Pregnant Women with Epilepsy Should Have Their Drug Levels Monitored

Women who have epilepsy need to take special precautions when they become pregnant. Currently, there is only limited information regarding drug dose and pregnancy. While researchers have already linked epilepsy medications with birth defects, in a recent press release, researchers announced that they have also determined that epilepsy medication can cause increased seizure activity.

While researchers already knew that epilepsy medications have a risk of causing birth defects, discovering that as many as ¾ of pregnant women also have more seizures when taking their medications is concerning.

Researchers have discovered that the risk of having more seizures while pregnant can be better controlled by consistent measuring the drug's level in the patient's bloodstream. In addition, by monitoring the drug levels, the risks to the fetus are also reduced.

While this study focused on pregnant women who were also taking the drug, lamotrigine, other studies using different epilepsy medications have shown similar results.

By monitoring the levels of drugs in the patients' blood, physicians can adjust the dose of medication so that it remains at optimum levels throughout a pregnancy. This is very important because there are no dosage standards for epileptic patients who become pregnant.

Researchers emphasized that monitoring the drug levels in the bloodstream is actually an easy process. There are many benefits for both the mother, and her infant, when blood work is done on a regular basis while a woman is pregnant.

Data indicates that the level of lamotrigine, or other medication to treat epilepsy, drops significantly while a woman is pregnant. This could account for the high increase in additional seizure activity.

"This is important data considering current treatment guidelines do not address how to dose epilepsy drugs once women become pregnant," said Page B. Pennell, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.