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On Keppra, Baby on the Way
Fri, 02/01/2008 - 19:06Hi. I am 23 years old and have been on 2000mg of Keppra a day for over three years. I have also been seizure free ever since I started Keppra, and with no side effects. I recently found out that I am pregnant with my first child. I am ecstatic, but I can't help worrying about the unknown effects of Keppra on my baby. My neuro is keeping me on the full dose for the duration of my pregnancy. Other than taking extra good care of myself, does anyone have any advice? Has anyone else gone through this that has a positive outcome? A negative one? I guess I am just searching for some sort of positive reinforcement to put my mind at ease a bit. Thanks for reading.
Amy
Comments
Re: On Keppra, Baby on the Way
Submitted by Maggie13278 on Mon, 2009-04-13 - 04:01
Re: On Keppra, Baby on the Way
Submitted by JenCW on Tue, 2009-04-14 - 00:45
Hi Amy,
I can relate. I got pregnant Dec 2006 on Keppra. My first baby. I quickly entered the National Antiepileptic Drug Registry as well as the Keppra Pregnancy Registry. I gained 30 pounds with pregnancy. Thus I increased my dosage. Prior to pregancy as well as now on the same dosage. I take 3000 mg a day pre pregnancy. Took up to 4500 during pregnancy. High Risk OBGYN monitored us carefully during pregnancy. I was warned the stress of labor might induce a grand maul seizures... so I said just plan a c section. I took a high dosage of Folic Acid, prenatal vitamins, and the Expectra Lipil DHA supplements every day even throughout breast feeding.
I was so grateful to the entire medical community! Bella was born 9/7/7 weighing 9 pounds 6 ounces. Seems healthy. I exclusively breast fed her till she was 17 months old! Doctors told me she was exposed to more medication during pregnancy than through the milk.
Take good care of yourself! Take each day as it comes and hope for support. When I breast fed, I did have seizures. But I did not take any adavan to stop them. That medication would pass in the milk so I just dealt with the pain knowing it was best for the baby and one day she would be on solids.
Facinating part is that I only got my period 4 times in the 17 months I breast fed. Common if you breast feed not to have a period. Which meant I only had seizures 4 times. Seems most of my epilepsy has shifted to only happen prior to menses. The progestron drop causes either a metabolism change or something that induces seizures. For some women, breast feeding can help us to NOT have seizures! Yes, I still have other types of small seizures when I do not have enough sleep or are under stress. But amazing how strong I became once I had a child. I have been so healthy! I am now begining birth control pills to trick my body to think I am pregnant, will stop my cycle all together in hopes it will stop the seizures. I will still need the Keppra, this is in conjunction with.
I am thrilled with Keppra! I hope you have a beautiful pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Jennifer
Hi Amy,
I can relate. I got pregnant Dec 2006 on Keppra. My first baby. I quickly entered the National Antiepileptic Drug Registry as well as the Keppra Pregnancy Registry. I gained 30 pounds with pregnancy. Thus I increased my dosage. Prior to pregancy as well as now on the same dosage. I take 3000 mg a day pre pregnancy. Took up to 4500 during pregnancy. High Risk OBGYN monitored us carefully during pregnancy. I was warned the stress of labor might induce a grand maul seizures... so I said just plan a c section. I took a high dosage of Folic Acid, prenatal vitamins, and the Expectra Lipil DHA supplements every day even throughout breast feeding.
I was so grateful to the entire medical community! Bella was born 9/7/7 weighing 9 pounds 6 ounces. Seems healthy. I exclusively breast fed her till she was 17 months old! Doctors told me she was exposed to more medication during pregnancy than through the milk.
Take good care of yourself! Take each day as it comes and hope for support. When I breast fed, I did have seizures. But I did not take any adavan to stop them. That medication would pass in the milk so I just dealt with the pain knowing it was best for the baby and one day she would be on solids.
Facinating part is that I only got my period 4 times in the 17 months I breast fed. Common if you breast feed not to have a period. Which meant I only had seizures 4 times. Seems most of my epilepsy has shifted to only happen prior to menses. The progestron drop causes either a metabolism change or something that induces seizures. For some women, breast feeding can help us to NOT have seizures! Yes, I still have other types of small seizures when I do not have enough sleep or are under stress. But amazing how strong I became once I had a child. I have been so healthy! I am now begining birth control pills to trick my body to think I am pregnant, will stop my cycle all together in hopes it will stop the seizures. I will still need the Keppra, this is in conjunction with.
I am thrilled with Keppra! I hope you have a beautiful pregnancy and a healthy baby.
Jennifer
Re: On Keppra, Baby on the Way
Submitted by notfishbait on Wed, 2009-03-04 - 20:18
hi, just wanted to say, i was on keppra and working up on lamictal, when i found out my IUD was gone and i was 18 weeks pregnant. right away they did a level 2 ultrasound, sent us to genetic counceling, all that....but, baby is six months old now and perfectly healthy. the docs did advise me to bottle feed, which i did since i was afraid of what breastmilk might contain for her.my doc said if she got used to it, the theory is that once you wean her, she could start having seizures. anyway, bottlefeeding helped too, in the area of getting help in the middle of the night feedings, since sleep is so important for us with e.
after she was born, i had 2 grand mals in 2 months which dr. said was from lack of sleep. but my obgyn said it was probably due to hormone fluctuation. they have since put me on different drugs, and i am doing much better, but also baby is now sleeping thru the night so that helps too.
when we found out we were pregnant by the way, they took me off the lamictal, and instead upped my dose of keppra, said it was safer than being on 2 meds during pregnancy. however, i continued having complex partials the whole way. when she was born tho, my cps's stopped completely...hormones again? dont know, but havent had any grand mals since those last 2 right after her birth.
anyway...healthy baby, good news.
hi, just wanted to say, i was on keppra and working up on lamictal, when i found out my IUD was gone and i was 18 weeks pregnant. right away they did a level 2 ultrasound, sent us to genetic counceling, all that....but, baby is six months old now and perfectly healthy. the docs did advise me to bottle feed, which i did since i was afraid of what breastmilk might contain for her.my doc said if she got used to it, the theory is that once you wean her, she could start having seizures. anyway, bottlefeeding helped too, in the area of getting help in the middle of the night feedings, since sleep is so important for us with e.
after she was born, i had 2 grand mals in 2 months which dr. said was from lack of sleep. but my obgyn said it was probably due to hormone fluctuation. they have since put me on different drugs, and i am doing much better, but also baby is now sleeping thru the night so that helps too.
when we found out we were pregnant by the way, they took me off the lamictal, and instead upped my dose of keppra, said it was safer than being on 2 meds during pregnancy. however, i continued having complex partials the whole way. when she was born tho, my cps's stopped completely...hormones again? dont know, but havent had any grand mals since those last 2 right after her birth.
anyway...healthy baby, good news.