“Epilepsy is associated with seizures, but there are actually about 40 different types of seizures.”

Ana Millan experienced her first epileptic seizure when she was 16 years old. It was, he recalls, after a night of studying for an exam: “I couldn’t speak, I felt a tingling sensation in my arm…”. Some symptoms that he had not shown before. From that moment began to suffer from other crisessuch as so-called absence seizures, followed by others, more frequent, with convulsions, loss of consciousness and falls.

Today, at 58 years old, he gives a voice to those suffering from this disease, from the Aragonese Epilepsy Association (Asade), founded 20 years ago, which brings together about 80 people and which she has headed for ten years. “Our goal is to support the victims, fight for their rights, provide psychological support and insist on disseminating information, because there are many ignorance

regarding this pathology,” he points out. And in this sense, he emphasizes that “there is still a long way to go.”

The group, coinciding with International Epilepsy Day, which was celebrated this Monday, is calling for more specialists, more information for society and an end to stigma: “There are those who are afraid to say they have epilepsy when they are looking for work, or suffer redundancies. “Some children have had to change schools just because they have this condition.”

Ana has suffered from epilepsy for over 42 years. “People associate this disease with seizures, but in reality there are about 40 different types of seizures.” To cope, take three types of drugs every day. “This is a very strong medicine and has side effects such as depression, irritability, attention deficit or memory loss.” “Personally, I learned it well; others fare worse. It affects each person differently,” he concludes.

Married with a daughter, she bravely faced the disease: “I continued to live, worked, started studying, but between the pills, on the one hand, and for myself, on the other, I finished.” leaving.” Each other “the disease puts him in a different state”: “There are those who, as soon as they are told they have epilepsy, isolate themselves.” For others, it affects their mental health. There are others who suffer from what is called drug-resistant epilepsy, where seizures are not controlled despite prior treatment with at least two medications. “At the moment it is a chronic disease, but we should have hope because there is progress,” he notes.

Asadeh organized this Tuesday event at the Joaquin Roncal Center in Zaragoza (from 17:30 to 20:30), in which neurologist Luis Javier Lopez del Val will take part, who will talk about what this disease is, its causes, how it is diagnosed and how it is treated; and Lydia Martinez, a social work student who will focus her presentation on mental health and disability issues.