My Coach was truly amazing helping me find what works for me.
Lee Feldmeier, HOBSCOTCH participantI'm Lee Feldmeier and I'm one of the 40% whose epilepsy doesn't respond to medication. Sure, the medications work for a while, but then my brain finds a way around them and—boom—my nocturnal seizure activity is back. I've been on so many different medications, I can barely remember them all. But joking aside, remembering anything can seem like a real challenge for me.
I learned about HOBSCOTCH when I was going through yet another medication change and called the epilepsy hotline because of the side effects I was experiencing, including terrible memory issues. I was especially having trouble remembering names; I addressed people by ma'am or sir pretending it was out of respect, but the truth was I was using it as a crutch because I couldn't remember their name. HOBSCOTCH taught me different ways to remember names. One was to carry a little notebook with me to write the names of people I meet and a way to associate that person to their name. And it worked!
I'm a retired guy and I really try to keep myself healthy by going to the gym and riding my dirt bike. My trainer at the gym knows about my epilepsy and memory issues, so we made a little game to help me. After I started using my notebook with names, my trainer started testing me when someone I have met before comes into the gym. For example, she might point out a guy with a lot of tattoos and ask me his name, and the tattoo association will help me remember "that's David!"
Before I started the HOBSCOTCH program, I had never heard of it and had no idea of the benefits it could and did give me. My coach was truly amazing helping me find what works for me. Another thing I learned was to slow my brain down and relax if I was trying to do too many things at once. Now when I feel that my brain is speeding, I stop, relax, take deep breaths, check my pulse, and just slow down. It works and helps me feel a lot better.
The HOBSCOTCH program has really helped my day-to-day life. Not all the suggestions in the program work for me, but that's actually what's so good about it—we are all different and our epilepsy is unique to each of us, and the program helps each of us in our own ways. Give it a shot. Try HOBSCOTCH!