Important things to know about epilepsy during pregnancy

Epilepsy is a scary word in itself and epilepsy during pregnancy raises a lot of concerns. However since epilepsy is a term that is very widely debated and stigmatized, it is important to remember that even if you have epilepsy you can deliver a healthy child. The only thing is that you will require a lot of additional supervision so that you don’t cause an any damage to the child by falling during one of your attacks. 

Here are a few questions that have been answered to make the entire procedure more easier.

Is it difficult to conceive if you have epilepsy?

There are drugs that treat seizures.Some of them include pregnancy digestion medicine.However these medicines may contribute greatly to infertility. There are some anti seizure medications that reduce how effective a hormonal birth control method is. So it works both ways.

How can epilepsy affect the pregnancy process?

1. When it comes to seizures during pregnancy, it can cause a slower heart rate for the fetus. This can put him/her in grave danger.
2. The fetus gets decreased oxygen.
3. There might be complications and the placenta may completely separate from the uterus. This is known as placental abruption.
4. A trauma, like a fall during a seizure can cause miscarriage.
5. Seizures can cause a woman to go into a preterm labour leading to premature birth. This can be extremely risky because a child born early can face serious complications.

When it comes to pregnancy, do epilepsy attacks change in any way?

Pregnancy changes a woman and every woman reacts in a different manner to the procedure. For most of the ladies out there, the seizures during epilepsy in pregnancy remain completely same. However for the others, the seizures become different and less frequent.

There are another  set of women, like the  women who are sleep deprived in particular and don’t take the number of medicines prescribed to them. For such people, pregnancy increases the number of seizures.

How does taking medication for epilepsy affect your child?

Medication taken during pregnancy can lead to birth defects like neural tube defects, cleft palate, skeletal problems and abnormalities, urinary tract defects and congenital heart. These are the given side effects that can come with anti-seizure medicines. The risk can be kept at bay if you take the prescribed amount, not exceeding one per day. However as soon as the doses become higher, the risk increases.

 It is important to note that if you haven’t had a single seizure for nine months straight, it’s very unlikely that you will have a seizure when you’re pregnant. Whereas having it in succession can keep you at a high risk of having it again.

If you haven’t had a seizure in a long time, in say two to four years, you can stay off epilepsy medicine during pregnancy  and remain completely seizure free.  However it is advisable that you talk to your physician before you discontinue the same.