Yes, during absence seizure you can not only be awake & alert, but you can even be interacting with others & unless they know what they are looking at, they won't even know you are having a seizure. How do I know? It happens to me all the time, even with the meds they have me on. I have carried on complete coherent conversions & duties without anyone being aware I was having seizure.

Tired afterwards? definitely. sometimes it takes 2 or even 3 days to bounce back from them. I have had to take time off of work after bad seizures in order to recuperate. I don't really think it matters what type of seizure you have, you will always need a "recupe zone" of time. Seizures are hard on the entire body & will make the entire body work harder then it needs to, therefore like with anything else, the body needs 'down time' to bounce back. Let me ask this way; after an operation does the doctor let you go back to work the next day? Of course not, no matter how minor the surgery. They always tell you to rest & let your body heal a bit first. We have to remember that our seizures are a medical condition & that it has a physical impact on our bodies too, not just our brains and minds. It's okay to take the time you need to bounce back. <3

I'm grateful that the people I work for understand that when I tell them about this issue with E that it's not to freak them out, but rather to make them aware if I am behaving strangely. They understand & make accommodation for me so that I can stay employed. One could say I am fortunate to have such employers.

The one issue I am having that isn't making sense to me is that since I started taking the meds for the E I have had serious serious headaches lately and I'm considering going off these meds again. last time I took this med I was having convulsions.

As for the meds your pharmacy is giving you that is not the name brand of the meds, tell them it MUST BE the name brand as the generic has a different effect on you and is not working for you the way it needs to be. if they don't listen to you, tell your doctor, which you should do anyway. We who have E need to have the exact rx the doctor gives us, not an imitation because it's like taking sugar pills. They simply won't work as they are intended.

Just so You know when I was in college I did inform all of my professors that I did have epilepsy. To make sure they would believe me I had my neurologist write a note informing them that it was true. A letter from a professional with their credits, phone number etc. was enough to make things easier for me.

After an absence seizure is over I end up being very tired. Generic medication was a serious problem for me. It did not "work". A few days after I started taking it, I ended up in the hospital for a few days. I don't want that to happen to You. Good Luck!

This is one of my meds it says Alembic pharmaceuticals. If this helps

Absence seizures do make me tired, & be very careful about changing medications/ form "brand name to generic or generic to generic" That happened to me once. The pharmacy changed my medication from brand name to generic without telling me once. After that happened I ended up in the hospital. The generic was not good/not strong enough/not the same quality. I don't want to be mean, who ever pays for medicine & wants to make it easier/less expensive for themselves to pay for something they will try and find a way-