I think that I may be pregnant. I have been taking 400mg a day of Tegretol. Is there anyone here who has had children who is taking the same medication and about the same dosage? If so, did you have any complications?
By tlyons55 at Tue, 10/04/2005 - 7:20am | 1086 views | 11 comments
There's a warning right on the monograph about taking Tegretol if pregnant. Call your doctor immediately and ask what you should do. Just because a baby may look fine when it's born doesn't mean there couldn't be some kind of damage down the road that you wouldn't know about until the child is in her teens or later. Best wishes
Elsea
I had four children 22 years ago. I was on higher doses of tegretal and with phenobarbital. At the time I had some of my children, my doctor contacted me to let me know about tegretal. He said he used me as an example to the other women who were pregnant also.
Two of my children have learning disabilities. One is very successful. He owned his own business at the age of 20. Owned his own house at the age of 21. The other one is still in 12th grade.
My other children are fine.
Make sure you take folic acid. For at that time they did not know about the folic acid, and vitamins. talk to your doctor first.
Congradulations, and best of luck with your pregnancy.
take care
Lisa
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpilepsyApproach/
Hi.
I've had 4 children over the years,a couple while taking tegretol.I had a few seizures whilst pregnant,despite whatever med I was on at the time,but still delivered normal,healthy babies.Lisa has already asked you to take the folic acid.The best advice I can give is to do that,as all the reading I've done says it does help.Following all the known medical advice that there is for women with epilepsy who want to get pregnant,or who are pregnant might be another good idea.Also read all you can on this site,and the EFA site,and good luck with your own pregnany.
Hi..
The best advice I can give anyone with epilepsy thinking of becoming preggers (or just there) is to get to a competent neuro/epi asap and check if your meds are ok.
I did the drill before even going off the pill and my inept neuro said phenobarbital would be ok. Yeah right! My first child had been stoned the entire pregnancy (he never moved).
But, I'm one of the lucky ones.. the effects of the benzodiazepine wern't permanent.
Child #2 I had on different meds (under a competent neuro) and it was a perfectly normal pregancy.
Best wishes to you and congrats on your impending 'mama-hood'
~sol
Tammy,
Just something I thought would be good to bring to your attention and is about the 'Antiepileptic Drug Pregnancy Registry', which I found located at www.aedpregnancyregistry.org along with another interesting batch of information 'Epilepsy And Pregnancy' located at http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8803/24248/31519.html?d=dmtContent
You may need to copy and paste both of these website address in order to get to them. I still haven't figured out how to activate the hyperlink thing on this new forum, where all someone needs to do is point to the address and click. The old forum I did know how to.
Bruce (link guy)
Disabled American Veteran
grez-monkey (not verified)
By grez-monkey (not verified) on Tue, 10/04/2005 - 6:39pm
Hello my name is Elizabeth. I have a one year old son which is healthy, I was taking Dilantin and Tegretol 3 times a day. I wasn't even taking folic acid until I was 2 months is when I found out I was pregnat. The only thing that went wrong, is not being able to breast feed because of the medication. But other than that you would be okay, just take folic acid things like that. If you are pregnat "CONGRATULATIONS" and wish you the best for you and your little angel. If you would like some advice or support here is my e-mail address: htebazile2152@yahoo.com. Put the tittle "SEIZURES" please. just to know is something worth reading and I won't erase it. BYE!
I had no complications whatsoever. I was on 200mg 2x a day of tegretol xr when I was pregnant with both of my children. Both of my children came out perfect!!! And they still are!!! And I myself had no complications at all either. And I breastfed too.
C
i think that your idea of taking vitamins while on tegretol with the idea of becoming pregnant is a great one but what about the others who have also been taking both tegretol and other different types of vitamins and still haven't become for example me. my husband and i have been trying for over a year and still no result and i' m on a 200mg a day and whenever my husband and i get intimate he always shoot in me. what advice would you give for a woman in my position and just so you know i will not see a doctor because i'm so scared that the doctor will tell me that i'm a mule
I had my first daughter on 800mg/day of tegretol xr. She is fine, no side effects. I am now pregnant with #2 and am still on Tegretol. My doctor and I both feel it is more important for me to be seizure free than to worry about the medication.
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I just had my son a year ago & was on 1400mg of Tegretol a day ... And my son couldn't be any healthier.
i think that your idea of taking vitamins while on tegretol with the idea of becoming pregnant is a great one but what about the others who have also been taking both tegretol and other different types of vitamins and still haven't become for example me. my husband and i have been trying for over a year and still no result and i' m on a 200mg a day and whenever my husband and i get intimate he always shoot in me. what advice would you give for a woman in my position and just so you know i will not see a doctor because i'm so scared that the doctor will tell me that i'm a mule
I had my first daughter on 800mg/day of tegretol xr. She is fine, no side effects. I am now pregnant with #2 and am still on Tegretol. My doctor and I both feel it is more important for me to be seizure free than to worry about the medication.