non-mouse

are you serious? "I'm not too familiar with that, but I'll get back to you" is the most standard political response to a question a politician doesn't want to take a stand on.

How often do you go online? I consider being on the internet the most "on the grid" aspect of my life these days. I am surprised to see many of my old friends who used to use kerosene lamps and outhouses in the 70s/80s (friends of my parents & their kids who got into a hippie/back to nature lifestyle when I was young) on Facebook now...

Some of them have just altered philosophies but a lot of it is the ease of getting online, and making a partial living thru online work, so it's just very tempting to "be connected" while still chopping your own wood and growing your own tomatoes. But doesn't it change everything?

I meant doesn't having internet access change the idea of being off the grid, since in a way you're even more connected than an ordinary (on-grid) person pre-internet... I didn't know you were planning to get rid of it.

So do you have a timeline? Why is it the last thing to go?

I have TLE too and have been on meds for twenty years, with partial success (mostly night seizures now, maybe once a month, though it varies). One doctor recently mentioned surgery but I felt very squeamish about it, mostly for this reason. I asked him if I could talk to other patients who'd been satisfied but we never got to it, and I've since moved & switched doctors.

Anyway - can you provide more detail about your mental experience before and after? Were you concerned that things might change?

And perhaps thoughts / advice on whether it would be worth it at this stage? How hard a decision was it for you?

I guess it's longer than twenty years - I was initially diagnosed in 1986 when I was 12. But meds seemed to work until college, when things got a bit unreliable, and then it's been up and down since then. I've tried a bunch of different combos over the years but the prescription I'm on now has been the same for the past five years at least. I like the idea of not having to remember pills and find/pay for meds between jobs or when traveling, and as I said, I still have occasional seizures. Plus I may experience side effects from the pills...

Can you drink alcohol? That's something I've given up in hopes of keeping seizures down but wouldn't mind being able to do now and then... How long were you medicated before surgery became the clear choice? I only had this one doctor in NY bring it up and I didn't look for another surgeon because it sounded too unsettling. The doctor who brought it up with me seemed less assuring that there might not be some after effects... Do you think you ever had/have side effects from medications? [edited - clarity]