Bengaluru, June 17: Robin Uthappa often comes in as a radiant person. The personality has had an effect on his batting too - never the one to curb his instincts. But behind that, there were tough phases that Uthappa had to hurdled over to grow as a cricketer.

The India batsman said he had to battle epilepsy. "As a kid, one of the things that probably stunted my growth a little bit was the fact that I went through epilepsy. I had to take medication for that which alters with your hormones quite a bit. Between the age of 11 and 13.5, I was taking these steroids which were playing a little bit of havoc with my hormones and my system. I was anyway a strong guy, but then the fact that I put on weight even made people question the legality of my age," said Uthappa in 'Homerun with AV', a chat show with sports commentator Arun Venugopal on his YouTube channel Gethist Creative.

"I suddenly seemed bigger but not a lot of people knew I was going through epilepsy and was taking medication for it. For me, it was like a monkey on my back that I needed to get rid of after a point of time. It was getting to me emotionally because it also kind of stunted my height a little bit. I have kind of reached a place where I have settled down into a sweet spot. I don't allow myself to let go completely, but at the same time I pay attention to my recovery and make sure I am healthy and disciplined with the way I eat even when I am not playing the sport," said Uthappa.