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Pregancy
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭

i am wanting some advice about pregancy. i have been told that i am able to have a baby by my doctor, however i have been told by others that i could not because i was taking dilantin. the doctors said it was unsafe as the baby will have birth defects i am unsure would be great if a woman can answer this!

posted August 10, 2022
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

KaraC=>BillieLeeWyman About 10 months after my ex-husband and I got married we went to the doctor to see about starting a family. This was back in 1992. I was told that due to the amount of different medications I was on for my epilepsy it would be highly unadvisable for me to get pregnant as the baby would definitely be born with at least Downs Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and possibly more. I was very young and naïve and didn’t think about surrogacy or adoption. I just felt completely heart broken. I also felt that I had let my husband down and wasn’t much of a woman. I didn’t tell him that and we got divorced roughly 2 years after we’d married. He’s still one of my best friends but my biggest regret is not just sitting down with him and having a good talk about what he wanted and expected from the marriage. Years later I found out that he would have stayed with me. These days, things are completely different and a lot of women with epilepsy seem to be able to have a family. It really was the biggest regret of my life - I just keep telling myself that I would have been a terrible mother anyway!

posted August 10, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

My Drs told me it would be unsafe, but that's with me, my body and my epilepsy.

posted August 26, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

thankyou.

posted August 23, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

First of all. I am not a md .
I am a woman who has had epilepsy all her life .
I do take Dilantin along with other things. My first daughter was born in 1994 she weighed 11 pounds 6 1/2 ozs. She had alot of hair and could flip over the day she was born. She was not born with an cleft lip or anything. HOWEVER. about 2 years ago she was diagnosed with scoliosis.
My second daughter 10 pounds 6 ozs. Had a birth mark on her forehead in the shape of a flower. Which has since faded. No issues observed.
My advice is if you are not on it all ready get on a vitamin an folic acid (check with MD for dose).

Mass General AED registration.
Check with MD to see how this relates.

posted August 17, 2022
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

thankyou, i do have a partner as well but im actually scared to tell him. i did tell him though i am unable to have children.. he seemed like he aknowledged it. but i dont want him to leave.

posted August 10, 2022

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