A woman who thought daydreaming dreamed of epileptic seizures

A woman whose "waking dream" was actually an epileptic seizure was so anguished by her diagnosis that she kept the secret secret for five years.

While the teachers thought she was not paying attention in clbad, Jasmine Banovic, now 21, had seizures that were missing, people lost consciousness for a few seconds but did not fall, so they had the air to be extinguished.

In the worst case, Jasmin had up to 30 seizures a day, lasting anywhere from 10 seconds to five minutes. A graphic design student from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, was finally diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 11 – but could not talk about it for years.

She said, "At this age, you just want to be like everyone else. I did not want that to happen, and to say it out loud seemed to accept it, which I was not ready to do.

"In the five years since I was diagnosed, I have not spoken to anyone except my best friend and family.

"I think some of my friends and teachers knew what my parents told them, but I never told them about it. How can I explain this to others when I did not understand it myself? "

Speaking on the occasion of Purple Day, International Epilepsy Awareness Day to be held on March 26 this year, Jasmine remembers her missing seizures beginning on April 26th. about nine years old and still in primary school.

"It was not the kind of crisis that you stereotypically imagine when you think of epilepsy. Instead, I would lose focus and stop responding.

"People thought I was dreaming."

Jasmine's mother took her to see her GP, where her hearing was tested in case she was defective.

But when the results were satisfactory, she was referred to a neurologist, which earned her a series of tests and investigations and eventually a diagnosis of epilepsy – a neurological condition causing convulsions due to a sudden intense electrical activity in the brain.

Jasmine, whose diagnosis was made after a seizure before the doctor, said: "I had never heard of epilepsy at that time, I was confused about what was happening.

"I felt incredibly isolated, as the only child in the world where this was happening. I would have liked to know at the time all the support that exists, such as the Epilepsy Action Association.

"It would have been a lifeline for me to be able to talk to others in my job."

In the years that followed, Jasmine found herself overwhelmed by worry, terrified of going out in public, or even to school, in case she would have a seizure.

Stress being a major trigger, she was trapped in a miserable grip.

Her studies suffered and she ended up feeling left behind, before finally leaving at age 15 to go to school at home.

She explained, "I had to miss a school where my anxiety and my seizures were really serious. The times I went in, I felt ignored and misunderstood because I had missed so much.

"At this age, all you want is to integrate, but I felt so different. I found myself isolated from the world, not ready to face what was happening or to talk about it. "

Jasmine felt ready to open up to a 16-year-old therapist.

She was able to talk openly and honestly about what she felt, which encouraged her to continue talking about her condition to her family and eventually to her friends.

Medications allowed her to better control her epileptic seizures and she slowly began to feel stronger.

"Talking to a therapist had a coaching effect and showed me that I could also open my loved ones," she said.

"When you receive something so big, so young, it's incredibly disheartening, but talking was a turning point for me and allowing others to have a better understanding of life with epilepsy."

Today, Jasmine feels mentally stronger than ever before, though unfortunately she continues to suffer side effects from her medications such as fatigue, headaches, and nausea.

She published a report published by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, which found that nearly 90% of boards of health and health trusts do not provide mental health support in clinics for epilepsy.

This is despite the fact that children and young adults with epilepsy in the UK are four times more vulnerable to mental health problems, according to Epilepsy Action.

Now, Jasmine hopes her story will encourage other people with epilepsy to be more open, while questioning misconceptions about the disease.

She said: "Since I have no more seizures, people think I'm fine, which is not the case, because I still have side effects.

"I do not know how much I'll feel good overnight, so I lost friends because of that, because they badume I'm canceling my plans because I do not care that it's because I'm not well.

"I would also like to see more teaching in schools, so teachers are better equipped to help children like me. If the right support is there, you can absolutely continue to have a happy and normal life. "

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