pregnant :D

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claireg5765

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i posted in this forum around 5 months ago to talk about me wanting to try for another baby and thought i would come in and say i am now 13 weeks pregnant :D had first scan and everything is going well! :woot:

i decided after talking to my neuro that i would stay on my meds (lamotrogine 175 twice daily) and so far have had no seizures..
my problem is that i am still completely terrified that at my next scan there might be cleft lip or pallet or both or even worse a heart defect :( im so scared, has anybody had any experiences bad or good?
 
Hi Claire,

Congratulations on your pregnancy and hope everything stays well.

I now have two grown healthy, happy children. With both pregnancies, I was taking an AED Dilantin and had no problem with the med during the pregnancies. Both children are healthy, no cleft pallet, heart defect, etc. Both are college educated now and my son is on to law school. My daughter is happily married with a career. But me, I still have E, so one can have happy, healthy children despite this darned illness. And they have witnessed plenty of CP's and TC's growing up, but that made them more sensitive to other's.
 
Congratulations, I hope you continue to have a happy, healthy, uneventful pregnancy!

I don't have children but thought you might appreciate knowing that Lamictal isn't associated with a greater risk of heart defect (some other AEDs are), and that current studies indicate that the risk for cleft palate with Lamictal is very small (not that much greater than in the general population). I realize that it's hard to turn off the "anxious mom" part of the brain, but I hope this helps a tiny bit in setting your mind at ease.

Be well!
 
Congratulations! :)

I havnt taken Lamictal while being pregnant. But I have taken Keppra and Carbatrol during all three of my pregnancies and all my pregnancies were healthy, and nothing bad came about with each baby. During my first pregnancy, I was in fact taking Keppra and Carbatrol for my seizures, along with Glucophage XR for PCOS, and on the birth control pill. All in the first three months, of not knowing I was even pregnant! Now I have an 8 year old son who is in third grade, and is in the gifted classes! He is at a 5th grade's level last time we tested him in October of last year! :) They plan to retest him again before December to see where he is at now!...according to their test they did in school, which only goes up to five grade level, he is suppose to be around a 74 for his grade, and he scored a 179 on it! Just goes to show you that just because you are on a anti seizure medication, doesnt mean that something goes bad while being pregnant! :)
 
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Very congrats to you :) I just reached week thirty of my first pregnancy. I was taking lamictal for a couple years before my pregnancy. I was very scared the first few months of my pregnancy, but I'm not too scared of epilepsy anymore. Everything is fine and dandy with Baby and always has been. I've had three ultrasounds so far and each of them has turned up happy results. Baby has been interfering with my med levels though, so I've had a couple grand mal seizures for the first time in thirteen years. We have to check my levels every few weeks and raise the dose to keep everything in "working" range, but it's not a difficult thing to do. I've had three grand mal seizures in my thirty weeks and all I had to do was go to the hospital and get an nst, as agreed upon in a previous "just in case" conversation I had with my dr. There has been no harm to the baby. I am disappointed that it's sounding like I won't be able to safely nurse my child because of lamictal though. My baby doctor and seizure doctor have worked together before and they're in contact with each other, it's a nice benefit to have.
 
My neurologist is actually switching me to 175mgs of Lamotrigine twice daily from carbamazepine because we want to have a baby. She said that Lamotrigine is "the safest drug for women with epilepsy to be pregnant on."

And realistically, it's such a low dose! The maximum amount of Lamotrigine that a person can take per day is 1200mgs. So, you're only on 30% of that.

I know it can be scary but try to think positively! You're in a good position. Also, the statistic is that 90% of women that work with their neurologist and Ob/gyn when trying to have a baby have a healthy baby because they have taken the correct precautions. How much folic acid are you taking?

Congrats! Enjoy the fact that you are pregnant! I wish you a happy and healthy 9 months!
 
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