Pregnancy, Epilepsy and Questions!

[Anusha]

Hi,

I am a 30 yrs old and have had eplilepsy since i was 2. my husband and I are taking our first steps towards starting a family. So far I have been very aprehensive about having a baby, but reading all the threads on the site, i feel a little encouraged.

Although my doctors say its all eazy breezy , I still have my reservations about the whole thing. I am currently on Lamictal and Topiramate. Soon i will be going off Topiramate and possibly staying with just lamictal.

Could someone please tell me what the transition between two medications to one was like? How did you handle being pregnant while on your medication? I am really scared that I will have a seizure during my pregnancy and that could affect the baby. Do i require complete bed rest or need to be watched for 9 months?

I am a full time student and my husband works, and we have moved here from India , so we dont really have any family that can come and help us out during that time.Should I drop out of school, at least for now?

I have all these questions in my head and although i have good doctors and a good family, no one seems to have the right answers.

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[Maria Elena Slovonic]

I take lamictal and had a healthy and beautiful baby 3 1/2 ago. I took a lot of prenatal vitamins. I did not have seizures at all. they did increased my meds at the end of pregnancy. I have simple partial seizures. If the doctors say it's ok, just go for it. Just make sure they monitor you. Also try to have appt with a perinatologist when you're pregnant.

Good luck!

Oh I forgot to mention I'm 46 years old, I had my miracle baby.

 

[Anusha]

Thankyou for getting back to me so soon. were on you on lamictal before you were pregnant or did you have a change in medication?
 
Maria Elena Slovonic said:

I take lamictal and had a healthy and beautiful baby 3 1/2 ago. I took a lot of prenatal vitamins. I did not have seizures at all. they did increased my meds at the end of pregnancy. I have simple partial seizures. If the doctors say it's ok, just go for it. Just make sure they monitor you. Also try to have appt with a perinatologist when you're pregnant.

Good luck!

Oh I forgot to mention I'm 46 years old, I had my miracle baby.

 

[Maria Elena Slovonic]

I was on Lamictal long way before I got pregnant. I worked until a week I delivered (I was induced because of my age and doctors didn't want me to wait, so I delivered at 38 1/2 weeks. I felt very healthy during my pregnancy.

I have SPS, what type do you have?

[Anusha]

I have get grand mal seizures. I've been getting them since I was a child and we're not sure what set them off in the first place.Luckily, i havent had one in the past one year.

 my mom and my sister are both doctors, so while i was living at home it was safer and somewhat controlled, but now that I'm married, it's kind of all over the place. My husband is a software techie and it totally out of his league!! :)

[Rachel B.]

I am 32 weeks pregnant and on lamictal. The only pain in the butt thing is having to have my med levels checked each month because lamictal metabolizes a lot faster when you are pregnant.  Other than that, things are great. Pregnancy can affect women with epilepsy in different ways. Some can go off medication and not have a seizure, some who are on medication whose seizures are under control, have them. It is just really important to have your doctor/midwife connected with your neurologist. I wouldn't drop out of school. If things get to hectic, you should be able to do a medical withdrawal without an effect on your GPA.  Check out disability services at your school.  Epilepsy should qualify you for their services. If you have any questions feel free to message me!