Lamotrigine and getting pregnant.

[bridge]

Hey all. I haven't had a seizure since February. I have only had 3 grand mals my entire life. I do have partials sometimes, not often. I was wondering, I was on Dilantin, was taken off when I mentioned wanting to get pregnant. He put me on Keppra, Horrible idea, Keppra really messed me up, so I got off and now am on Lamotrigine. He said this one is a safer one, for as if I were to get pregnant.

Well I was curious, has anyone been on this and how was your pregnancy? I am worried and I want to have the safest pregnancy possible. We are Not pregnant yet but are kind of trying... I would love to hear your experiences, how it all was. I am a little worried, I know anything is possible regardless of on medication as well, but I guess I am just hoping to hear some positive things about it. Hope everyone is doing well and look forward to hearing how things were! Take care! xo Bridge

 

[notime]

I am not a female, so I don't know if it's safe for pregnancy but since your doctor claims it's safe then I assume it's okay. I was put on it about a month ago, and I have been increasing it and now I am about to start taking 100mg per day, then increase it to 200mg per day.

Far as the side effects, I have never gotten the rash of death which some people get but I assume it's quite rare. Other than that, just a little drowsiness which could be an interaction with my other medicine Keppra XR. I hope this helps.. .I don't know what else to say though.

 

[Nakamova]

Hi bridge,

Lamictal is considered relatively safe for pregnancy. Since Lamictal levels can potentially be affected with the increase in estrogen that occurs during a pregnancy, it's important for your OB/Gyn and your neuro to be on the same page in terms of monitoring your levels and your seizure control. You should be taking a folic acid supplement, and you may want to to ask your docs about other pre-natal vitamins to consider.

You may find these CWE threads helpful:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/lamictal-want-pregnant-18420/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/advice-please-pregnancy-lamotrigine-lamictal-12585/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/lamictal-pregnancy-12871/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/pregnancy-epilepsy-lamictal-8803/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/pregnancy-while-lamictal-19392/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/lamotrigine-epilepsy-drugs-birth-defects-497/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/pregnant-have-been-pregnant-lamictal-13151/

 

[Cint]

Hey Bridge,

When I went thru pregnancies 31 years and 29 years ago, I was taking Dilantin back then because basically that's what was available, other than Tegretol and Phenobarbitol, and I couldn't take the latter. I was also taking Folic Acid and pre-natal vitamins during the pregnancies. Both pregnancies were uneventful and both of my now grown children are healthy and have both been thru college. My daughter is now married and my son just finished law school.

I wish you the best.

 

[bridge]

Thank you. I have started taking prenatal vitamins about 2 months ago. My doctor suggested this. I was just curious if anyone had gone thru a pregnancy while on this medication. We are trying not to worry really too much. But just a little bit curious.

 

[gina]

worked fine.

I took lamictal during pregnancy. I was on dilantin and depakote while pregnant with my first son. My son is healthy but while I was pregnant he never moved. Not once. My son is very passive and not a loud time of kid but very healthy. Hes 13 now. He changed me to lamictal after that. I was taking lamcital before I got preganant I never had a problem except they raised 100mg because since I was pregnant my hormones were changing and it might throw off a meds a little just in case. Other then that my pregnancy went completely fine. My son came out very healthy. While I was pregnant he moved all the time so there was no side effects affecting him. If you are not pregnant yet start taking folic acid pills everyday. I was taking them up about 6 months before I got pregnant. My Dr also said it was the best medication for women who are pregnant. Good luck to you my son is 2 now....terrible 2'sssss

 

[Zolt]

Hi Bridge,

Can't really help with your question since i'm a male, but i can tell you my experiences with Lamotrigine and it was not pretty. I started to take them, they didn't seem to have much side effects, i was happy with that. Well for the first 6 or so months everything was going good, then my seizures got push from 1 every month to 1 ever 2 months. I was like great, cool, but the seizures that i had were way stronger than what i was use to. In Oct, 3yrs ago, i got a seizure after not having one for 2 months, and it was a bad one, it wrapped me up like a pretzel and really bent me out of shape. It happened late at night, so once it was over i just went straight to bed. I thought the seizure was so strong because i had to be at work for 20+ straight hours dealing with an emergency and the stress and all that went along with it. So no big deal. But then 2 months later another seizure happened that lasted 4-5 min that really beat me up and wrapped me up like a pretzel. This one was really bad, afterwards i couldn't move my head up for like 5 minutes i was trying to get it up straight. I told this to my doc and he increased lamotrigine to the max level. This did not do me well, this gave me shortness of breath just walking my normal routes. I told him this and he finally changed me to Gabapentin, which to me is a like is the best drug i've been on, hardly any side effects, and the true miracle of it is that my seizures have been happening in the mornings rather than at any weird time of the day like usual. It has also pushed my seizures out to 1 every 2 months at times. This year i've had 7 seizures, all where in the mornings, only 1 was not. Last year i had 12 seizures and all of those were in the mornings except for 1. I attribute this to the fact that Gabapentin only works for 6 hrs and in the morning i'm up for 1 hr before i take my medicine, so that way if any seizures happen they will happen early in the morning in the safety of my home.

Don't want to scare you or anything, but everyone has different effects to drugs, so this is just my personal experience.

Zolt

 

[julienet]

I was on Lamictal when I had my youngest son who is now 19. I was told then that it was very safe regarding pregnancy and side effects. As it was still early days in Britain my son was detailed in their records inc keeping his cord. Everything with my pregnancy went great and he is a very intelligent little rascal. Good luck if I were in the same position again I would have no hesitation on Lamictal.
The one thing I did do was wean my children by breast feeding and reducing over 4 mnths.......they would NOT take us straight off any drugs.