if you have epilepsy does age difference make a difference in birth defects?

Question

there is a certain percentage of child deformaties if you have epilepsy and are pregnant. is the risk of deformaties greater as i mature in age. For instance I am 24, will a child be healthier if i am pregnant when i am 25 opposed to when i am 27 or older or does it not even make a difference?

Answer 1

Epilepsy does increase a woman's risk of having a baby with a birth defect, you are correct there. Studies to date have been inconclusive in determining however whether it is the epilepsy itself or the drugs that are taken to control the epilepsy that have elevated the risk.

Having said that though it is just a *risk factor*, it's not an absolute that the baby of a mother who has epilespy will have any problems. Plenty of epileptic mothers have perfectly normal healthy babies.

And yes, the risk factor for birth defects does increase with the age of the mother, however this is true for all women, not just those with epilepsy.

If you are planning on becoming pregnant you should probably talk to your doctor about it beforehand so that your neurologist and your OB/GYN can put together a plan to safely manage your epilepsy and your pregnancy, and maximise your chances of a healthy baby.

Best of luck.

Answer 2

my sister in law has a severe case of epilepsy, she has had 3 kids in the past 5 years all very healthy and no deformaties!!! she was 20, 22, and 24 when she had the kids and shes been fine and so have the babies

Answer 3

I have a friend who had a baby at the age of 39 and was a severe epilepsy and has a beautiful 6 year old daughter. But honey please go to a high-risk OB because she went to a hick town old country GP with her 1st born at the age of 23 Her epilepsy got worse in the last trimester and she had an attack at the beginning of her last month of pregnancy and the baby died and she had to carry him for 3 weeks and at the time she went to see a regular OB doctor he examined her and told her she could never get pregnant again because of the damage they did to her delivering him so her last pregnancy was a surprise to her and her husband but all turned out good they had to change her medication during her pregnancy several times.