![\"Grace](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/0_Grace-2JPG.jpg\")
<\/p>\n“One of the most challenging things about epilepsy is not knowing when or where your next seizure will be. It can happen any place, at any time, it doesn’t wait for you to be in a safe place.”<\/p>\n
Grace Darcy<\/p>\n
Grace Darcy has been living with epilepsy<\/a> for 13 years, since being diagnosed aged just 14.<\/p>\n Now, as an adult, Grace is sharing her experience of living with epilepsy<\/a>, highlighting the ups and downs that many people experience on their journeys with the condition…<\/p>\n \u201cI was diagnosed with generalised epilepsy when I was 14. Over the past 12 years I have had tonic clonic seizures and absence seizures. Tonic clonic seizures are the type that the public think of when they hear the word seizure \u2013 going unconscious and convulsing, which can be distressing to witness and have caused injuries to me in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I have absence seizures, I tend to describe it as \u2018zoning out\u2019. They last a few seconds and are generally not too noticeable to others unless I am speaking and my words trail off.<\/p>\n \u201cI am on medication to treat my epilepsy which has been a lot of trial and error to find the right ones for me, ones that control my seizures but also don’t cause too many side effects. Aside from medication I find it important to avoid stress where possible and make sure to get plenty of sleep as stress and tiredness are two of my biggest triggers.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most challenging things about epilepsy is not knowing when or where your next seizure will be. It can happen any place, at any time, it doesn’t wait for you to be in a safe place.<\/p>\n \u201cAnother thing is some of the things it has prevented me from doing. I used to swim competitively and did lots of other activities outside of school but eventually had to prioritise my health as doing these along with school was making me physically and mentally exhausted. I began to withdraw from my social life and fell behind in school due to tiredness and the effects of epilepsy and medication on my concentration and memory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was hard for me to say no to doing things with my friends as a teenager as I was trying to fit in and be \u2018normal\u2019. I hadn\u2019t accepted my diagnosis or spoken about it. I was embarrassed and tried to hide it, but everyone knew as I had a seizure in school. I tried to hide how tired I was and how much I was falling behind but I have learned that trying to push myself to keep up with everyone else was unhealthy and started to trigger seizures.<\/p>\n \u201cThrough Epilepsy Ireland, counselling and support from my family I began to understand that it’s good to do things at my own pace and ask for help. Accepting my diagnosis was a huge step in getting support. I\u2019m no longer embarrassed about it and have been a media volunteer for Epilepsy Ireland for years, speaking openly online and on other media platforms about my experience and trying to raise awareness.<\/p>\n \u201cEpilepsy Ireland has been such a huge support for me and my family with gaining more knowledge about epilepsy through resources, events and one-to-one services. They have given me such great opportunities to share my story, and I\u2019ve made friends for life along the way who have made me feel less alone in this journey.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not the first time I\u2019ve shared my experiences of living with epilepsy via Epilepsy Ireland. In 2023, I shared my story for International Epilepsy Day, in which I said that I had reached a year seizure free in 2022 and had done my driving theory test.<\/p>\n \u201cA week later I had multiple seizures in the space of a few minutes. That was a really heartbreaking time as I have wanted to drive for as long as I can remember. It was the closest I had ever gotten to that dream and it was suddenly taken again. Later in 2023 I had another seizure, around the time that I would have been able to take another theory test. I can’t explain the things I felt at those times. I felt that driving may have been completely off the cards for me forever.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, in August 2024 I celebrated being one-year seizure free! I wasn\u2019t expecting the amount of emotion that came that day. I knew I\u2019d be happy and proud of myself but along with that I felt so anxious. I\u2019ve been so cautious about everything I do since that day; from the things I eat to medication that I\u2019m given for other health issues.”<\/p>\n Grace has since gone on to complete a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and has completed her driving lessons and is awaiting her test.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from RSVP<\/a> ? To add RSVP as a preferred source of news on Google, simply click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“One of the most challenging things about epilepsy is not knowing when or where your next seizure will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60,37825],"class_list":{"0":"post-311813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-real-life"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}