New - Changing AEDs while pregnant?
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UPDATED: Sun, 02/10/2008 - 9:10am
noharizk
Epileptic, not on AEDs, about to give birth. What happens during Delivery?
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Hi
I took a decision to stop taking AEDs before getting pregnant. I discussed this with my neurologist and my Obygen - and they were both supportive of my decision due to the fact that
a) i have complex partial seizures, but i just black out. My breathing is not impaired and hence there is no risk to the baby during my seizures
b) I get aura's before every seizure so i usually have enough time to at least sit down/ be in a safe position
which are predominantly the two major health concerns for epileptic mom-to-be's. The only problem then is an extremely inconvenient lifestyle which I am willing to put up with for 9 months to decrease chances of birth defects for my baby.
My only concern is, what happens during the delivery. All the resources I found online talk about delivery of epileptic women who are taking AEDs and discuss increasing the AED dosage through an IV during delivery. But seeing as I'm not takin any AEDs - does anyone know what happens/ what should be the plan?
Im not entirely satisfied with my OBYGENs responses - he says chances are low of seizing during delivery!! Despite every ounce of logic and resource that I have found online. So if anyone knows - please help! Thanks
Noha
By noharizk at Sun, 02/10/2008 - 9:10am | 73 views | 4 comments
Topic: Women With Epilepsy
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Recent Comments on this Discussion
The worse that can happen is that you may have a seizure. This happened to me and my baby was delivered by cutting open my stomach. My husband at the time authorized my Dr. to have me sewn up.
Ideally, the OB and neurologist will talk in advance about plans for a safe delivery. There are many issues to consider. While generalized seizures are of main concern, there are reports of partial seizures affecting babies as well during pregnancy and during labor and delivery. Some women do have more seizures during labor and delivery with more physical as well as emotional stresses, hormonal changes, sleep deprivation etc. If seizures were to occur during this time, plans should be in place on how to treat these. These are just a few of the issues to consider. The other aspects are what to do with medicines after delivery and effect of seizures on a woman being able to safely care for an infant. Additional safety precautions and help may be needed and it's best to plan in advance for this.
Please take a look at the information on pregnancy in the women's section. The Epilepsy Foundation's website (www.epilepsyfoundation.org) also has a whole series of fact sheets for women that are very informative.
Hope this helps,
Epi_help, Resource Specialist
This may or may not help you because I was on an AED (Dilantin) with both my daughters.
I still had seizures at the end of my pregnancy with my first daughter. Due to the extreme shifting of hormones at the end of pregnancy my body did not process my AED's. I had a c-section the day after the tonic clonics and everything worked out fine.
With my second daughter we simply scheduled the c-section just over a week before she was due (hoping to miss the crazy hormones--and it worked).
If your seizures are related to your hormones and your cycle, maybe you could look at a c-section option to avoid having seizures during delivery. Best of luck to you, and please keep us posted!
I didn't have 1 seizure and all that I was taking was Klonopin. I did however pass E on to my son who is now 17 and doing fine because we caught him in time. The first twitch, flinch, jerk I was on my toes with him. About 7 years ago he told me that he was seeing colors around him. I don't have aura's but I've been drilled about them and done research about them just in case. One can never be to safe with a child involved! My son has aura's and I don't, I have all types of seizures and my son only has 1 type; Thank God!