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Lamictal and pregnancy

Mon, 02/07/2005 - 20:43

Hi everybody

I have juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and take 300mg of lamictal daily and have remained seizure free and well so far. 

I am concerned about the long term side effects of lamictal on my baby if I breast feed. I have recently read a paper "Concerns regarding lamotrigine and breast feeding" by Liporace et al which makes me concerned about the babys ability to metabolise the drug. I now think that I do not wish to breast feed my baby, but I am wondering if my baby goes through withdrawel from lamictal in the early stages of life will he suffer long term side effects from this. I know that breast feeding and especially colostrum has long term benefits but i am cautious due to the lack of information about what process the baby will use to metabolise it and how the build up of the drug in his system might affect his growth and development.

Has anyone else information or experience of bottle feeding or breast feeding a baby after taking lamictal through the pregnancy.

Would be gretaful for any input on how they are and if you think they went through withdrawal or any other side effects.

Thanks

Bugsbunny

Comments

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Lamictal and pregnancy

Submitted by murphim on Wed, 2005-04-20 - 19:06
I've been on 600mg of Lamictal a day and I am now pregnant.  The stats on lamictal and pregnancy seem to be pretty postive.  My concern after reading alot of these postings is that my doctor has never done a Lamictal drug level.  Is this necessary?  Is there anyone else who has never had a level drawn?

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Lamictal and pregnancy

Submitted by gkurutz on Thu, 2005-04-21 - 14:23

Hi Everybody.  I changed from Depakote to Lamictal about 3 years ago and I really love it.  I was on Depakote for 14 years and it really worked well for me but I gained a lot of weight when I started taking it.  When I switched meds I dropped 30 pounds!  It did take about a month or so, but it was well worth it. 

I switched to lamictal because I want to have children.  I am 32 now and my husband and I have decided to start trying to have a child.  I have been terrified of having a baby because of concerns over what the meds might do to my baby.  I am so encouraged to hear about the 2.9% defect rate with Lamictal!  Does anyone know if there are any developmental delay issues with children born on lamictal? 

Hi Everybody.  I changed from Depakote to Lamictal about 3 years ago and I really love it.  I was on Depakote for 14 years and it really worked well for me but I gained a lot of weight when I started taking it.  When I switched meds I dropped 30 pounds!  It did take about a month or so, but it was well worth it. 

I switched to lamictal because I want to have children.  I am 32 now and my husband and I have decided to start trying to have a child.  I have been terrified of having a baby because of concerns over what the meds might do to my baby.  I am so encouraged to hear about the 2.9% defect rate with Lamictal!  Does anyone know if there are any developmental delay issues with children born on lamictal? 

RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Lamictal and pregnancy

Submitted by spygirljoan on Tue, 2005-07-05 - 17:55
I am very happy to read this site. My husband and I are now considering trying to conceive within the next year. I want to wait a little bit, but I will see my neurologist six months before I decide to conceive. Anyway, my nephew has Cystic Fibrosis, so that added another concern to the list. I JUST got my results back from the blood test, however, and I am NOT a carrier for Cystic Fibrosis, so that's no longer a concern. So the only thing left is epilepsy. I haven't had a seizure in a little under three years and am currently taking 325 mg of Lamictal a day. I also take 1000 mcg of Folic Acid everyday, because my neurologist told me to. Well, anyway, since I found there was no risk of CF, my baby fever has grown. I looked up something on the subject and it said "Breastfeeding while on Lamictal is not recommended." However, many of you have encouraged me, and I especially feel better knowing that my medication is of a lower dosage. I REALLY want to breastfeed, and I really want to have a healthy baby. If I haven't had another seizure between now and six months before I'm ready to conceive, I'm considering asking my doctor to do a trial run and slowly decrease and maybe even see what happens when I'm not on it for a few months before I get pregnant. But now I feel okay about it even if that doesn't work out. 2.9% is a risk I can deal with. I had a 50% chance of being a carrier for CF, so maybe I'll get lucky both ways. Spygirljoan

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