hello my name is bevin and i am a thirty year old woman who suffers from a seizure disorder but one thing I can not understand is why a woman like me would be considered a high risk pregnancy just because of my seizure disorder.For me To have a child when I am married in the Future will be so hard because not only do I have to go off the medicine for seizures but i have to be off of it the entire time I am pregnant and be on the epilepsy registry for woman who are pregnant. i have a choice to make do I go off my medicine to have a child with my future husband( when we meetand are married) and risk damaging the fetus with a possible recurrent seizure attack or do I have some one else carry my egg and my future (to meet and marry)husbands sperm in her uterus to help the baby develop with out any problems. I NEED ADVICE WHAT DO i DO BECAUSE I Feel trapped because of the hard choice that needs to be made when it comes to my having children when I marry . I feel as though sometimes I have to make an impossible choice when it comes having healthychildren due to these hard heartwrenching awful decisions that need to be made. Any advice is welcomed and very much appreciated. Thinking about these things in my future makes me cry from frustration and hurt over these painful choices.

Hi,

You will have to be careful if you have catamenial epilepsy
(around menstruation)because alot of women whose progesterone
levels get low and can cause the seizures.Well,low progesterone
can also make it more difficult to get pregnant and a better chance
of miscarriages.Sorry to tell you the bad news,I never had children,
but,I have heard that alot of women with E. have had successful
and healthy children.There may be meds out there now,that do not
have as high a risk as the ones out there 20 years ago when I was
considering having a baby.

Good-luck,Sherri

thankyou sherri for explaning about the progesterone factor during pregnancy and how that affects getting and being pregnant . But my seizures are classified as non specific but it is still a seizure disorder and I still will have to be careful if the progesterone dips low. that gives me some information to mull over.:)

Hi Bevon 30, nice to meet you and have the pleasure of sharing my experience with you. I am 26 as of today and have a four year old. I have been having seizures for 16 years and that was always one of my big questions. I had my daughter having a seizure disorder and being on meds. I was on Trileptal when I had my little girl. I was considered high risk and had 18 ultrasounds so we always new how and what my baby was up too. I just want to tell you don't give up because it is possible and I also had 2 grand mal seizures whil carrying my little girl and she came out perfect in every way. My husband and I are very greatful about that and am getting ready for surgery to try to fix my seizure disorder so we can have our next. Keep your chin up and don't give up.
Talk to you again and if you have any questions feel free to ask,
Sk8ter Girl 23

I've heard of many women having healthy babies while having epilepsy/seizure disorder. My neuro told me that in the future, when I'm at the point of trying to get pregnant, I'd have to switch my meds, because Tegretol can be dangerous for the fetus. But there are a couple of meds out there that you can take while pregnant that are more safe for the baby.


I have a questions for Sherri-- I have Catamenial Epilepsy... but I get most of my seizures around the time of my period, and not as many when I'm ovulating... does this mean I'd have more seizures or less when I'm pregnant, because one of the hormones seems to affect me more than the other... Does this mean I have low progesterone and won't be able to get pregnant? I've actually never heard that before...

Hi, I have two lovely, healthy children. One starts college tomorrow (8/19) & it's the 5th year (of a 5 yr program) for the other. I took neurontin while pregnant. Nothing 'bad' happened while I was pregnant. I didn't even know epilepsy was considered high risk because you take meds. If needed maybe they can be changed (but mine were not). The only 'high risk' thing I can think of for a reason is the possibilty of the pregnant woman having a sz & falling & hurting herself or the fetus. I think thats rather dumb. It CAN happen but how often. A pregnant woman with a bad leg can fall.

to lamb thank you for all of your encouragement and reassurance that nothing bad can happen if having a seizure while I am in the future pregnant. Thank you for informing me on what the doctors do for woman who are pregnant and have seizuredisorders. I did not know that sometimes depending on the medicine the doctor changes it. Thankyou for your message it gives me hope. It gives me hope that i have not had. bevin

thankyou sentence doing for relating to my question and letting me know there are safer medications to be on while pregnant and I would like to say that i am allergic to tegretol so thankgod i can not take that for seizures at all or while pregnant.

Hi Bevon 30, nice to meet you and have the pleasure of sharing my experience with you. I am 26 as of today and have a four year old. I have been having seizures for 16 years and that was always one of my big questions. I had my daughter having a seizure disorder and being on meds. I was on Trileptal when I had my little girl. I was considered high risk and had 18 ultrasounds so we always new how and what my baby was up too. I just want to tell you don't give up because it is possible and I also had 2 grand mal seizures whil carrying my little girl and she came out perfect in every way. My husband and I are very greatful about that and am getting ready for surgery to try to fix my seizure disorder so we can have our next. Keep your chin up and don't give up.
Talk to you again and if you have any questions feel free to ask,
Sk8ter Girl 23

to sk8ter girl 23thankyou for your encouragement and letting me know that a fetus can be unaffected during a seizure. I did not know that in some cases woman have more than one ultrasound to see how the baby is progressing and doing. congrats on your baby daughter. good luck with your next baby and having your surgery.I do have another question for you how many times do need to go to your neurologist while you are pregnant? so i know for my future reference. I will not give up and I will keep my chin up.

Hi SentenceDoing,

Sorry I didn't answer you sooner,had to go to my parents
house for a few days,real bad month of seizures.
I can tell you that while you are pregnant your progesterone
level increases.So I would think that the further along you are
in your pregnancy,the less seizures you would have,if someone
had the catamenial epilepsy.

Take care,Sherri

I am 42, have absence seizures and have two healthy little girls. One is 4 and the other is 2. The doctors told me that the reason you are considered high risk with epilepsy is because of the medication you are taking and because when you have a seizure, the baby is deprived of oxygen. I actually went through 3 pregnancies...my first baby was a little boy who died at 20 days but the doctors assured me that my seizures and medication had nothing to do with it. I have been on Depakote for years, and they did not take me off of my medication while I was pregnant. I had to take more as my pregnancy progressed. They will do a lot more ultrasounds and NST's (non-stress tests, to make sure the baby is moving like it should be) on you than on someone without epilepsy, but don't let anyone scare you out of having a baby. I went to a perinatal specialist and he was really good and kept a close watch on me. They also did c-sections on me because of the seizures. They said they didn't want to take a chance on me having a grand mal seizure while I was in labor. And consider my age was also against me...but everything came out perfectly fine. Good luck! ;)

to cindydawn9 hello my name is bevin And I would like to thankyou for all the encouraging tid bits of information like having many more ultrasounds and non stress tests, having to take more depakote whilepregnant(etc) which was of particular interest to me because I take depakote now to control my seizure disorder. I am so glad that your two daughters came out perfectly healthy . In the futureI will be concerned that my baby comes out perfectly healthy.But now I know that in the future when I have a baby it will come out just fine and perfectly healthy. What you wrote on this posting was amazing and inspiring to me in so many countless ways i can not thankyou enough. thank you for knowing Why I would be Considered High risk when I have a baby in my future. It did not occur to me that I would be high risk just due to being on depakote. You have given me a whole lot to think about and talk to my neurologist about. sorry about the baby boy but having two perfectly healthy girls must keep you very busy and provides an endless source of joy for you. thank you again for all of your encouraging help and support. From now on I won't let anything scare me when It comes to me being on depakote and having a child in the future.