| || | Epilepsy and Pregnancy Epilepsy and Pregnancy If you're
among the 800,000 American women of childbearing age with
epilepsy, you and your obstetrician will have some medical
decisions to make. If you're among the 800,000 American women of
childbearing age with epilepsy, you and your obstetrician will
have some medical decisions to make. The crux of the dilemma is
that anti-epileptic medications used to prevent seizures create
a medically significant risk to your child and not taking these
drugs could result in your having convulsions that could also
damage an unborn infant. Before stopping or starting medications
for epilepsy, you should talk with your doctor. Here's a chart
listing several common anti-epileptic medications and the hazard
they might pose during pregnancy: |Brand name ||Generic name
||Possible Fetal Risks | |Dilantin ||Phenytoin ||Doubles or
triples the chance of birth defects; also 11% risk of face,
skull or limb deformities; some cases of fatal hemorrhage in
newborns; may be linked to