on lamictal and want to be pregnant

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guspoppy

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ive just joined the forum and ive dont feel on my own anymore after reading threads on here.
im on 150mg in morning , 100mg of lamictal at night and i have been seizure free for approx 12 years.
i really want to start a family but am afraid of the effect lamictal will have on the baby. i would like to reduce the amount i take but my dr has refered me to my specialist, which will take 12 weeks to see him. ive read that it can take about a year to reduce lamictal so im looking at 15 months until i can start getting pregnant ..seems such a long time.......
 
Hi guspoppy, welcome to CWE!

Lamictal is considered pretty safe for pregnancy, so you don't necessarily need to taper off before getting pregnant. Lamictal clearance rates can be increased by rising estrogen levels though, so the levels of the med may need to be monitored and adjusted throughout the pregnancy.

That said, I completely understand you wanting to be med-free (in general, and not just for your pregnancy). Your neurologist will help determine a taper schedule, and may recommend that you have an EEG done at various points during the taper to check for any abnormal brainwaves. A safe rate of taper might be dropping 25mg every two weeks. At that rate, you'd be off of meds entirely in 5 months. It all depends on how you feel during the taper -- it can minimize withdrawal side effects to go in small increments and stay at each level for a bit before dropping to the next.

Best,
Nakamova
 
Thanks Nakamova ,
Thats good to hear as I was concerened what would happen if I accidently fell pregnant. I was thinking of tapering down 50mg , but maybe 25mg is better as i want as little side effects as possible. i got on fine with lamictal from day one so im hoping the taper will go ok.
 
Good luck with reducing or coming off the lamictal. And all the best for a happy healthy and seizure free pregnancy :)) xxxx
 
I was on 100 mg of Lamictal and 2500 mg of Keppra when I was pregnant with my daughter. I was seizure free and my daughter turned out healthy. My doctor said that those prenatal vitamins are important especially the B vitamins. My doctor also had me take an extra 25 mg of Folic acid. My neuro was more concerned about seizure control because the worse the seizures were the more risk to the baby. She is now 5 years old and she qualified to skip kindergarten and go to first grade. We kept her in kindergarten because her brother's in first grade and we weren't sure how that would go. I hope all goes well for you and will be praying.
 
I was on phenobarbitol when I got pregnant w/ my first son. I slowly weaned myself off it and had an uneventful pregnancy & next 4.5ish years. In that time I had a second child before my seizures came back when the 2nd was a little more than a yr.

All that said when I read about seizure meds & pregnancy the biggest thing I saw highlighted was folic acid - if I was you and thinking about becoming pregnant I'd start supplementing majorily with folic acid now, LONG before becoming pregnant - let it build up in your system for a while. Possibly calcium/magnesium/vit d as well, depending on what your doing already relating to thsoe things.

Good luck!!
 
I have been taking folic acid 4mg for the last 2 months. I also noticed in my multi vitamin tablets that there is 2mg of folic acidwhich i have been taking for approx 6 months. I didnt think of calcium/magnesuim , vit d vitamins . I think there are vitamins that does everything needed for pregnancy/pre pregnancy. I might have a look when im out shopping at boots.
 
im now taking folic acid and the conception vitamins. im tempted to reduce my tablets slowly down myself as my apppointment has been confirmed as february 2013...
 
update.

Just thought Id say that ive seen my specialist today.

He said lamictal is one of the best ones to be on , as far as he knows for pregnancy.He also said im on a lower end of the scale of lamictal , 250mg in total , but its a 3% chance of a abnormality in a baby compared to 1.5% of a person not on lamictal. He said the decision is mine. Its a case of weighing up the options.
They can wean me off lamictal. It would take 6 weeks , i would have to stop driving for 6 months minimum and see how I get on without it but there is a chance of having a seizure but then again I may not.
Before I was diagnosed I used to wake up everyday thinking am i going to have a seizure today/tonight. My seizures mainly happened at night , my tongue often rolled back. I once woke up with lots of blood and my tongue badly bitten. I have my epilepsy controlled for 12 years and I dont want to feel that way again.
Does that make me selfish? I hope not as I think the concern of having a seizure would do more harm than the lamictal itself.
I feel that I can now concentrate on getting pregnant without the worry of a seizure happening.
I also have been taking folic acid and conception vitamins for nearly 5 months.
I have decided to stay on lamictal , my specialist said he wasnt going to influence my decision but after I said I was going to stay on lamictal he did think that was the right decision.

