Pregnant and Terrified

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AshleyChristina

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So I've recently discovered I'm pregnant and am taking Carbatrol 600/daily and lamictal 400/daily. I know that the first trimester is the worst as far as development with anti epileptic drugs. I haven't seen much good research about taking these drugs while pregnant, therefore I am beyond worried about birth defects and outcomes. My neurologist has tried decreasing the medication and the outcome in unsuccessful. They actually had to increase my dosage of lamictal. I basically just want to know any success stories out there to ease my mind with these medications.
 
Thanks. I've been looking for others with the same medications as I'm on and checking pregnancy effects. I've checked all the epilepsy sites and I know what defects the research shows, I was just checking to see any first hand experiences. Thank you so much though.
 
Hi AshleyChristina, welcome!
I know we've had several members with successful pregnancies while on Tegretol (Carbatrol) or Lamictal. I don't know if there are folks who have been on both meds at the time -- hopefully members will chime in.

In the meantime, you may find the threads below helpful:
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f20/hello-pregnant-epileptic-11933/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f20/epilepsy-pregnancy-16735/
http://www.coping-with-epilepsy.com/forums/f23/tegretol-xr-pregnancy-7408/
 
Good, they wanted to switch me to tegretol since I'm on carbatrol xr, but I just don't trust it. They've tried lowering in such small dosages and I start having bad auras and feeling a seizure come on, so I've been panicking wanting to see if anyone else had healthy babies due to this problem also.
 
I can't remember both the drugs I was on when I was pregnant at 18 with my son but I was on a lot.

But I have a happy, healthy 19 year old son who is having adventures in Thailand being a teaching assistant!

Q
 
I was

on completely different meds when I was pregnant with my 3 kids (eons ago) :D

However, the one bit of advice I WILL give is this:

Make sure that all of your doctors--gyno, GP and neuro--are on the same page, and are talking with each other.

It makes all the difference in the world. :D

:hugs:
 
I'm in contact with all the Dr's. I make sure all the blood work is sent to both places, but no one is really positive about the possibilities.
 
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