country looking for work, and I don’t want it to happen again, especially while I am at work at any new job I may find. I am trying to rebuild my life after my divorce.