Photographic T-Shirt!!

My lovely coursemates from BA (hons) Photographic Art - University of Wales, Newport class of 2011 are fundraising for their graduating publication.

This is one part of the fundraising mission... an awesome looking T-shirt!! 

It looks amazing and is a pretty damn good price!

Click here to take a closer look/purchase :)

Thanks for looking!

All the best :D! 

The epic sleep.

So my 'bit of a wobble' turned into whole days and nights in bed. Usually I do not sleep more then 10 hours a night end of. I rarely sleep in past 9 in the morning and the times I do it'll be because I've not been able to sleep the previous night. I cannot just lie in bed, even if I'm tired.. I get bored very quickly and end up getting up. 

Anyway I went to bed the other night, fell straight to sleep, slept the entire night through which in itself is minor miracle.. then woke up at 9ish in the morning with a banging headache. I heard my housemate moving around getting ready for their lecture so I thought I'd pop down stairs to say hello. I stood up out of bed and thought I was just going to fall straight over! Not good... but I was really thirsty so thought I'd make my way down stairs anyway. How I didn't fall my way down the stairs I have no idea my balance was all over the place! I made some tea clung on to the kitchen side and had a little chat. Barely managing to drink even half the cup I dragging myself back up stairs and getting straight back into bed. This is another thing that I NEVER do. Go back to bed.. once I'm up, I'm up. I then proceeded to fall straight back to sleep until I heard said housemate return from uni 4 hours later! We had a chat again (I like to catch up on all the gossip seen as I'm not at uni anymore..) I watched tv for a little while then fell back to sleep again for the afternoon. Crazy. I wasn't hungry either which worried me a  little as I can safely say I'm almost always hungry! Everytime I even tried to sit up in bed the world around me was all over the place. It's hard to explain really but I suppose a hangover is a similiar feeling.. everything is muffled and sort of 'fuzzy' and lying down is the only way to ease the horrid feelings. Anyway I then managed to make myself eat something in the evening which in itself was effort but I know that not eating will only make things worse especially when it comes to blood sugar (trust me I know this from past experience!) Unbelievably I then slept the entire night and didn't wake up until 12 today! Bad in terms of me not taking my medicine at 9 like usual but good in that I woke up feeling perfectly fine!

I figure I must have been fighting some illness off or something... I've had many days where my balance is completely screwed and lying down is the best option since I started having seizures, but never have I slept for that amount of time. I get very tired a lot anyway what with the medicine and Epilepsy and all.. but for me to actually sleep for so long is unbelievable!!

So this is the view I had when I wasn't sleeping.... fascinating isn't it??

But putting that aside today has been so good. Simply because I woke up feeling far more alive today. I got up with no problems at all, took my pills, showered, tidied the house a bit, checked emails etc, popped to the library, to a couple of shops, and to the medical centre to pick up my medicine presciption and re-stock my 'drug drawer' as I like to call it. Once home again I spoke with my mum over the phone and decided that I will be catching a train tomorrow night down to hers for a few days... I CANNOT WAIT!!! It's a little farm in South Devon :) they only moved there a month or so ago so I haven't seen it yet plus it's right by the sea!

How I can go from feeling so rubbish to alright again in such a short space of time is beyond me but hey now I can just be excited for my trip home to see my mum, Chris and all the animals! I haven't seen them since Christmas so it's definitely a much needed visit :D

X

A bit of a "wobble".

Last night I completely lost my balance again. :( I was just leaving the kitchen with a full mug of hot chocolate and the next thing I know I was flinging it all over the kitchen floor mug included. 

It's funny the first thing I thought was how lucky I was that it happened in the kitchen rather than two seconds later in the living room... (It would have made for an interesting session explaining what happened to cause a stained carpet to my landlord..) 

The question always crosses my mind "is this the beginning to a full blown seizure?" But after literally gathering my senses I mopped up the mess, re-made my drink and made my way up stairs albeit in a rather wobbly fashion. Apart from being a little shaky and needing two hands to hold my mug instead of one, a cracking headache and a early night to bed... all was fine :)

I suppose it's just another 'episode' to add to my seizure diary.

Oh my mug survived though :D much to my relief... it's my favourite one! 

Happy Purple Day!!

Today is Purple Day – The Global Day of Epilepsy Awareness

www.purpleday.org 

"Educating people about epilepsy is so important because people need to know what to do if they see someone having a seizure and they need to know that there are different types of seizures and that they don’t have to be afraid of epilepsy or the people who have it. Education also helps people with epilepsy know they aren’t alone." 

It's such a good cause and all started by one young girl :) Inspiration to the max!! 

I'm not actually off out anywhere today to spread any awareness.. BUT I am wearing purple :D Actually the more I look around my room the more I find I might just be a little obsessed with the colour... right from my diary to my bed linen... even my medical bracelet's SOS emblem is engraved in purple!! 

