A Black Eye: Traveling With Epilepsy

I debated whether or not to write this post. The short of it is this: my disability is a pretty significant part of my journey, so it's fair game. I have epilepsy, and some days this is what it looks like.

 

Last week, I seized in a coffee shop in Wellington. Knowing immediately that something was wrong, I went to the barristas to tell them about my condition, but I didn't quite make it. My next conscious thoughts came about 20 minutes later as I was looking up at paramedics.

Crap, here we go again.

Epilepsy certainly adds a certain je ne sais quoi to traveling, but there's no reason to let it stop me. Here are the things I do to deal with my disability while on the road.

• Let People Know: I make sure my friends, hosts, and flatmates know about my condition and what to expect in case I have a seizure.
• Let RoadID do the Talking: Even after a seizure, when I can't tell the paramedics the who's and what's of my condition, I can still fish out my RoadID tag and let it do the talking for me. I'm religious about keeping my medical information current with RoadID.
• Prescription Refills by Mail: I order a 3 month supply of meds via mail. These show up for me at my forwarding address in Seattle (hurray for EarthClassMail!). FedEx gets them to me wherever I am in the world.
• Know What to Expect from the Local Health Care System: In New Zealand, everybody gets emergency care, full stop. Nobody asked to see my insurance information, or asked me to sign anything, or gave me a bill. That's not true everywhere, of course, and I'll need to choose my destinations carefully, or get travel insurance.

But why travel with epilepsy? Why risk it? I look at it a different way. How would staying home help? Is taking a header in a coffee shop in Seattle any better than doing it in Wellington? No. Ironically, if this had happened anywhere in the US, it would have cost me more money! Staying home isn't the answer. Being prepared is.

I could talk and talk about my epilepsy, how my life has changed since my diagnosis, what having a seizure is like, how it has changed my views on life, death, consciousness and how our brains mediate reality, but this isn't the place for it. If you're curious, drop me a line.