EPILEPSY AWARENESS MONTH
The time has come where I make a post about Epilepsy Awareness Month since it’s November and adding in pregnancy and epilepsy. I wrote a post last year which was an updated version of my story since I’ve gotten better at writing over the last several years. In that post I told my story and the aftermath along with where I was at the present day. I won’t be going over my story again because there’s really not much I have to say, but I do have a few things to add. Let’s get into it.
I HAD A BABY, AS AN EPILEPTIC!
One of the very many reasons why my husband and I never planned on having children was my epilepsy. First of all I didn’t want to pass my epilepsy down to my child since there are more studies saying it’s hereditary. Second of all, I was terrified of being pregnant while having epilepsy. Well, on October 7th of this year, a beautiful baby by the name of Scarlett came into our lives. One thing that I have told myself ever since my diagnosis is I will not allow this diagnosis to take over my life, nor will I allow it to hinder anything. Although, all along it was one of the reasons I didn’t want children. In today’s post I wanted to go over pregnancy and epilepsy. This may be a topic that someone out there might want to read.
PREGNANCY AND EPILEPSY: MEDICATION
One of the major questions I’ve gotten was did I stay on medication, and if I did how did that go? First and foremost, this is something you would need to discuss with your doctor and they need to work with you. I decided to stay on medication. Because this pregnancy was a little bit of a surprise, I didn’t want to put my body into overload by weening off of medication. I know some women who have done that and are epileptic, but I did not want to take that risk. What we did was keep me on the medication I’ve been taking which is the generic version of Lamictal. If you’ve been here for a while, you would know that I switched to generic about two years ago, after using the brand name for over a decade.
My neurologist wanted to monitor my levels to see how they were because I had to be at a specific level. She also told me that due to the pregnancy, the placenta would absorb most of the medication which is why we needed to increase my medication. I went from taking 125 mg twice a day to 200 mg twice a day by the end of the pregnancy. I’m a little over one month postpartum and I’ll be seeing my neurologist in a few weeks to discuss where we go from here.
PREGNANCY AND EPILEPSY: HOW I FELT
I’m not sure why, but I felt so good while pregnant when it came to my epilepsy. Because my seizures usually happen during hormonal changes (during my period), I was really worried that pregnancy would cause seizures. It was quite the opposite. I felt better than I have in 16 years. During pregnancy it felt like I didn’t have epilepsy at all. I know that sounds weird because I haven’t had a seizure in several years, but there’s this short period after I wake up where sometimes I felt a little off. It’s hard for me to explain it, but during pregnancy I didn’t have that.
This won’t be the same for everyone, my neurologist said that there are some women who experience even more seizures during pregnancy. Which is why this post shouldn’t be taken as this is all fact and this will happen to other epileptics. I’m just sharing my testimony and my experience. You really need to consult with your doctor prior to even getting pregnant to come up with a game plan or see if it’s even safe.
PREGNANCY AND EPILEPSY: POSTPARTUM
I’m a little over one month postpartum. As I already stated, I’m currently still at the 200 mg twice a day, and when I go to the neurologist we will discuss weening me back own to 125 mg twice a day. I’m still feeling pretty good, I haven’t had any weird twitches or feelings. Even with the sleep deprivation, but maybe that’s due to the hormones or the increased mgs during this stressful time, who knows. As of present day, I’m still seizure free even with everything going on. I hope it stays that way!
I’LL KEEP Y’ALL UPDATED
As per usual, I’ll keep y’all updated with how things are going. Due to the pregnancy being over, I know that the aftermath is filled with healing my body, but also my brain too. I’m hoping it stays the way it is, but I have no control over my brain and what it chooses to do.
