Young Women Raising Epilepsy Awareness In El Paso

Priscilla Alvarado’s seizures began when she was just 12 years old.

Now 19 and a college student, Alvarado has reminders of the two surgeries she’s undergone. One reminder: a physical scar wrapping around her head. The other: emotional scarring from years of living with epilepsy.

“Out of my four years of high school, I only went two of those years,” she told ABC-7.

Priscilla said she’s lost friends and even a boyfriend because they couldn’t handle the seizures.

But that doesn’t keep her from telling anybody about her epilepsy, not even as she pledges a sorority.

“I have to tell them because they need to know,” she said with a smile on her face. “I never know when I’m gonna have (a seizure.)”

Stefanie Morales is an on-campus advocate for epilepsy at UTEP, raising awareness and passing out information in between classes.

She found out about her epilepsy at age 14.

“I woke up one day in the back of an ambulance,” she told ABC-7. “I didn’t know where I was or where my family was. It was scary.”

El Paso neurologist Dr. Hector Martin Maldonado says epilepsy is caused by discharges from brain cells.

The condition can be brought on by genetics, head trauma, medications and even excessive alcohol.

Most seizures, he says, pass on their own.

“In a minute, a minute and-a-half it should end by itself,” he said. “If it doesn’t, it’s an emergency and you should call 911.”

If you see someone having a seizure, Dr. Maldonado says you should first make sure they don’t fall and hit their head, then turn them onto their side to prevent them from choking on saliva or vomit and – despite what you may have heard – never put anything in their mouth.

“It’s impossible for someone to swallow their tongue during a seizure,” Morales said. “That’s a common misconception.”