These letters were written to me by people all over the world. They wrote these letters to share personal experiences that helped them become stronger and a better person. They also wanted to show others that they are not alone.

These letters were written to me by people all over the world.  They wrote these letters to share personal experiences that helped them become stronger and a better person.  They also wanted to show others that they are not alone.

If you have a story or poem to share send it to staceychil.aol.com

Dear Stacey,

Hi! How are you? I am doing OK for now, but October has been a terrible month for me.  I took something called Cholestin, a herbal is for high cholesterol.  I did not think it would harm me, but boy did it ever.  I took a dose, and the next morning I started having lots of seizures.  I had about eighty seizures in two days and the left half my face got numb and I also lost the ability to talk.  That was a reaction to the drug, but it also caused a serve gall bladder attack.  I spent four days in the ICU and one day in a regular room at the hospital, then one day for laser surgery at another hospital.  They moved my gall bladder and found more than forty gall stones.  Now I know that the abdominal pain I had over the past year was my gall bladder!  I had no idea.  But now I am doing OK and other than two to three seizures a week, I am feeling better.

I enjoyed the article you sent and thank you for it!  It was really very interesting.  I tried those research medications and many others, too.  Sometimes I felt like a drunk and other times the medication would make me wonder if I were crazy because I would have weird thoughts and do strange things.  Still, most of the time when I took Tegretol I was like in a shell, having panic attacks just about every time I left the house.  Yet a lot has changed since they put me on Klonopin (Clonazepam) and Neurontin.

You are right about how hard is it for others to grasp what epilepsy can do to a person.  We cannot give up or let it get the best of us!  My philosophy is just like yours.  The support group I started has helped me just as much as it has helped others.  Thank you for saying such kind things about me.  Expressing my true emotions is easy for me, especially in writing.  You seem to be a very warm, thoughtful person yourself.

I believe this epileptic struggles, but her philosophy to cope with epilepsy helps her.  Her ability to express her emotions verbally with others is helping her become stronger.  Expressing yourself verbally is important because you can not hold your feelings of having epilepsy inside.  You need to share your feelings with others so you can heal yourself and get on with your life.