Fatima Sana Shaikh has often spoken out about living with epilepsy, hoping that sharing her experiences will help raise awareness of the neurological condition. In a recent interview with Soha Ali Khan on her podcast, the actress opened up about the first time she had a seizure and how she was finally diagnosed while shooting for Dangal.Recalling her first memory of an arrest, Fatima admitted that she remembers very little of the episode itself.“I have no memory. I remember feeling very scared and passing out and ending up in the hospital,” he said. The actor said that one of the incidents happened while he was going to a dance class.“I was dancing and I tripped, I was having a seizure. A girl had her hand in her mouth – you know how people say ‘chamach daalo’ and all that – so I reached in and bit her. Apparently, he was bleeding,” Fatima recalled.When he regained consciousness, he found himself in a hospital surrounded by people. “I woke up and there were 10 people looking at me. I was disoriented. I didn’t know anyone and I started crying,” she said.Fatima also revealed that at the time, the episode was misunderstood by a doctor. “The doctor said, ‘Oh, this is for attention.'” He told my parents that maybe there was some drug involved. I was 15 years old, so it was traumatic.”
‘I told them mujhe seizure aane wala hai’
A few years later, while training for Dangal, Fatima started experiencing so-called “auras”, often preceded by seizures.“Woh time pe mujhe auras aate the, but mujhe nahi pata tha ki auras kya hote hain,” he said. “This light would go sideways, usually on the right side, and it would slowly get bigger and bigger. Then there’s the fear that this thing is out there and I don’t know when it’s going to take over.”Fatima said she experienced this feeling several times during filming before finally having a seizure on set.“I was training and it came. I was saying ‘Nahi, nahi, kuchh nahi hoga’. But it kept getting bigger. So I told people around me, ‘Mujhe seizure aane wala hai’. Nobody knew what it was. Mujhe bhi nahi pata tha,” he said.He added that the team was quick to help after realizing something was wrong.“Fortunately Aamir Khan he was there Sanya Malhotra he was there and our coach Kripa Shankar Bishnoi was there. They quickly Googled me and put me aside,” recalls Fatima. “Finally, the production team decided they had to figure out what it was, because a lot of people were hanging out with me and the film.”
“It made me feel like I was on drugs”
After the incident, Fatima was taken to a neurologist and underwent several tests.“They did MRIs, EEGs, everything. The doctor put me on medication,” he said. However, the treatment initially had serious side effects.“I felt like I was under the influence. I couldn’t walk straight, I felt all confused. I was very depressed and angry all the time. I felt very alienated,” Fatima said.The actress eventually stopped taking the medication without informing anyone because it was becoming difficult for her to continue working.“I had to fight and function, so I stopped taking it. But every time I got an aura, I’d go to the bathroom, lock myself inside, lay on my side and hope it would pass and no one would know,” she said. Fatima revealed that this struggle continued for several years before things stabilized. “It lasted a good four years,” he added.On the work front, Fatima is reportedly set to star in the courtroom drama serial Nyaya directed by Karan Kapadia and Nitya Mehra, which also stars Aneet Padda.
