The University Hospital, one of many buildings used by the Wexner Medical Center, in 2025. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor
Epilepsy — a neurological disorder that causes seizures — might not be the first condition that comes to mind when thinking of women’s health, but for many, managing the disorder involves navigating risks that go far beyond seizures.?
From the effects seizure medication can have on oral contraceptives to stressors surrounding hormonal shifts throughout different stages of life, epilepsy can be a constant source of anxiety, especially when planning for a family. At Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, Dr. Satira Maturu and Dr. Danille Becker, with the help of pharmacist Dr. Meredith Puckett, resides in a clinic designed to help answer these questions patients have before, during and after pregnancy.
“[We] work closely with maternal fetal medicine, and when a patient with epilepsy gets pregnant, [we] see them more often during their pregnancy,” Maturu said. “There are a lot of special considerations when you’re pregnant about monitoring anti-seizure medication levels, making sure you’re on folic acid, or just counseling in general on safety.”
This anti-seizure medication dosing requires high levels of precision. Too little can be ineffective and do little to prevent seizures, too much can potentially pose risks to both the mother and the baby; keeping the blood level of medication stable is a key factor during pregnancy, all three doctors said.
“As you become pregnant, your volume of distribution gets bigger and your metabolism increases, because you are now carrying for another life,” Becker said. “We don’t want certain medication levels to fall and then cause a breakthrough seizure. That’s why we see them three different times every trimester, but that’s also why we get the pharmacist involved.”
Puckett is the pharmacist who works closely with expecting patients, not only doing the work behind prescriptions but monitoring the medications patients take and necessary next steps with dosage or changes.?
“Sometimes patients are unsure about should they or should they not take their anti-seizure medicines if they become pregnant,” Puckett said. “If patients stop anti-seizure medicines, that increases the risk of having a seizure, and, if a woman is pregnant and has a seizure, that can also carry some risks.”?
In the event of someone having a seizure while pregnant, there are different ways to approach the situation. Not every seizure is life threatening to the parent or the baby, but receiving care is always an important follow-up, Becker said.
“If they have anything where there’s movement or motor involved, like full body shaking, we would have them come in, get baby on the monitor, monitor the mom and make sure she’s doing okay, check her levels and other standard check-ups,” Becker said.?
Around nine out of 10 pregnancies in people with epilepsy result in healthy babies, according to a study by The Epilepsy Society.?
“I’ve had many patients who’ve had seizures during a pregnancy with the baby,” Becker said. “They had a healthy, normal baby, but the idea is just to try to limit [seizures] as much as possible.”
Even outside of family planning, the epilepsy clinic can be a resource for students with questions about their diagnosis, medications or the potential of getting ahead of long-term effects.?
“[We] really don’t want patients feeling like they have to navigate this on their own, and have to internalize these questions,” Puckett said. “[We] don’t want them carrying that fear around.”
More information on epilepsy can be found on The Epilepsy Society’s website, My Epilepsy Story’s website or through different clinic options at the medical center.?
“We might call it the same, but everyone has their own walk with [epilepsy], and that is what our job is, is to walk with them and figure out what the bumps in the roads are going to be, to try to prep people as best as we can, to get through those bumps as quickly and as safely as possible,” Maturu said.
