Rossieboy

[rossieboy]

Hi all, I am 38 years old a gas safe engineer and have hade epilepsy since i was 16 

Currently on 1200mg epilim chrono twice day

Anti depressant 

Clonozapam

My seizures are tonicclonic 

Currentjob: 18months

I am now in a situation where my employer has got an occupational therapist to review me and it has not been a good out come.

I am high risk and incapasatated at any time.

My employer wants to put me in an office as a technical clerk.

I feel a massive inconvenience and that I'm going to be outed at the 3rd strike.

I can't drive , my seizures have changed pattern now as well as they were AM now I'm having them at 11pm

Last seizure Saturday over Easter. 

I am now paying to see an epilepsy specialist at Nuffield 

I stopped drinking got more sleep and had a seizure still 

Frustrated and fed up , life starts to work out and then Boom, a seizure to put you back.

[EpilepsyAction1 Partner Epilepsy Action]

Dear Rossieboy

Thank you for your post.

It sounds like a very difficult and frustrating time for you.

When your employer became aware of your seizures, they have a duty to do a risk assessment. They do have to take health and safety into account. But they should weigh up all the facts about your epilepsy very carefully. For example, if you have a pattern to your seizures and how likely it is that you will have another one.

If occupational health can justify their reasoning for you not to carry on in you role as a safety engineer, as long they look at reasonable adjustment, they will be working within the Equality Laws. You could ask your employer to put a time scale on when they will review your situation.

As you are still having seizures, are you being seen by an epilepsy specialist so they can review your treatment and look at other possible reasons for your seizures to still be happening? They may suggest trying a different epilepsy medicine or alter your existing medicine dosage. If you have tried various types of epilepsy medicines, it may be the specialist could look into other treatment options for you.

If you are not under a specialist, you will need to ask your family doctor to refer you. This would usually be to a neurologist. The ideal would be to someone with a specialist interest in epilepsy, as there are many different neurological conditions, and neurologists tend to specialise in different ones.

If it will help to talk to us about how you are feeling, please feel free to phone the Epilepsy Action freephone helpline 0808 800 5050. Our helpline is open Monday to Friday, 8.30am until 5.30pm.

Regards

Diane

Epilepsy Action Advice and Information Team

epilepsy.org.uk/info/equality

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epilepsy.org.uk/info/treatment

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