2020 was indeed a memorable year in more ways than one as we shared a global phenomenon called the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand has faired better than most other countries but there is always the need to be vigilant against any community transmission. International research confirmed that people living with epilepsy were at a slight increased risk for complications from the Covid infection and that
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Maria: Hi David, it is always a pleasure spending the time chatting with you. You have had epilepsy for 45 years and so your journey has been a long one. You have medication-resistant epilepsy, which hasn’t always been easy but you have remained resilient and someone who is able tell an interesting story from which we can all learn. Where shall we begin? David: I have
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EWCT brings you the latest news on epilepsy-related articles There has been considerable interest recently in the gut-brain relationship in treating neurological and gastrointestinal diseases. Do people with epilepsy have different populations of bacteria than people without epilepsy? Does successful AED treatment change the gut biota? The answers aren’t known; researchers are still studying what a “normal” gut biome looks like, or if there is such
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1. Embrace watch Embrace is the first medical quality wearable to help measure stress, epileptic seizures, activity and sleep. As well as identifying seizures it also has a feature to notify parents and caregivers when a seizure occurs. “When people that have Epilepsy wear Embrace, they will get an alert when an unusual event happens, like a convulsive seizure. It will go via their smartphone
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Maria: Hi Karl, I have been chatting with people about their epilepsy stories. I understand that you would like to talk about employment and epilepsy. Have you found that having epilepsy has been a barrier to finding employment? Karl: There is a funny sort of barrier in employment and I think that it has a lot to do with fear. Currently, I work in an
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Maria: Hello Lorna. I have known you for some time now and, in that time, I have come to learn about your brave and stoic attitude towards facing your many daily challenges. You have multiple disabilities as well as having epilepsy. Lorna: If it wasn’t for my children and my dogs, I don’t know how I would have kept going. I had a serious car
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Maria: Hi Steve, thank you for wanting to share your story. You have had a bit of a rough and rocky road trying to live with epilepsy whilst not being fully supported in the community. I understand that the lack of support has been hard for you. How does your story begin? Steve: Up until 2005 I was leading a busy life. I had my
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Maria: Hello Charlie, thank you for taking part in my phone chat project. Every person with epilepsy has a special story. How shall we start yours? Charlie: I guess that having epilepsy isn’t just about me. It impacts on my entire family because of the limitations epilepsy puts on my life. I am not allowed to drive a car and so I can’t just pop
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Maria: Hi Ruth. Thank you for taking part in this ‘phone chat project’. I know that you will be speaking about your son’s epilepsy journey to date. It has been quite a journey and I know that there have been quite a few knock-backs from when I first met Oscar in 2016. Ruth: Oscar has always tried to be positive about this epilepsy, but he
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Maria: Hi Lisa, thank you for having a ‘phone chat’ with me. There is nothing better than being able to tell a story over the phone because you never know where it is going to lead. That is the beauty of using this method of story-telling. Today we are going to talk about why your son, who lives with epilepsy, left New Zealand for Australia.
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