If you can wear something purple today in support :)

XX 

Two weeks on. :)

It's been two(ish) weeks since I increased my dose of Keppra from 1000mg to 1500mg per day. Today has been the first day I haven't felt completely exhausted which as a result means I'm in an awesome mood :D. I get headaches most days some are only minor aches but some I really honestly could cry from. The increase of medicine only added to this. Most days by the time afternoon/early evening roles around I find myself having to lie down. Even walking up the stairs seems like a huge effort. I really dislike lying around not doing anything but I can't find the energy to do much else. My mind races though, and I put the TV on just to try and focus my mind on something other than life stuff but it doesn't usually work. I just end up staring at it wishing I could just get up and go for a run or something. I try to make light of it and joke around and most of the time I can deal with it (even if it does mean having to cut short some much needed sunbathing time in the first bit of decent sunshine we've had this year just to go home and lie down/nap...) but sometimes even smiling seems such an effort and that scares me more than anything.

But hey today felt good :) The sun was out, the temperature was warm and the general mood was lovely.  With Spring most defintely in the air a friend who I live with and I decided that our garden needs a re-vamp. So out we went to look around to see what we can do (with out spending any money) to spruce the place up a bit. We ended up weeding and re-building a little rockery :D! The plan for the weekend is to carry on with the little make over ready for the warm weather. 

Tomorrow I have a plenty planned for the day. Hop on the bus in the morning and pop to the hospital to scout out where my neurology appointment is in a couple of weeks time. My local hospital as with every other hospital I've ended up in over the years is a complete maze and REALLY confusing... hence finding where said appointment will be in advance JUST in case I couldn't find it on the day. That would not be good! Then hopefully the weather stays nice so we can visit a park which just so happens to be next door to the hospital with our camera's of course! Then go back into the main area of town and pick up some gardening gloves along with a trowel ready for the weekend. I can't wait. 

Hopefully I'll still feel good tomorrow and don't get struck down by anything Epilepsy related. Fingers crossed! 

Here's a lovely song to match my mood :)

Diet changes as a result of Epilepsy.

In an attempt to gain some control over seizures I have made some changes to my diet to compliment the  lifestyle changes I've also made such as strictly regulating sleep patterns. 

They're just some simple changes really but hopefully it'll help... 

NO:

• COFFEE - I LOVE coffee so this is one of the worst things I have to completely give up!! (Although I do drink a little decaffeinated coffee just for the taste!)

• CARBONATED DRINKS

• ENERGY DRINKS

• Large amounts of anything with high levels of sugar 

VERY LITTLE:

• ALCOHOL - For me to drink alcohol with this condition and especially with taking 1500mg of Keppra is VERY VERY risky. It significantly increases the likelihood of seizures so personally (apart from on very rare occasions) drinking alcohol is not worth the risk.

• BREAD - More of a personal diet choice I try not to eat any but if there's nothing else available I'll eat a small amount. Feeling extremely tired a lot of the time due to the effects of the medicine is hard enough to live with and eating bread only adds to the feeling so cutting it almost completely out is definitely the best option. 
 

I drink a lot of water, I always have, but now I find that it helps refresh the sluggish effects of my medicine a little but that could be more psychological than anything else. Who knows but if it helps, it helps :) 

Basically my main aim is to cut out anything that may cause disturbance with the brain whether it be through caffeine intake, blood sugar levels or exhaustion etc. I've been living with these changes a while but only time will tell if they will help reduce the frequency of seizures alongside the 1500mg per day of Keppra I'm currently taking.

We shall see. 

There's no place like home.

I've lived in many places over the years but this valley near the tiny village of Carrog in North Wales is the place I will always consider my 'home'. I grew up here and have some really truly beautiful memories that were formed in my time here. One of my families still live here in the very same house I grew up in :) I love to visit even if it just for a couple of days, and that's exactly what I have just done for the weekend. 

There's something really therapeutic about going home and spending  a little time with family and friends and the simple things that are truly familiar. 

This is the stunning view I wake up to every time I stay here :D it's so lovely it makes me smile just to imagine it! Miles and miles of green fields, trees and it's various animal inhabitants really does wonders for a stressed mind.

Of course there is also nothing quite like some homemade cooking :)

I mean obviously I cook for myself where I live but not really anything particularly special... (I really should make more effort with that..)

Ahh something Wales is famous for... SHEEP! These are the first lambs I've seen this year. Again another huge change in recent years..lambing season is one of my favourite times of the year. A friend of mine's parents used to take part in the lambing season on their neighbouring farm. I remember year after year being fascinated with watching it all happen and of course feeding the 'pet' lambs bottles of formula. Nothing like seeing a flock of lambs running so fast their legs looks like there going to come off.

This is Charlie, THE most cuddliest, cutest, attention seeking cat I think I have ever met. A hug from him (and I mean hug.. he hugs like a human would :/ ...) is enough to make anyone feel better!!

 

It was nice to go back just for the few days. I was very tired most of the time though which was a bit of a shame but then I'm still getting used to the increase in my medicine so to be able to do anything with any enthusiasm is something to be grateful for! It's strange not being able to see my any of my family or talk to them face to face for months at a time when I'm going through this testing change in my life. I'm not going to lie it does make it a little awkward when I do see them.. I think it's because so much has changed in such a short amount of time. My not being able to explain things very well when I do get to talk to them in person doesn't really help either.. but hey all is good anyway and it was really really good to visit :)