I tell ppl the truth as I hav fibromyalgia & epilepsy I just say I've bn put off work by doctor due 2 my disorders ,if I get the snobby look I just tell them 2 go read up on it b4 u judge me. Other ppl I just right out say that's none of ur business.

I have around 13 seizures every month and have been told by my consultant and Dr that I am not allowed to work because my epilepsy is uncontrolled, so I just say to people that I am not allowed to work. You can tell people if you want to that you are on benefits but I explain it as it is, which is that I am not allowed to. I used to work when I only had around one seizure every year. All of a sudden about 13 years ago my epilepsy went crazy and I had many more every month and this is when I was told it is not safe for me to work as I could cause problems for myself and others. It is not only for your safety, it is for others too. We need to make sure that even epileptics know more about epilepsy, let alone the public. There are 40 different types of seizures that epileptics can have and this is not easy to get epileptics to believe let alone others. Look at some epilepsy websites like epilepsy.org.uk or epilepsysociety.org.uk which are the websites for epilepsy action and national society for epilepsy, as they have many facts to give to epileptics that is very rarely known by epileptics. I am trying to get these facts out there for us all and am fighting with tv channels to make sure they stop only mentioning photosensitivity which is not even a common trigger as only three in one hundred epileptics have this and start talking about all things like sleep seizures, temporal lobe and the fact that some people know what they are dong but not all and reasons can be things like sleep loss, menstrual cycles and SUDEP etc.

For me, it depends on the situation and what I'm in the mood to say. If I'm in an uber and it's in the middle of the day, I don't feel well enough to take the bus, I am asked the "what do you do" question, I say I have epilepsy and am out on doctors orders/unable to work my current job, etc.

Other times, if asked, I will give a broad brush stroke of what I did/do/industry i worked in. You could say you worked in the restaurant industry if you don't want to specify which one.

If you don't want to return to the same job, this is a good time to explore other options- work with a career counselor, do some training, volunteer perhaps?

Tell them you work for McDonald's. Your not lying you haven't returned yet. I know what you mean though.

I have only had seizures for about 5 years, and it got so bad the second year that I had them that I was forced to quit my job. It was to dangerous and I became a liability. I tell people exactly that. I'm trying to get benefits, but having a hard time with it.