Epilepsy

Hi guys,

hope you are all well, basically i have an enquiry about my brother.

Hes had temporal lobe epilepsy for about 10 years. He 27 now.

he has tonic clonic seizures and has amnesia during the episode and the post ictal phase. and prob has a range of episodes from 2 a week to 1 a month depending on health, sleep stress etc.

basically hes very passionate about physics and maths and originally at 18 started a degree in automotive engineering. during the first year the uni found out about his epilepsy and forced him to leave the course as epilepsy deemed a risk to complete the necessary laboratory work.

He went to another uni who told him he was only able to do computing based degrees and he completed a degree in software engineering which he didnt and still does not like.

hes unfortunatley been made redundant for a year. and he is lacking in self esteem for looking for jobs etc.

he is willing to start a whole new profession even if he has to go back to uni.

he does not want to do teaching as he also has memory problems and feels he would not be able to recognize his students.

Does anyone know what subjects he may be allowed to complete (with the knowledge of getting a job afterwards that will be acceptable with his epilepsy) in maths/ physics specialty.

I did think of training as a radiographer (im a medical student and spent time in oncology and saw radiographers lol) (he could deal with all the computer input and stuff and im sure he would be supervised when actually dealing with the linear electron beams devices! etc)

does anyone have some advice for me on how i can deal with this?

please bear in mind he has very low self esteem which hours of talking to him to try and boost it is getting now where!

thanks in advanced guys,

regards,

another quick question: i suspect he may have a autistic spectrum disorder would you know how i could go about getting a diagnosis- ive only seen diagnosis in kids!

thanks :smile:

Reply 1

gers

go to the doc they will be able to dagnosis

Reply 2

Annie72

gers

go to the doc they will be able to dagnosis

Or refer him to someone who can.

Reply 3

Scary Monster

Maybe try talking to somewhere like Skill, or the national epilepsy charity, I can't remember their name I'm afraid.

It sounds like finding a suitable job he's interested in and then working back to where he is now to work out how to get there could a be a good plan.

Reply 4

River85

Scary Monster

Maybe try talking to somewhere like Skill, or the national epilepsy charity, I can't remember their name I'm afraid..

National Society for Epilepsy and there's also Epilepsy Action (who do have a section on their website about education and employment iirc).

I read this thread first thing this morning and wanted to post but haven't had the time :frown:

I've just had a wisdom tooth out and getting some nasty pain so think I'll log out and have the evening off but I will be back tomorrow with a few thoughts :smile:

Just to remind myself

River85

xxxxx

Reply 5

fairy spangles

Hi - it makes me angry when i read things like this - did they give him a reason as to why he was asked to leave uni did he have an occupational health assessment??

Reply 6

Scary Monster

In a way, the details of how and why he left his first university course kind of aren't relevant any more, other than to acknowledge them and realise that opportunities for people are much greater than they were 10 years ago.

Reply 7

Lady_Kaftan

thanks for the help guys! i appreciate it!

I would firstly like to clarify a few things about my brother: he has to have everything explained in minute details to him hence why i asked for specific answers!

secondly when i was asking about potential autistic spectrum diagnosis i wanted to know WHO would diagnose for eg in a kid a paediatrician has to do it. I do know to go to a gp for an opinion lol! but my brother wants to know everything before he would consider approaching a GP.
So who does the diagnosis in adults? under what speciality is it? psych? im a final year med student and NOT ONCE have i come across a adult specialty doctor dealing with Autistic spectrum disorders/ diagnosis ive done psychiatry and did not see anything relevant during the rotation

2) thank you for your epilepsy question advice! scary monster is right in which i believe rights have changed but i still think its shocking!

My brother is very adamant on knowing everything before taking things further! i also have already recommended epilepsy action and things hence why i asked on here! SO does any one know of any professions in the maths/ physics speciality (bar teaching) which would be suitable for his condition

if i can say to look "so and so is in a similar boat to you he/she did this" he would be more inclined to listen.

it is very difficult getting the message across to him, he is very un trusting of people/ organizations he doesnt know and a 5/10 minute convo will take hours because everything has to be explained in detail and because im a med student he always tends to side track into questions to do with science which could be remotely linked to the actual discussion it self. for e.g Epilepsy is an electrical current disorder can lead to a discussion to the physics/ maths of electricity and so on.

he describes his personality quite well lol. its like wikipedia when you go on one page, you click on a word which opens up another page which then opens another page and so on and so on till you get to a totally unrelated topic!
Its very sad but he doesnt really talk to anyone apart from the family. doesnt have any friends. ive learnt about the diagnosis about autistic spectrum disorders and i believe he matches the criteria. However my only concern is i only remember the difficulties from when he was 17 (as i was too young to notice it when he was that as i was 12 at the time!) my parents are adamant there was nothing wrong with him when he was younger. he did have friends and things till prob he started uni. Even if he did not have REALLY close friends. But my older sis (who is about 2years younger then him) reckons he did have similar problems when he was younger. (but again this could be biased as my sister is the type to fit a "history" to match the disease if you get me).
I feel sad in a sense for him because i believe he makes things harder for him self. I suggested he arrange a uni appointment with careers and discuss with them! but he said he does not want to as wants to know what options there are before going ahead with it! i feel he is letting the epilepsy control him rather then he control the epilepsy.

dont get me wrong here im not being harsh on him i have mild CP myself (right sided hempligia) i just think he could really do anything he wants if he sets him self to it, it frustrates me a little.

again thanks for the help guys!

Reply 8

blackeberg

Diagnosis of AS in adults is still very hard to come by in the UK. There's a specialist centre in Cambridge that can diagnose in the local area and they might be able suggest contact details for other regions.

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/clinical/class.asp