Hi

[2propylpentanoicacid]

Well they said add a photo to bring the post to life. My husband took this after I was meant to be running 5K to raise money for Epilepsy Research this year. I ended up at the wrong venue (don't ask) and as most of my sponsors just wanted to see me covered in paint for a lark - I organised a video for them so no one would be disappointed. My husband threw the paint, this is his favourite picture.

I was diagnosed age 3. My epilepsy is well controlled. The only seizure I've had in the last 5 yrs was due to concussion lowering my threshold further.

I originaly swam competitively and spent many years that working for councils as a swimming teacher/coach/lifeguard. I then spent 10yrs as a private swimming instructor/teacher trainer until the dog busted my shoulders and my neuro put me on Keppra.

Now plodding through a pharmacology degree.

[Toomuchsynchrony]

Great picture, sounds like you are making the best of life with your epilepsy. I love swimming and similar to you injury stopped me swimming so much.

Enjoy the pharmacology degree too. I did the same and enjoyed it enough to do a PhD, now work as a postdoc researcher. If you want a free copy of Rang, Dale and Ritter send me a message (if you can on this). It would save it languishing in a cupboard here.

Have a good new year. Tom

[2propylpentanoicacid in reply to Toomuchsynchrony]

Cheers, I already have Rang & Dale.

I do like your user name, very subtle.

Oh I still swim as much, I just don't teach or coach now. The shoulder injuries impaired my range of movement and even now when I think back to pre-injury there are some things that are still too impaired for repeated demonstration purposes. Or I could manage the practise once or twice perfectly now but it is a strain to do it more often.

Basically, my dog, love her, wrecked my fly.

One thing I have to say. I'm not making the best of my life. This is the only life I have and I don't intend to die worrying about 'all the stuff I was too scared to do because I had E' (I did a lot of that in my teens, including being too scared to go to university)

'Making the best of life with epilepsy' to paraphrase, implies that you live a sort of epilepsy half-life from the way I see it. I like to think that I am living my life to the full with my epilepsy tagging along behind. Occasionally, I fall over it, but I regain consciousness, get up and carry on.

Yep, my epilepsy is probably a small to medium sized mongrel dog. I haven't got an exciting enough diagnosis to own anything that gets shown at crufts.

I'll type sagely and ask ' What was your PhD about? and if you reply I'll nod intelligently at appropriate points of the text....

Asking what your postdoc research is about is probably a bridge too far.

[Toomuchsynchrony in reply to 2propylpentanoicacid]

Sorry, I meant no such implication regarding life with epilepsy etc in the comment, sorry for any offense. To my own view, I would be happy to think that I am making the best of life with my epilepsy. I certainly have made some concessions and adaptations to life in order to accommodate my epilepsy but I think I handle it now as best as I can reasonably expect of myself.

Will message you about the research, it could make a long post.

[2propylpentanoicacid in reply to Toomuchsynchrony]

No offence taken and no apology needed. I make adaptations too, Tesco is my nemesis; I struggle with vast amounts of visual stimuli if I am having a bad day.

Can i ask, I started off studying a degree in Psychology. Other than Biological Psychology and the small section we had on anti-depressants I found it awful and used the HND I managed to get out of it to get into a course on Neuroscience. Less than a month in I found out how much Psychology was part of the degree and decamped to Pharmacology.

I have spent the whole degree struggling with maths to the point I have even considered coping out back to Neuroscience and not doing a lab based thesis. I don't have long to decide.

I appreciate I will need some maths but the least the better. I had 2 lecturers suggest I be tested for dyscalculia. Seemingly I have 'traits'. May have a few sociopathic traits too, how many and how badly do they affect how I manage my life on a day to day basis!?

You've been at the pointy end of the degree how horrendous was the maths Tom?

[Toomuchsynchrony in reply to 2propylpentanoicacid]

I suffered somewhat similarly with maths. But it very much depends on the structure of the degree course that you do and whether you can pick modules which might allow you to take a less quantitative approach to the degree.

The course I did was more practically based than some can which probably helped as the most difficult maths is in the theoretical side, especially pharmacokinetics.

In terms of working in a lab on a day to day basis doing research, you would find the maths can be much less complicated.

Sorry if that is little help, without knowing the course structure it is difficult to know what you will be facing.

[2propylpentanoicacid in reply to Toomuchsynchrony]

It's very helpful. Lab work and maths are my problems. Not so much the practicalities of working in a lab but the maths.

I suppose our course is quite structured. In first year you get quite a few electives in second year 2 and in third year you have one in the first term of third year but they pretty much 'advise' you what to take and in 4th year nothing.