Pregnancy and seizure

[Mrsm25]

Hi all I wonder if anyone can help. So I had my daughter in 2012 developed epilepsy had 2 sleep seizures after having her I was put on 500mg Keppra twice daily. I was seizure free until 2016 again had a sleep seizure put my meds up to 750mg twice a day.

Now took me ages again but wanted and am pregnant with our second and final child I've had another sleep seizure. Doctor has put me up to 1000 mg twice daily. Firstly does this sound a lot?and to you all do I sound as though I have epilepsy badly? Any remedies I think stress is my trigger? Thankfully I can still drive any advice would be great.

[AmyBadd]

Hi.

When I was pregnant I stayed on medication as we decided if I did not I'd have too many seizures and it would be dangerous for the baby. However I reduced the dosage to about half because epilim chrono that I take can be bad for fetal development.

I know that keppra does not have this same problem as epilim which is why it is preferred for women, but unfortunately it does not control my seizures. It's such a long time since I took it I can't remember what normal doses are, but you can look it up on the website of epilepsy research uk or epilepsy action.

You might have more seizures when you are pregnant as your body is under more stress (I had 2). Make sure you have regular appointments with your neurologist and obstetrician during pregnancy. Your pregancy should have been marked as high risk since you have epilepsy so you should see an obstetrician more than most women would.

Good luck!

Amy

[Mrsm25 in reply to AmyBadd]

Hi. Amy

Thank you for replying how often do you get seizures? I'm 28 weeks pregnant and this was my first one pregnant and I have felt very stressed so I'm not sure if that was a trigger?

I am more than happy to stay on the meds far safer in my opinion I just wondered why I would have break through seizures on medication.

I am consultant led and seeing my consultant tomorrow. May I ask have you now had your baby and how was he or she after you had them well u hope?

Corinne

[AmyBadd in reply to Mrsm25]

Hi Corrine,

Unfortunately, sometimes you do get breakthrough seizures on meds, especially if something is very different (like you are pregnant!)

I went 7 years seizure free on epilim and then had a couple out of the blue. It was about a year after these breakthrough seizures that I got pregnant and I didn't have any more in that time. When I was pregnant I had seizures at about 22 and 33 weeks. My neurologist suggested slightly increasing my dose of medication after the first one because by being heavily pregnant your medication is sort of watered down. Your blood volume is about 1.5x as much as when not pregnant so having the medication in your blood and body it is actually more spread out so like taking a lower dose. This might be what has happened to you now.

My seizures are during the day so different to yours in that way.

My son is now 11months old. He is very healthy and I have only had two more seizures since he was born (one only a couple of days after when I was still exhausted from labour and stuff). I'm now on a higher dose of medication again as I don't intend to get pregnant again in the immediate future so don't need to worry about that.

Amy xx

[Mrsm25]

Hi Amy

Thank you very much for your reply it's so frustrating thankfully I can still drive checked all with the dvla it's making me so worried about this pregnancy. I've only really got 12 weeks left and I don't want another one.

I know stress can play a part in bringing them on. Do you find this? So I'm back on my mindfulness.

I've had my dose increased and seeing my consultant today so see if she has anything further to add.

How frequently do you have seizures? I don't intend on anymore children I found this time and selfishley all a bit much.

Corinne

[AmyBadd in reply to Mrsm25]

Like I said I only had two during pregnancy and have had two since, one just after and one about 5 months after my baby was born. Before I got pregnant I had two close together about a year before, but before that I'd not had any for 7 years, since I started taking epilim chrono.

I did hypnobirthing and pregnancy yoga classes whilst pregnant. You could try things like this for physically and mentally de-stressing. Xx