Yeah, a lot of Kurt's experiences hit home for me, and I had a whole range of emotions when reading that book. However, it also allowed me to set free a lot of painful emotions that had built up over time. That is why I recommended the book for everyone with Epilepsy and everyone who knows someone with Epilepsy to help them to get a better understanding about life with Epilepsy.

As for the appointment, it is okay to be honest, but just make sure to not hold back because this is a safe place to release all of emotion and mental pain that you have endured to open you up to true happiness. As long as you have a good psychiatrist, you will see major positive results over time (how long is dependent upon how much you have stored up over time). Do not be afraid to release all of those emotions because they are toxic to keep in your body (and add to your stress and unhappiness). There are many things (like the seizures) that are not curable (at this time), but releasing the stress is a major step towards at least reducing them and possibly reaching a long term stress free state. Good luck!

Yes. I was actually eventually diagnosed with "medication resistant major depressive disorder due to brain damage from epilepsy," after trying every medication on Earth and doing every test. The only thing left to try, believe it or not is a nasal spray called Spravado. It's actually Ketamine... Which is scientifically known can be the most effective drug against depression. You only take it once or twice a week and you have to take it in the doctor's office stay there for a few hours. The only pain is getting your insurance to approve it because it's expensive. You can usually get a special allowance though if you call your insurance and talk to them and they call your doctor a... a psychiatrist. My husband took it and had nothing but wonderful things to say about it

As for antidepressants, anxiety medicine, etc., it is all about your level of each of these. This is the one area that having an MD or NP is useful in the conversation of how bad you of any or all of these and thus what medications you need. In my case, my first 2 neurologists made these decisions and got updates from my therapists on how I was doing.

You need to think about and honestly answer how long have you had the depression (is it just since being diagnosed with Epilepsy or even from when your first seizure or before that?). In my case, I didn't have my first (exception being the newborn seizures that are not connected to Epilepsy in most cases) seizure until I was 14 (1980), but depression, anxiety and even a little bit of paranoia has been with me all of my life. It got a lot worse with the teenage years in combination with the "fainting spells" and got to a very bad level and an increase in paranoia level (exceptionally high for 6 months during the mess in the summer in 2003), but, even though it is nothing like it was that summer, my paranoia lingers (absence seizures absolutely is a major cause in this) at a level where I assume that if I have not heard from a friend in a few days (unless I already knew that the friend was going to be away and not able to get in touch with me), then I must have said or did something to get the person angry with me. And I am very bad at reading people to guess their emotional state (unless they are expressing the emotions outwardly).

The medications (for depression, anxiety, paranoia, insomnia, etc.) can help (antidepressants do not prevent depression but rather make the very low periods from lasting for long periods) as long as they find the right one for you and the proper dosage to help you out, but the key to success is the medication in combination with therapy--especially the venting--to help you to improve your mind set

I have a therapist and a psychiatric nurse who prescribes, so I was already on meds for depression. We are actually looking a whether I need to change antidepressants or not. I've been on it forever, and it helped some with the epilepsy, but the clobazam still has me struggling with it.

Nurse is doing a full work up to see my hormone levels and a bunch of other things could be contributing to the depression. So different meds for depression or other meds for hormones. I don't want to change the clobazam b/c it's stopping the seizures.

My therapist was quite helpful in helping me adjust to my new life, although she is not a chronic illness therapist.

Absolutely no shame to addressing you body's needs.

I got Kurt's book as a Christmas gift from my friend. Excited to be reading slowly! Thanks for sharing this!🙂