What Types Of Anticonvulsants Were You On When You Were Pregnant? | MyEpilepsyTeam

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What Types Of Anticonvulsants Were You On When You Were Pregnant?
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member asked a question 💭

Were there any side effects relating to birth defects with that specific medication?
My husband and I are trying to get pregnant within the next couple years and it's clear that I need to take an anticonvulsant. I would rather take a medication that has side effects for me than for my future child.

posted January 19, 2023
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A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

My daughter is perfectly healthy & I had no side effects during my pregnancy either. My daughter was born full term with no health problems & never even had febrile seizures when she's had things like ear infections. I didn't have any seizures either. I did need to have my Lamotrigine levels checked at least 1x month because the levels go down during pregnancy & they increased it a tad when it was low, but I was weined down to my normal dose after my pregnancy

posted February 5, 2023
A MyEpilepsyTeam Member

I was on Oxcarbazepine & Lamotrigine and was also part of a research study for pregnant women with epilepsy. My kid is completely healthy, with no birth defects, no neuro conditions. I also work in Neurology & unless there's a family history, other than you, like both parents of the kid having it or generations like your siblings, your parents, etc then they're less likely to get anything other than febrile seizures which usually go away, unless they get them later in life from things like contact sports, TBI, etc. During my study they were testing women on Oxcarbazepine to see if it was still effective with daily activity, if they had any changes in things like eating less, more, higher or lower sex drive, if they felt more stressed, angry, depressed, etc. I also did a study for Lamotrigine to see how often Lamotrigine levels decrease during pregnancy so if you take Lamotrigine, get levels checked at least 1x a month & they may need to increase it like they did mine throughout pregnancy, but after the baby is born, they wein you back down to your normal dose. 1 of those studies involved my kid where I brought her in at 6mo then 1 year old, 2, 3 & 4 to check movements, walking, showed pics to see if she knew what things were, asked her to count, say alphabet, had her preschool teacher fill out a form about things like learning, activity, behavior, etc and she's actually advanced with normal growth. Good luck

posted February 5, 2023

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