Six Steps That Help You Prepare Your Preseason For Epilepsy Therapy
Having epilepsy is not every day’s news. One day you may have a seizure, and the next day you find yourself visiting a neurologist.
And the next thing you know is taking medicine for life.
Warnings come with such a future. In the short term — tremors, hair loss, nausea, in the long term — possible liver damage, or platelet malfunction all due to several side effects.
Then you could ask yourself, “how I’ve got into this?”
There’s no way out. Most people with epilepsy take medications for too long.
Around 50 million people in the world get epilepsy, and 80 percent of them are from developing nations who most of them don’t receive the proper treatment, which can lead to affliction, more extended treatment, and even suffering death.
What can you do when you find emerging in that sudden change?
I want to share with you some insights or steps that can help you get prepared and even counteract the changes epilepsy brings to your life.
They are also conditions on your side, which you should acquire to overcome epilepsy.
1. A change of mentality
It includes becoming open-minded. We, humans, tend to prefer unchangingness. We usually don’t want to add new habits or lifestyles.
Living with epilepsy requires changes in our everyday life. Yes, you can have a normal one but it involves adapting too.
Thus, to achieve wellness, a change of mentality is imperative. It starts by giving up the way we used to think, things we used to know, and we used to do related to healthcare to reach a proper adjustment that issues in a positive daily routine.
It needs a mindset that leads us further from what most people around us think. One that can force you to spit these words and say:
“I do not want to live a limited life due to my epilepsy condition. I do not deserve a life of anguish and resignation. I must strive to do what is within my power to help increase my body’s endurance until I reach what my body is capable of bearing.”
Then, you will be set, you will begin taking action and will take the initiative to do something about yourself to find a solution. For you must know this:
No one will do it for you.
And you cannot settle for whatever negative prediction the system said.
Athletes prepare much more physically and mentally during the preseason than during their season. They settle a foundation for the entire season. Then, they can focus on strategy when the season begins and maintain, even improve on what they gained before the season.
In this way, they are ready for fulfilling the purpose of defeating each adversary week after week until they become the best of all.
Now, each week you will be searching and adding new ways to become better, to prepare yourself and defeat the enemy, epilepsy until you reach your optimal point to maintain a daily routine.
2. Looking for solutions and alternatives
Searching for other solutions, especially more natural ones, is part of making a shift in your mentality.
Once you open to that change, the searching will flow smoothly, and an alternative option will come knocking to your door.
In my case, I noticed one of my friends was learning alternative medicine, and he took me to his home and gave me magnetic therapy. I didn’t follow up with it.
However, a few days later, we met for a personal consultation, and he suggested taking specific vitamins and supplements. He didn’t seem to know much about the intake quantities at the moment, but he knew I needed them.
He introduced me to supplements I still take today. I will tell you more about this in my next article.
The point is you need preparation to build a solid foundation of steady, healthy habits around your epilepsy condition.
And most of all, you will not have to search for too much. In my next article, you will find ways to consider adding to your epilepsy therapy.
3. Change the environment
Having an environment full of stress, anxiety, burden, instability, toxicity, or merely unhealthy is not going to contribute at all to your overall health.
The focus should be to prioritize your physical and psychological health. Yes, epilepsy also affects people psychologically. The image below self explains it.
I was involved in extra activities and responsibilities besides working and studying and living alone.
It was a hard decision, but I had to leave that environment. I had to move back to my hometown — a smaller city.
We need a calm and peaceful environment, and all the back we can get with no distractions. That way, we set all our attention on the needs coming due to our health.
The sooner you can get this healthy environment, the better for you will be more focused on grabbing new daily habits and slowly finding your path and your passions.
4. Finding hobbies & passions
There’s no better way to keep your soul healthy than doing something you love. If you haven’t, find something that gives you passion, that kindles you from the inside.
Here are some ideas in different areas:
- Arts (painting, drawing, sculpting, pottering, carpentry)
- Performing arts (singing, dancing, theatre)
- Designing (industrial, graphics, apps, interior design)
- Writing (creative writing, poetry, scriptwriting, journalism, blogging)
- Traveling
- Cooking
- Setting a business
Whatever you choose, do as much as you can to spare time on it, to fight for it, and practice it.
Whether it is painting, cooking, setting a business, or whatever brings you joy, use it to fire the flame inside of you.
Go ahead and do it.
You could include hobbies too, like reading, biking, exercising, going to movies, or playing table games.
If you are going to choose a hobby or passion, be sure it can be done both at home and outdoors. Or if you already have multiple ones, you can select one for indoors and another one for outdoors.
Whatever you choose, be sure to spend time on it daily or weekly.
Create a schedule to add all your activities. Set the right time to do it, and do not miss it. Do what’s on your hands to keep your soul, your psyche, healthy.
5. Connect with nature
Then, try to find ways to connect with nature. The easiest is going to your neighborhood park.
If your city has a more extensive public park or a national park, visit it often.
The same applies to lakes, rivers, caverns, mountains, or lookouts in your region. You name it!
Try to mix it up a little.
Bring one or two of your hobbies and passions. One that does not require much equipment if possible.
For instance, I dedicate 30 to 60 minutes from Monday to Friday to go to the next block park to write in my journal and mediate a little.
Once a week, I take 3 hours to go to a city park that has an artificial lake. One of my hobbies is walking, so I walk for 2 miles. Then I find a quiet place to write for a fiction storybook I want to publish.
6. God
Having faith in something higher than human life is a crucial factor for not giving up. I’m not speaking here about religion.
I’m speaking about when you have lost all hopes and faith in medicine, the system, doctors, people, even in yourself.
Being a person with epilepsy can make you lose faith in many things.
You and your family could get drained from all the hardships and sufferings brought from having this condition.
You know what kind of suffering.
And, to whom you turn?
To whom you ask for strength, help, health, wisdom, hope, answers, guidance, peace, rescue, refuge, forgiveness, mercy, or whatever it is that you need? And that no person, no material thing or no money can give you.
Well, there is a person who can always be for you. You just have to knock the right door inside of you, come to God with a single and genuine heart, and call Him.
If you don’t believe in God, you can even tell Him that you don’t believe in Him, but if He truly exists, to come and save you and help you in whatever it is that you are going through.
He will truly listen to you.
The methods
Now, after incorporating this set of previous preparations, it would be easy to start at least one method successfully. I will tell you more about them in the next article.
To start your epilepsy treatment with medication or combine it with a different method, the recommendation, is to visit your neurologist, a specialist for whatever new process you decided to add, and to consider it together with your family.
Open up to your family, discuss it. Tell them how you feel, find a solution, and make a decision.
You will find what is best for you according to your needs, your body’s performance, and your possibilities.
Be patient and persevere.
