Control-Cindy Maciak

Control (2007) is a movie based on the life of Ian Curtis the lead singer of the English post-punk band Joy Division. Ian, who was born in 1956, began having seizures in 1978 at the age of 21 while fronting Joy Division. His case was considered so severe that his doctor's stated that his life would be completely ruled by his epilepsy. He joined the British Epilepsy Association and spoke freely about his disease. Although he had a positive outlook when changing anticonvulsants, he eventually failed on each. Additionally, his condition worsened in 1979 and 1980 due to the pressures of touring, performing, and his inability to stop smoking, drinking, and maintaining regular sleep patterns. Ian regularly had seizures during performances and had to be carried offstage. He normally had to endure two tonic-clonic seizures per week. His last stage performance was on June 2, 1980. He committed suicide on May 18, 1980 at the age of 23. I feel that this will influence my practice in that when counseling patients I am much more aware of how AEDs are not the only factor that I will focus on with patients. A patient's lifestyle can also be mitigating factors that effect seizure control.

1. Control. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421082/. Accessed October 14, 2018

2. Curtis, Deborah (1995). Touching from a Distance. Ian Curtis and Joy Division (2014 ed.).

3. Savage, Jon (October 6, 2007). "Dark star: The Final Days of Ian Curtis by his Joy Division Bandmates". The Independent. Accessed October 14, 2018

Although this is a very sad story, as you have mentioned it makes you realize that you shouldn't only focus on AED but also consider other factors such as patient's life style, depression, suicide and others.- Omniah

Hi Cindy,

A great moving that helps us to think more about this people withe neurological deficits and offer more help. Ian story was sad how he ended up committing suicide. Simon Rasho

I agree with Omniah. The medical profession puts a lot of stock in the successful treatment of disease with pharmacotherapy, but we often neglect the importance of non-pharmacological treatments. Given that this patient was initially optimistic about his AED therapy, one could conclude that he may have been open to lifestyle changes if they were presented to him as viable options.

Dustin Jones

I think that Ian Curtis would have had a rough battle with his epilepsy even if he had made lifestyle changes, but that is really just my opinion. His doctors did tell him that his like would be controlled by his battle with epilepsy. Cindy Maciak

I think studying this module and completing this assignment was an eye opener for me on many aspects of epilepsy and its huge impact on the patient and care givers.

patients with epilepsy have to deal with so many consequences of their condition including multiple medications, lifestyle changes, plus psychological adverse effects of the disease. I hope one day science will evolve and find a cure for this condition.

Sim.

I agree with you Sim. Although ,my best friend used to have seizures and I was kind of familiar what she was going through, it still made me much more compassionate. People who suffer from this disorder could really suffer, every day simple activities could become a struggle.

Sim, I also agree with you. This module is making me think about the totality of the disease and not just the component that we are most familiar (AEDs). I think his story is a tragic one, probably extreme, but shows the impact of all aspects of the disease. Cindy Maciak

Hey Cindy, I think you chose a great media item to share regarding epilepsy. I have heard about this movie but have yet to see it. I agree with you in entirety that epilepsy management is more than just disease and drug. There is a living person on the other end of the equation the importance of compassion and empathy cannot be overstated. When counselling, having a health care provider like a pharmacist to talk to is an importance and meaningful role in the patients care the is not entirely tangible but can bring comfort to patients that are suffering (SUBIR MANN).

Cindy, it's quite sad that such a young and talented musician cut his own life short. I think it's very important to consider quality of life issues, and not just pharmacotherapy, when working with patients who have seizures. Through this class, I learned about some of the challenges of living with seizures, including limitations on driving. I hadn't considered the effect of other lifestyle choices, and how AEDs without counseling and support might actually cause a depression.

Lisa Chang

Hi Lisa, I totally agree with you that it's very important to look at the whole picture and take all aspects into consideration. Epilepsy can cause social isolation which will cause depression which may lead to more epileptic episodes and the patient will find himself going into vicious cycle from epilepsy to depression to smoking to drinking to social isolation to more depression to worse epileptic episode and so on. So it will be really helpful to the patient and his family to provide full care from different aspects and not just medication. Sherry Sobhy

Deepa Pednekar

Very interesting story of a musician in the context of epilepsy. It is very sad but true that epilepsy can make people go through depressive episodes and can have a tragic end to their lives

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