Have I made the right decision? I hope so......
 
Hey guspoppy - good luck! I'm now back on phenobarb on half the dose I was (60mg/day vs 120), and doing great :) I wish you the best of luck - being paranoid about having a seizure sucks, and is probably worse for you in many ways than the meds. Pregnancy is stressful enough!! But worth it :)
 
Thanks gonyere!

One thing I did forget to ask was if i was taking too much folic acid..i take 4mg which i got from the chemist and also a conception vitamin which has all the other vitamins and 4 mg of folic acid in. Can u take too much folic acid?
 
guspoppy said:
ive just joined the forum and ive dont feel on my own anymore after reading threads on here.
im on 150mg in morning , 100mg of lamictal at night and i have been seizure free for approx 12 years.
i really want to start a family but am afraid of the effect lamictal will have on the baby. i would like to reduce the amount i take but my dr has refered me to my specialist, which will take 12 weeks to see him. ive read that it can take about a year to reduce lamictal so im looking at 15 months until i can start getting pregnant ..seems such a long time.......
Click to expand...

Welcome to CWE!

My neuro has me on 175mg of Lamictal 2x/daily. I was originally on 800mg of Carbamazepine. I have been seizure-free for 20 years, but I don't have the option of going completely med-free since my seizures were caused by a brain anomaly (basically, without any meds, I am guaranteed to have a seizure). My neuro is confident that our future baby (we aren't pg yet) will be safe on the Lamictal, however, to be safe, she has me on an elevated amount of folic acid (4mg, average person takes 400-800mcg).

Good luck!
 
I was moved to lamictal for the same reason- I want to get pregnant.
My doctor moved me intentionally- both he and my obgyn agreed on the med. My ob was really supportive. she said that she had delivered plenty of babies with mothers who are epileptic and all have turned out fine. but, she has delivered plenty babiesd with healthy mothers who may have a defect, learnign disability, etc. I mean, we really never know.

They also said that my pregnancy probably wouldn't even be considered high risk.
And just like you our next step is increasing the folic acid.

Heres to us! Lets get knocked up! :-D
 
guspoppy said:
Does that make me selfish? I hope not as I think the concern of having a seizure would do more harm than the lamictal itself.
I feel that I can now concentrate on getting pregnant without the worry of a seizure happening.
I also have been taking folic acid and conception vitamins for nearly 5 months.
I have decided to stay on lamictal , my specialist said he wasnt going to influence my decision but after I said I was going to stay on lamictal he did think that was the right decision.

Have I made the right decision? I hope so......
Click to expand...

I think you have made the right decision. This does not make you selfish, either. It is better to be safe than sorry. I now have two healthy grown children. When I was pregnant with them long ago, I was taking Dilantin, along with Folic acid. I didn't have any seizures during my pregnancies. It was after my 2nd child was born that things (hormones) went haywire.
 
Folic Acid -

While you're trying to conceive: 400 mcg
For the first three months of pregnancy: 400 mcg
For months four to nine of pregnancy: 600 mcg
While breastfeeding: 500 mcg
 
That's total. So, if your prenatal vitamin has 400mcg then you do not need a second supplement. And most prenatal vitamins contain enough folic acid. That's one reason a prenatal vitamin is good for women of childbearing age, not just pregnant women.
 
I did hear that I would need to take a higher dose of folic acid is why i was taking both.
 
chargingbird said:
Folic Acid -

While you're trying to conceive: 400 mcg
For the first three months of pregnancy: 400 mcg
For months four to nine of pregnancy: 600 mcg
While breastfeeding: 500 mcg
Click to expand...

i spoke to my specialist and he says 5mg of folic acid as the 400mcg i was taking is too low a level to have.
 
guspoppy said:
Thanks gonyere!

One thing I did forget to ask was if i was taking too much folic acid..i take 4mg which i got from the chemist and also a conception vitamin which has all the other vitamins and 4 mg of folic acid in. Can u take too much folic acid?
Click to expand...

dopey me..in this post i meant 400mcg not 4mg!
 
Since the body flushes any extra folic acid out of the system, the risk of overdoing it is minimal. The main concern: Make sure you are getting the proper amounts of B12 and iron as well, since a deficiency of any one of those nutrients can be hidden by an excess of another.
 
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