Treatment During Pregnancy

If you're a woman with epilepsy and you plan to have a baby, tell your doctor ahead of time. Ask whether he or she thinks there should be any changes in the epilepsy medicines and vitamins you are taking before you become pregnant. Most babies born to mothers taking epilepsy medication during pregnancy are perfectly normal. However, there is a higher than average risk of birth defects (approximately 4 - 6 percent) when epilepsy drugs are taken during pregnancy. Ask your doctor to discuss the risks with you.

• If you take epilepsy medicines and find you are already pregnant, don't make any medicine changes on your own or stop your pills suddenly. You will still need to control seizures while you are pregnant. Check with your doctor. He or she may want to see you more often during this time. Some women have more seizures when they are expecting a baby, some don't have as many, and others find it makes no difference.
• Be sure to tell any doctor prescribing birth control pills for you that you also take epilepsy medicine. Knowing that will help him or her pick out the right birth control pills for you.