How Nikki Ashworth's epilepsy diagnosis changed her life

As a child, Nikki experienced seizures that she did not realize were seizures. She would feel "other" and disconnected from the world. Her earliest seizure memory is from when she was six years old, triggered by looking out the window of her parent's house. She would sometimes go to the window to see if she would have a seizure.

Today, her seizures are still the same as when she was a child. They last about a minute and are triggered by being outside. They start with a warming sensation in her lower abdomen and a feeling of over-familiarity. Then, she gets a radiating heat and nausea, which makes her cough. She then feels like she is being taken up a roller coaster and dropped. She can calculate how many seconds she has left in the seizure based on where the heat is in her body. After the seizure, she is fatigued but not confused. 

She accepts the differences in her body and does not let them affect her daily life. She is grateful to not have to deal with the struggles that other people with epilepsy face. Having focal aware seizures has allowed her to learn more about herself and her brain.

The Your Complex Brain production team is Heather Sherman, Jessica Schmidt, Dr. Amy Ma, Kim Perry, Sara Yuan, Meagan Anderi, Liz Chapman, and Lorna Gilfedder.

The Krembil Brain Institute, part of University Health Network, in Toronto, is home to one of the world's largest and most comprehensive teams of physicians and scientists uniquely working hand-in-hand to prevent and confront problems of the brain and spine, such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, epilepsy, stroke, spinal cord injury, chronic pain, brain cancer or concussion, in their lifetime. Through state-of-the-art patient care and advanced research, we are working relentlessly toward finding new treatments and cures.

Do you want to know more about the Krembil Brain Institute at UHN? Visit us at: uhn.ca/krembil

To get in touch, email us at [e-mail] or message us on social media:
Instagram - @krembilresearch
Twitter - @KBI_UHN
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/KrembilBrainInstitute

Thanks for listening!