Would this make someone get epilepsy? MY SISTER!!

[JustBenn]

I just watched a show, called Neighbours, where someone had an accident which gave them epilepsy? I think he hit his head, and he was unconscious,
anyway the problem is that it got my Anxiety up.

I'm quite Anxious about my Little Sister,

When we were little, we were trying to get conkers, hitting them off the tree with a big plank of wood, A friend my age, 9 or 10 at the time accidently hit my 5/ 6 year old at the time Sister on the top of her head!
She did not fall unconscious nor did my parents take her to the hospital!
She just cried then that was it!

All I remember is being scared for her at the time, as I hugged her tight while she was crying! I was so young 10 at the time to think about any illnesses which could come after a strike to the head! and especially at that age, the head is the most delicate!

she is nearly 14 years old, This has been nearly 9 years ago and hasn't had any problems what so ever! She is good in school work!
I told her about it, she said she can't remember, since it was so long ago!

Am I worrying about nothing?

I do remeber it like it was yesterday, and I could still hear the wack noise?
Can't remember how hard though!

Anyway, I'm 19 now and My anxiety is back again! :ohmy:

[Annie0904]

If your sister has not had any problems since then I am sure she will be fine. One of my son's had a really bad knock on his head which required gluing the cut (he was 10) and my daughter needed stitches in hers when she was 3. Must young children get knocks at sometime but they are tougher than we might think. My 2 have both been to uni and got degrees. Try not to worry about your sister, if there was going to be a problem it would have shown by now. You were only young yourself at the time and protective of your sister so it will have seemed worse to you than it was.

[JaneC]

My son has bashed his head badly on the ground many times due to his fainting tendency. He has never had a seizure. My daughter has never had a head injury but has epilepsy. I doubt what happened to your sister would be bad enough to cause anything nasty and if she's been fine all this time the chances are she will stay that way

[Elle-Kay]

When I was 20-ish months old we were in a bad car accident where I got a broken leg, and also my mum's teeth smacked into the back of my head at around 60mph (there were no seatbelts in the back of cars in 1983, so I was travelling on her lap). I have never had any problems with fainting, fitting or anything and have just received a distinction class masters degree, so try not to worry for your sister - children are made of strong stuff :)

[NoPoet]

Unless a person is already predisposed to epilepsy, which would become obvious when they started having fits, then a person can't become epileptic without some highly unusual circumstance, such as brain damage or possibly using some types of recreational drugs. The plank of wood would probably have needed to have broken your sister's skull and bumped her brain, or at the very least she would have been seriously ill in hospital. I'm not an expert on epilepsy but I don't know of anyone who "became" epileptic without illness-, drugs- or predisposition-related events.

You need to ask yourself WHY you are focused so much on this one condition and why you believe people may be at risk of it. Epilepsy is horrible, but there are far more fearsome conditions. Epilepsy can be controlled or managed in the cases where it does occur; you don't get your brain flying out of your head or anything, so we could ask WHAT you fear about it.

Health anxiety seems to focus on random things. Perhaps you should concentrate on building up your confidence as I mentioned further down in this post:
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1039541&postcount=3

Also you should probably read this post too as there is advice in it which you might find very interesting:
http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1039006&postcount=15

[PanchoGoz]

Weigh up the evidence, work out why the fear exists, why you fear it (is it actually what you fear or how you cope with it causes you fear)