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Lamictal and birth control pills
Fri, 01/12/2007 - 22:32Topic: Women With Epilepsy
Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone else has taken Lamictal and birth control pills at the same time. I just discovered that taking Lamictal and Yasmin (oral contraceptive brand name) can be problematic. Despite taking a moderately high dosage of Lamictal (550 mg/day), my serum level was only 2.8 (from a scale of 4.0 to 8.0). This low level of Lamictal brought on a breakthrough seizure, my first one in years. This made no sense to me until I researched and found that Yasmin was decreasing my Lamictal levels dramatically (almost dropping by 50%). No wonder I had the seizure.
My neurologist did not warn me of this risk. She did say that Lamictal will not change the effectiveness of the birth control pills, but I did not know that the pill can decrease Lamictal levels. If there's anyone out there who's taking Lamictal and the pill at the same time, please have your Lamictal blood levels checked before any breakthrough seizures take place.
Comments
Re: Lamictal and birth control pills
Submitted by rosegirl on Mon, 2007-01-22 - 01:33
Thank you for posting this. I was going to go on the pill and I am on Lamictal along with an assortment of other meds. Now i know the risk i would be putting myself in.
Sharmila: You know, it's not
Submitted by carrieb on Mon, 2007-01-22 - 08:47
Sharmila:
You know, it's not just that the pill lowers Lamictal levels. The pill increases your chances of having a seizure because it affects your hormones. Birth control pills are dangerous for those with seizure disorders. I'm surprised that neither your gyn nor your neuro warned you of it.
Kellyb:
I was on Lamictal with 2 of my kids, breastfed both of them, too, and everything was great.
Re: Lamictal and birth control pills
Submitted by kellyb on Sat, 2007-01-13 - 12:42
Hi: I was on a combo of Lamictal and Depakote for the last several years. However about a year ago my neuro started weaning me off the Depakote and I just went completely off the Depakote about two weeks ago. I started on the oral contraceptive Portia a few months ago. My neuro also started increasing my Lamictal dosage as he knew that the Portia could affect my seizure threshold. So far, so good and no seizures. I've noticed that I'm gaining a little bit of weight, I'm experiencing bouts of nausea and my breasts are very tender and lumpy. Since I've been on the Lamictal for several years I'm guessing that all of these are from the pill. Also I'm interested in trying to get pregnant in a couple of years. I have a son who is now 10 years old and I was on Tegretol with him and had no problems during pregnancy, labor and breastfeeding. It was all terrific and he's an incredibly healthy boy. Anyone have any recent experiences with Lamictal and pregnancy and breastfeeding (breastfeeding is really important to me)? Since Lamictal is still relatively new I know there's not as much research on it but can anyone share? Thanks.