By seizure_girl - 15/08/2013 13:32 - United States - Pierre

Today, I discovered I have epilepsy. 10 years ago, I told my mother about my frequent fits of vertigo, deja vu, nausea, flashes of memory and strange sounds, smells, and images, coupled with an other-worldly feeling. I thought they were holy visions. So did she. FML
I agree, your life sucks 43 474
You deserved it 20 789

seizure_girl tells us more.

seizure_girl 4

Hi there. OP here. Temporal lobe epilepsy involves some pretty freakish seizures that are actually interpreted as religious visions by many. They're a very intense spiritual experience. I was fifteen years old, and spent the next three years as a devout Christian, my own logic at war with my profound sense of purpose. Then I turned 18 and discovered marijuana. Lo and behold, the "visions" disappeared, and I was an atheist again. I made the connection between the drug and the cessation of my fits when I stopped taking it and they came back. Epilepsy never occurred to me until recently, the first time I collapsed into a grand mal seizure in public. I picked myself up off the ground in confusion to meet a lot of stares, and a woman nearby informed me I'd had a seizure. The "aura" that I'd gotten just before blacking out and convulsing was the same as the onset of my previous "visions", the first real clue I'd ever gotten. And yes, my mother is an idiot. When I said that I'd had a seizure while she'd been across the fairgrounds, she accused me of being drunk and said she was disappointed in me for ruining our fun evening at the carnival.

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Top comments

Welshite 39

Yeah, I think the "holy visions" are as the parents who thought their child was possessed when he was actually suffering from seizures.

281 7

Comments

VpLus2 9

Holy visions? Come on. If there's ever a contest of "Who deserved their FML the most" your name will certainly appear at the top of the list. I mean, not only did you think you had holy visions, you kept that belief for 10 years? YDI.

1 16
gunit_fml 9

Positive proof religious people are retarded

1 0
iwasborn_naked 14

Once again science disproves any hope for religion.. no offence to op and any religious people. I believe there's something greater but science has a pretty glorious record of disproving alot of things haha

23 25
meherm 11

No offense taken. We're all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions.

15 2
jelly713 19

"No offense" does no damage control, so don't use it. It just makes you sound like those rude people who justify anything with those words, instead of being straight up, so it's better not to use it 90% of the time. Just get to the point because opinions will be taken for the way they are anyway.

11 20
sandnsun 7

Bring a caveman into modern times and he will find magic anywhere. Science is not disproving religion, it's explaining it. Science is disproving the Bible. That's different.

11 9
duckdoy 6

Would you like it better if she had said 'I don not mean to offend any other's beliefs this is just my viewpoint'? It's all the same she was just clarifying that she did not want to start a fight

13 2
trollololulz 2

ughh WTF is wrong w/me?! too lazy to research.. let's blame god and right it off as a blessing.

7 21
kalbrek009 20

Since when did déjà vu's become a symptom of epilepsy? Myself & many other people I know have had that "deja vu" feeling before & NONE of us have every had a seizure nor been diagnosed as epileptic...this is news to me...did a licensed DR tell you this, or did you read it on the Internet? Just curious.

0 22
Maikeru79 10

you obviously don't know anything about epilepsy. feelings of deja vu can be symptom of sezures. not saying that EVERYONE who has a bout of Deja vu is an epileptic. i was diagnosed over 10 years ago and have been studying and researching the neurological disease.

21 0
britroth314 5

I always thought I was alone on being epileptic. But reading the post and comments made me feel like less of an alien

12 6
ThatSynicalGuy 10

Dont comment unless you have read the post. Déjà vu was one of the eight symptoms the op listed. Also, i think that someone who experienced fits as a result of epilepsy would be able to tell the difference between that and a vague feeling of having been somewhere before.

5 1
xxreikoxx 31

As someone who lost my childhood friend to epilepsy three years ago, allow me to inform you that déjà vu is far more common in epileptics than you realise and is in fact a symptom. Now please take Sensitivity 101, #162.

7 1
Slawter16 24

I've looked up some stuff about epilepsy and I can sort of understand how people who don't fully know about epilepsy could mistake it for 'holy visions.' That sucks though. OP, I hope you're doing okay.

7 1
stella_nova4 6

The "craziness" came from having said serious medical condition for 10+ years and instead of her/her mother going to see a physician about it, they instead foolishly believed that it was some sort of divine intervention and that she was having "holy visions". That's not only irresponsible, but dangerous as well. Considering there have been more than one instance of "faith healing" gone wrong and a general overall clashing of the religious and medical communities, the reaction isn't that surprising. If you can't see how confusing epilepsy with holy visions would seem "crazy" or a bad thing to outsiders, and likely cause them to distrust or have some other sort of negative feelings towards religion/Christianity, then maybe you should think about getting your head checked too.

5 0
pazuzus_intern 10

You look crazy for getting more upset about the reputation of Christianity getting soiled than the fact that this kind of thing apparently still goes on. The reason I don't blame OP is because in the later comments WHICH I DID READ the OP was very young and easily influenced when it started.

8 0
doraaa01 7

They'll find you medicine to help you and your seizures :) I have left temporal lobe epilepsy (the one where you don't have body fits but more extremely bad spoilt child tantrums - according to my mum - as it was affecting my emotional side of brain) and as a child I was on Tegratol and I haven't had a seizure since I was 9, I'm now 18 and don't have to take my medicine anymore :)

3 1