Exclusive: Acceptance is key while dealing with epilepsy: Tuza Maza Breakup actress Ketaki Chitale

Popular Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale, who played the lead characters in hit shows like Tuzha Mazha Breakup and Ambat Goad, is battling epilepsy courageously from her childhood. Ketaki is spreading awareness on the neurological disorder through social media as well. The actress exclusively spoke to ETimes TV about her journey with the disorder, how she is coping with the lockdown and much more. (PC -Instagram) - Interview by Vaishnavi Gavankar

Actually, those who have epilepsy have to follow a certain timetable. Epilepsy is basically a neurological disorder in which the parts of your brain receive electrical currents and you get seizures which you call ‘fits’. When you get seizures, you lose your control over the body and you are prone to having injuries, too. In short, your brain restarts after such seizures. I am spending my life the way I spend it regularly and the lockdown it as not at all affecting me. One thing that makes me sad is that I’m not able to have my evening walks. (PC -Instagram)

There is a stigma in our country around epilepsy. No one is ready to talk about it. I do get seizures in clusters every 15 days. Basically, I do handle everything independently. I completely sleep for 2 days and only after that I get to recover. Seizure acts differently for each and everyone. In my case, I do get seizures in clusters and get 5-6 seizures in 2-3 hours. (PC -Instagram)

Anti-epilepsy drugs often affect your body weight because they contain steroids. You may lose or gain weight. Some people even might look anorexic because of the weight loss. How you deal with the side effects is important because the term 'normal weight' is not for epileptic bodies. They are either overweight or underweight. I have been dealing with it since I’m 10. (PC -Instagram)

One of the concerning side effects of anti-epileptic drugs is depression. Neurologists might tell you about the physical side effects like rashes or itching but not the psychological side effects. So, people are often clueless about what's happening with them. I don’t waste my time thinking negative about this disorder because if you have it, you have to accept and deal with it. There is nothing to feel sad about. The first thing is acceptance. I would like to encourage everyone to accept the condition so that you can change your outlook and lifestyle. If normal people can reach their destination easily from A to B and we can’t do that. But with acceptance at least we can find our own way. The road might be harder than ever before but we will surely reach there. (PC -Instagram)

After casting me and before the shooting commences, I ensure to make it clear to everyone that I might have seizures. Amazingly, every single producer supported me throughout my journey. The crew members and directors are so helpful that they allowed me to sleep half of the day and supported me throughout. Of late we are even hearing people exiling Covid-19 positive people from their societies; this is really shameful and inhuman. Humanity is really important. (PC -Instagram)

During the lockdown, it was tough to get my medicines because epileptic drugs are not to be given without prescriptions. Hats off to Mumbai Police; they are arranging for home delivery during this lockdown. I am thankful to them. ( PC - Instagram)

I feel there is an overdose of positivity nowadays. If people become sad for just a small thing then they instantly try to be positive. Every emotion matters and you have to feel every emotion courageously. I plan and cry at least one day a week. The thing is we save our emotions and one day that volcano erupts and you directly slip into depression. So rather than bursting out one day, you should slowly let the emotions out. Let out the cooker whistle slowly otherwise it will burst out one day. People don’t accept sadness nowadays. If you are sad then let it be, you don’t need to be positive all the time. Positivity is not all about laughing; it is facing a tough situation fearlessly. (PC -Instagram) - Interview by Vaishnavi Gavankar