Everyone has such great advice on this forum. Do you think she might benefit from reading others' stories? There is inspiration everywhere, and that might give her confidence.

I was diagnosed with complex partial seizures when I started the 6th grade in the 1980s. However, as an adult, I went to the epilepsy day at Disneyland in 2022, and it was the best liberating thing to happen in my life, with epilepsy being among people of all ages wanting to have a normal life and talking about what it takes to have that normal.

I'm not sure if this will be useful but I'd like to share my experience with you.

I was diagnosed at the age of 9 after a series of tonic clonic seizures. I had a lot of them in primary school and I expected high school children to be just as open to it as the younger children were.

They weren't, I was bullied severely in my first year and I went through the same feelings as your daughter is currently feeling now. My parents and older sister made me realise that I wasn't different to any other child. They took me out of my comfort zone and I remember them telling me to look around and see if I can spot the difference between myself and other children a similar age. Visually there wasn't (not sure if this applies to your daughter)

I made new friends and my parents gave me the freedom to build up my confidence slowly but surely. I went for walks to safe areas with friends such as the park. That improved to getting the bus with friends and so on.

I'm now in my thirties with a family of my own and a successful career, despite what Healthcare professionals said about the predicted development of my brain.

My suggestion is to support her through this is by showing her that she isn't any different to other children and she can do whatever she puts her mind to. I'd also prepare her that some people aren't as accepting compared to others.

It's important that she knows it reflects more about their poor character values than it does her. It will take time and lots of encouragement, a bit like riding a bike but she will get there.

As much as your natural instinct may be to protect her, please also bare in mind that overprotection could make her anxiety worse. As a mother to a child with epilepsy I completely understand the need to protect, however we need them to be resilient and confidence.

For now work on adjusting to the diagnosis. Then work on confidence and resilience. Hope this helps and things improve for your family.

Start by getting a hold of your Local Epilepsy Foundation . Get some advice from them.
Do they still have thier Epilepsy Support groups ?
So the have any camping retreats during the summer?
Remind your daughter , that she isn’t alone with Epilepsy. There are many of us with this disorder. We are all learning how to cope . Learning and understand Epilepsy better , along with other stuff.

Let her know that you are there to talk to her . Especially during school. She may struggle through many things . From classmates, learning maybe harder ( check if there are Special Education Classes ) and other thing that may stress her during school.

@A MyEpilepsyTeam Member
I’ve felt the same exact way ever since I was in high school. I continued to play sports and was a good athlete 😢 Even in my 40’s I can’t do anything on my own

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