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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: Lamictal and pregnancy

Submitted by cc.fishy on Sun, 2012-08-26 - 22:29

hi there, i am also taking lamotrigine for the the past 3 years now.   i am thinking of having i baby, but i was always too worried.  too worried if i could really have a healthy baby, since i m taking medication which i guess it's not good. but recently, i have been doing some research and reading some reviews on this medication and found out that many women that were on the medication had very heathly babies.  i have just read your reviews from you and i am so happy to hear that you have a smart and healthy girl :)   ur comments was from may of 2012, is your baby boy born?? how is he??  do u think i need to take or eat anything before thinking of giving birth??  thank you!!

 i really hope that i could have a happy healthy baby. 

hi there, i am also taking lamotrigine for the the past 3 years now.   i am thinking of having i baby, but i was always too worried.  too worried if i could really have a healthy baby, since i m taking medication which i guess it's not good. but recently, i have been doing some research and reading some reviews on this medication and found out that many women that were on the medication had very heathly babies.  i have just read your reviews from you and i am so happy to hear that you have a smart and healthy girl :)   ur comments was from may of 2012, is your baby boy born?? how is he??  do u think i need to take or eat anything before thinking of giving birth??  thank you!!

 i really hope that i could have a happy healthy baby. 

Re: Lamictal and pregnancy

Submitted by mum2be2013 on Wed, 2013-10-16 - 10:01
I am currently 33 weeks pregnant and have been on 200mg twice daily for almost 7 years i haven't had a seizure for 3 years now and have been on the same dosage through out my pregnancy. I am under consultant care and have regular scans and blood tests which have shown my baby to be developing normally. I have to been curious about whether i can breast feed my baby as i would really like to do it, but am worried it may affect her in a negative way. I have looked into various research about what other mums have experienced and studies and most of what i have found has been positive towards breast feeding, so i'm thinking of giving it a go. I see my consultant next week who's a specialists in epilepsy, so will discuss it in more detail then. I hope what ever i decide like the majority of you i too have a healthy baby and that my tablets/dosage through pregnancy doesn't affect my baby.

Hi need some advice so I'm 15

Submitted by Newmummykate29 on Sat, 2017-02-18 - 01:57
Hi need some advice so I'm 15 weeks and 3 days pregnant I have been on lamotrogine since I was 13 and I have been seizure free for the last 8 years. Me and my partner got married in September last year and tried for a baby from October, I done it all properly went to  the doctors first, had my levels checked which came back at 8 my dose at the time was 450mg a day. I found out I was pregnant in November me and my partner were over the moon it happened so quickly for us, up until middle January everything was running smoothly no problems and we were out for a family meal and I had a grand mal seizure which lasted about a minute, went to hospital to get checked over all ok just bit shook up from it as it has been so long since the last. I then found out lamotrogine levels drop when you're  pregnant and should be checked regularly, they took my bloods in hospital and the results showed the levels had dropped from 8 to 4 in the space of 2 months since being pregnant, my dose has since been increased to 500mg a day. Hoping this helps due another blood test next week to hopefully show my levels back up. Yesterday when I was at work I'm a barber I was doing a hair cut and had to stop as I felt like I was going to pass out and come over very shaky, someone else finished my hair cut for me and I sat outside in fresh air and drunk some water. After a while it passed I had been busy but I had had breaks and eaten so I'm worrying was it just pregnancy dizziness, was its a side effect of an increased dose as I only upped them 6 days ago or a warning of a seizure but I don't get warning signs at all they just happen, but as said before it's been years lamotrogine has well controlled it. Has anyone else experienced this whilst pregnant on lamotrogine and what was the rest of the pregnancy like? I know everyone is different but be interesting to see how it affected other people Thanks sorry for long story lol 

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