Epilepsy

Don Herbert begins the program with an interview with a young woman who suffers from epilepsy.

Ben Park describes the day's episode. He describes the seizures that occur with epilepsy and its effects on people who have it and those who don't understand it.

Herbert interviews an 11-year-old boy. The boy describes his first seizure at age 6.

Herbert next speaks to a man who had been discriminated on when attempting to find a job. He next speaks to a young woman, who describes her diagnosis and her fear and unhappiness about it.

They talk to the mother of the young boy. She describes noticing early signs of epilepsy in him at age 3. She fears he would be handicapped through life. The boy talks about some people acting differently to him, in school in particular. He did not enjoy the special treatment he received.

They speak again to the young man. He tells us how his epilepsy affected him before he had trouble on the job market. He says he discovered that keeping occupied mentally reduced seizures, He was rejected by the army, which made him feel as though he was handicapped.

The young woman talks about receiving more seizures after the diagnosis and the trouble she had keeping a job. They talk about her treatments, which were less effective than hoped.

Commercial break

They speak to the mother of the young boy again, and she describes the first day he did not have an epileptic seizure. He had not had an attack for a year and a half. The boy talks about his improved health.

His mother talks about the help they received and finally finding the right medication. The young man also talks about receiving the correct medication.

In the young woman's case, it took 14 months before they found the correct medication. She talks about how her social anxieties made her treatment difficult. She joined a choir and met a man, which helped her considerably. She talks about telling her boyfriend about her condition. They got engaged and then married.

They speak to a specialist in epilepsy. He talks about searching for the cause(s) of epilepsy and the treatments available. He tells that not all epileptics can be treated. He talks about treating epileptics as normal people, which will decrease the number of spells. Making the epileptic feel different is worse than the seizures themselves.

Park provides listeners from the Chicago area a number they can call to learn more about epilepsy.

Commercial break.

Park teases next week's program about linkage between housing and health.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150104
Municipal archives id: LT1966