This blog was written for the Living Well With Epilepsy Blog Relay, November 2017. So I have been battling another one of my demons recently, anxiety... I have always been quite an anxious person, always worrying a lot about everything but it wasn't until I was diagnosed with epilepsy that it started to get out of control.  During the first few months of having epilepsy I would wake in the night, with my heart beating in my head in a real state.  At the time I put it down to the lamotrigine as after a few months these episodes stopped and I didn't really think anymore abou ..read more

This post is part of the Epilepsy Blog Relay™ which will run from June 1 through June 30. Follow along and add comments to posts that inspire you! 6 weeks ago I achieved a lifelong goal I thought I would never be able to achieve due to my epilepsy, I completed the London Marathon.  I haven’t really shared this on my blog so I thought this would be a great opportunity to do just that. Rewind 12 years… I was just about to start university and living life to the full, I loved running and my dream was to run the London Marathon one day.  I was walking back from a training run and the ..read more

Happy Purple Day to all my fellow wonderful epilepsy warriors. To celebrate purple day and help spread epilepsy awareness around the world a few of us have decided to reflect on our epilepsy journeys searching for the rays of light amongst the clouds of epilepsy. So if you enjoy this blog search #PurpleTogether for more inspirational stories shining a positive light on epilepsy. In the beginning… My epilepsy journey began 13 years ago, I was 18 years old on a gap year, living life to the full.  Having struggled through school where I didn’t feel I fitted in, I was working hard in a job ..read more

This post is part of the Epilepsy Blog Relay™ which will run from November 1 through November 30, 2016. Follow along! When you were first mentioned to me many years ago a quick google revealed your true colours, your suicidal tendencies, the rage you inflicted upon people and fatigue so horrific I wouldn’t be able to pull myself out of bed in the morning.  I didn’t want to know you if that was how you treated people. I would continue on with my good friend lamotrigine, I had known her for eight years, she had helped me, reduced my big seizures from one a month to one a year, I could liv ..read more

When a child turns two suddenly the word on every parents lips is potty training… if you think the pressure for your child to walk or talk first was intense… you have experienced nothing until you enter the unchartered, unsupervised waters of potty training.  At least there was no bodily fluids involved when learning to walk and talk and there was a health visitor checking their every skill level intently with surveys and check-ups, giving you tips and ideas. No when it comes to potty training you really are alone and weirdly surrounded by parents and children who are apparently natural m ..read more

The clocks have turned back, the leaves are falling from the trees, it’s dark when I leave work and I’m scrapping the ice off the car in the morning… that can only mean one thing autumn most definitely has arrived.  I have six months left until the London Marathon and I need to keep my training on track but it’s hard in the cold and dark evenings.  It turns out that November is running safety month so it seemed like a good opportunity to sit down and make sure I am safe out running. I am very used to risk assessing activities, while I never let epilepsy stop me from living life to ..read more

Two years ago my husband bought me the empatica embrace watch as a Christmas present. It was a sort of crowdfunding scheme so it wasn’t as straight forward as buy the item and receive it in the post a couple of days later.  The plan was for it to be released in October 2015 so there was quite a wait and obviously the risk that it might never happen.  I read a lot about the watch and what they were trying to achieve.  To produce a product which would alert a carer to a seizure wherever the person was and also monitor stress levels (a particular trigger for me and I feel many pe ..read more

Next year I am running the Virgin London Marathon to raise money for Epilepsy Action who help support the 600,000 people in the UK living with epilepsy.  They have helped me immensely over the last 12 years and I couldn't imagine running for anyone else.  This is a huge challenge for me as my seizures started while running but I am determined to beat epilepsy and complete my life's dream of running a marathon.  I am holding an auction of promises to help meet my fundraising target of £2000.  It would be fantastic if you could come along to the event and bring as many ..read more

When you are pregnant you want to do everything you can to protect your unborn baby.  You watch what you eat and drink, giving up things you loved before just in case it impacts on the life you are growing inside you.  But for those of us who have no choice but to take medication during pregnancy it is a huge weight on our mind throughout those 9 months and beyond. Pregnancy and the early days That first scan is so scary, but then so is every scan after that, what if they find something, what if the drugs have affected the baby, I think it’s the only time in life where you want your ..read more

I haven’t written anything for a while and yet so much has been happening, and I guess that is the point of this blog.  It’s been a very busy few weeks, I have returned to work, Benji has started nursery and we finally got a referral to the paediatric urologist for Riley. Meanwhile I have been continuing the running training for the marathon next year and feeling the pressure of needing to begin to fundraise. I would love to say that I have coped with all this fantastically well, and I hope that to the outside world it seems I have, but on the inside I have been really struggling and at o ..read more