One minute Im talking to you, the next minute Im on the floor
2fm star Rick O'Shea has revealed that having epilepsy made him worry about falling downstairs with his babies in his arms or collapsing into the path of a train.
However, the radio star insisted he tried never to let the condition stand in the way of living a normal life.
"Sure you do have those moments when you're standing on the train platform and you realise you could have one and fall under the train. You can't allow that thought to prevent you from standing on a platform," he said. "There are times when I'd be at the top of the stairs with a baby in my arms and think about what could happen if I had a seizure. You cannot allow that to stop you from holding your own child in your arms."
Dad-of-three Rick (39) admitted he has the 'tonic-clonic' kind of seizures "where by one minute I'm talking to you, the next minute I'm on the floor."
He told how he was struck by the condition out of the blue as a teenager one St Stephen's night.
"It started when I was 16," he said. "I was sitting next to the Christmas tree and according to my mother — because I don't remember any of it — I stood up, keeled over and took the Christmas tree with me. It was as simple as that — no lead-up, no family history of the condition, it literally happened one night and that was it."
He added: "My parents hoped I might grow out of it but that didn't happen."
He insisted that he is at the "lucky end" of the spectrum of epilepsy.
"I'm medicated with no side effects — even when they were at their hight I might only have one every 12 months," he said in the RTE Guide. "I've only once had two seizures on two subsequent days. There are people who have four, five, even ten seizures in a single day. I'm aware that I'm very fortunate."
However, the afternoon show broadcaster admits a seizure takes a heavy toll on him.
"Afterwards, I want to sleep for eight hours," he said. "Every muscle in the body would have tensed up during the seizure and when I wake up I feel like I've run a marathon."