Epilepsy is a chronic disease that a patient often struggles with for many years at different stages of her life, depending on whether she becomes sick as a child, teenager or adult.
This is an astonishing disease – in most patients the symptoms are rare: they appear once a week, once a month or once a year, between seizures patients function completely normally, so for a bystander the disease is usually imperceptible. However, the Epilepsy with great power, permanently fits into the life of every sick person, does not allow to forget about itself – it often affects the perception of yourself as a woman.
It happens, the patients do not believe that they could be wonderful partners and mothers. They fear rejection. They have an inner belief that there is no partner who would like to be associated with a woman with epilepsy. Many women wonder whether epilepsy will enable them to take proper care of their child and whether the disease will not limit their ability to be a good mother throughout their lives.
Patients often do not show others this internal struggle, dilemmas and so much hidden anxiety that this disease introduces every day into their lives.
I have repeatedly discussed this topic during the consultation, I tell you that the vast majority of women with epilepsy have happy families, give birth to healthy children and find themselves wonderfully in partnership and motherhood.
The key to effective treatment, patient safety and mental comfort is knowledge. Knowledge of your disease – its course, treatment and factors that can provoke seizures. Knowledge of the need to plan a pregnancy. Knowledge of the right choice of contraception – the need to effectively protect against unplanned pregnancy. Women armed with knowledge are more easily to chase away black thoughts, are aware of their disease, can recognize the moment when to see a doctor, do not leave treatment to coincidence.
REMEMBER!
- If you have started sexual activity you need to have control over whether and when to get pregnant – use appropriately selected contraception
- The main thing you can do for the sake of yourself and your child is to plan your pregnancy well in advance and prepare for it under the systematic care of a neurologist
- The safety of you and your baby during puerperium is a key issue that needs to be discussed with a neurologist during visits while still pregnant.
Maja Kopytek-Beuzen, a neurologist specializing in the treatment of patients with epilepsy.