If you're an epileptic, it's generally recommended that you see your doctor before you become pregnant, so that you can discuss how best to control your epilepsy while you're pregnant. It will also give you a chance to talk about how your epilepsy might affect your pregnancy and your baby.

•   Will being pregnant affect my epilepsy?
•   Will having epilepsy cause any complications in my pregnancy?
•   Is it safe to carry on taking my medication?
•   What if I have a fit while I'm pregnant?
•   What if I have a fit while I'm in labour?
•   Can I breastfeed my baby?
•   Will my baby have epilepsy too?]
•   Pregnancy register for epileptic women

Pregnancy seems to affect different epileptic women in different ways. For around half of them, there will be no change in their condition. For about 40 per cent it will improve, and for the remaining 10 per cent it will get worse.

Pregnancy can cause changes in the way your body processes the drugs you take for epilepsy, so your doctor may recommend changing your dosage. You'll need to have regular check-ups and blood tests during your pregnancy to make sure that your medication is still working effectively.

There's no evidence to suggest that epileptic women are more at risk of complications than other pregnant women.

This is a hard question to answer, as all of the existing anticonvulsant drugs that are taken for epilepsy are known to carry a slight risk of causing birth defects (the most common are cleft lip and palate and heart disease). However, there's also evidence that the risk of birth defects is actually higher in an epileptic woman's baby if she doesn't take anticonvulsants, which suggests that it's better to carry on taking them.

There's currently no evidence that any one type of anticonvulsant is less associated with birth defects than any other (though different drugs are associated with different defects), so the most practical course is to take the one that works best for you. However, a Pregnancy Register for epileptic women has been set up to find out more about the effects of anticonvulsant drugs in pregnancy. Click here to read more or call the free telephone number 0800 389 1248.

Some kinds of anti-convulsants make it more difficult for you to absorb folic acid, so your doctor will probably prescribe folic acid supplements.

Some of the drugs also affect your body's ability to process Vitamin K. Your doctor may suggest that you take Vitamin K tablets in the last month of your pregnancy to help protect your baby from developing a bleeding disorder caused by not having enough Vitamin K. It will probably also be recommended that your baby is given a Vitamin K injection soon after birth.

A minor fit will have no effect on your baby. If you have a major fit, it can temporarily deprive your baby of oxygen. While this isn't good for the baby, it rarely causes any long-term harm.

This is very unlikely to happen, as long as you keep taking your medication.

Yes. Some of your medication will pass through into your milk but in such low levels that it won't harm your baby. Some drugs have more of an effect on the baby than others. Your doctor will be able to advise you about this.

The chance that your baby will have epilepsy is about 4 per cent (in other words, there's a 96 per cent chance that the baby won't). If your partner is epileptic too, this risk increases to 15-20 per cent.

For more information about epilepsy, go to the British Epilepsy Association site at http://www.epilepsy.org.uk.