Refrain From Consuming Epilepsy Drug During Pregnancy
Posted by Admin | Posted in Epilepsy, Health News | Posted on 24-12-2009
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The new rules and guidelines of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and the American Epilepsy Society clearly state that pregnant women should refrain from taking valporate drug while they are pregnant as it may have a detrimental effect on their health.
Valporate And IQ OD Children
There are great chances that the drug (valporate) if used by itself or in combination with any other drug magnifies the chances of hazards at childbirth and in fact the child may even be deformed because of this. This has been researched and stated by Gary S. Gronseth, MD, vice chairman of neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City.
In fact the consumption of the drug during any of the stages during pregnancy has been regarded as one of the primary reason for reduced IQ. Studies have thrown light on this fact that mother who consumed valpoarte during their pregnancy had given birth to children whose IQ is nine points lower than the actual score at the age of three.
Abbot And Valporate
One of the pertinent employees and spokesperson at Abbot has stated that the drug is effective only for some pregnant ladies and not all. The hazards and the gains should be discussed by the doctors and the patients before consuming the medicines. Detailed analysis of the same should be done before consuming the drug.
Epilepsy And Pregnancy
Gronseth and his colleagues have stated that pregnancy is a great and secured state for most of the women that have epilepsy disease. This reassuring fact has encouraged many women suffering from this disorder to initiate a family. Cynthia Harden, MD, director of the epilepsy division at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine states that as it had been stated years ago that women suffering from epilepsy have magnified chances of facing dangers like premature delivery, excessive bleeding during pregnancy and severe contractions have been cleared.
Statistics
Around 500,000 women that have been classified as the potential mothers to be have different forms of epilepsy that has a distinguished characteristic as it is shown by the meandering activity in the brain. According to Harden every three women out of five that give birth to 1000 children have epilepsy.
Guidelines And Recommendations
These rules and suggestions were clearly announced at the AAN’s yearly meeting and concurrently available online in the journal called Neurology. Some of them state that women suffering from epilepsy should refrain from consuming more than one drug at a time to cure the disease. This would magnify the hazard of deformation of the child. Pregnant ladies with epilepsy should regularly get their blood examined. This is necessary as during the stages of pregnancy the reduced levels of anti-epileptic drugs present in the blood put them at higher risk. And seizure free delivery can happen as the medical doses help tremendously.
Women that want to start a family and in order to become pregnant four hundred grams of folic acid is required by the body. This helps in prevention of birth defects in the child. Smoking is a taboo while pregnancy it may greatly affect the health of the mother and the child in a detrimental manner. Chances of the child being deformed multiply and severe contractions may happen during childbirth as well.