A rare type of epilepsy has not prevented Ana Nedeljković from continuing with her normal life.

My name is Ana Nedeljković and I am 24.

I was faced with my disease for the first time when I was 10.  I was born in a modest family where I lived with my mother and grandmother. None knew what was happening with me. My mother kept taking me to the pediatric neurologist who explained everything with epilepsy. I was very upset with all that since nobody ever told me what was happening with me. I kept going to EEG examinations without any other treatment. The situation remained the same for couple of years and I did not feel any better after all those examinations. At the beginning, I took Mazepine and thereafter I was treated with Eftil. The fits continued without any warning, most commonly after sleep. Usually I appeared slow to other people and I felt exhausted. My eyes were rolling and shaking – as I used to say I was “consciously drunk“.

When my mother died I had a major fit and I went to Clinical Center. I was admitted by a senior physician who concluded, based on my story, that I should take Tegretol. At the beginning I felt somewhat better, till the moment I had a traffic accident when I bumped by head and sustained a fit. Within the following 20 days I had another three fits in spite of the fact that had avoided physical straining, had may meals regularly, slept and took Tegretol as prescribed. At the time, I decided to visit again Dr. Aleksandar Ristić, neurologist. I repeated him my story and noticed that he considered my fits strange and suggested me to be admitted to the hospital in order to be subjected to magnetic resonance imaging and perform examinations after discontinuation of my treatment and provoking of fits and order to identify their cause. It was evidenced that I was long treated with drugs ineffective against Jeavons syndrome –  a subtype of epilepsy that I have been suffering from. Since then, I have had no fits.

I owe so much to my kind, compassionate and dedicated doctor who did so much not only for me but also for other patients.