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Epilepsy Medicine and Birth Control
Wed, 05/31/2017 - 17:20Topic: Women With Epilepsy
I have had Tonic-Clonic and Absence Epilepsy since I was 16 years old, now I'm 28. I have been on Keppra XR and Lamictal XR since I started have my seizures. Now I'm at the point where I have to get a new neurologist and they are saying I need to be put on birth control because I shouldn't have children. I also recently got married to my boyfriend of 7 years and hope to have kids someday soon. I have been told by many neurologists in the past that I can't be put on hormonal birth control because of my epilepsy medicine. My general doctor told me I can take hormonal birth control with my medicine. I am just wondering if anyone else has ran into this problem and if so which birth control worked for you and did you have any problems with a pregnancy while taking Keppra XR and Lamictal XR. Thank you
Comments
Lamictal is one of the safest
Submitted by Stormi on Fri, 2017-06-02 - 10:58
Lamictal is one of the safest AEDs out there for women of child bearing age. I am currently pregnant and taking 3500mg of Keppra. I was never told not to get pregnant while taking it. Some of the more common side effects for baby are restricted growth(low birth weight).If you would like birth control, Mirena is a good option-it lasts about 5 years and can be taken out at any point.
Idk who your doctor is but ..
Submitted by Makena4321 on Fri, 2017-06-09 - 15:38
Idk who your doctor is but .... they are crazy. You can have children..... now if you have a child be sure to take 1,000mg of folic acid because it decreases the birth defect of the baby. Lamictal is the safest medicine to be on when you are pregnant, that's what doctors recommend with any women pregnant. Idk what happens if your on more than 250mg of Lamictal. I'm on 100mg a day, that's it 50 I'm the morning and 50 at night !
lamotrigine doesn't interact
Submitted by Amy Jo on Wed, 2017-05-31 - 17:52
lamotrigine doesn't interact well with oral birth control pills (changes effectiveness) so you may want to consider an iud - mirena or copper.