‘Fear of epileptic seizures didn’t stop me having children’

Seizures can affect people in different ways but can include uncontrollable jerking and shaking, losing awareness or collapsing.

Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) can be very effective in stopping or reducing the frequency of seizures, but some AEDs can harm an unborn baby.

When Debbie wanted to start trying for a baby, she was worried about how to navigate pregnancy as her seizures were not under control.

The now 38-year-old, from Lisburn, said she was reassured that having seizures while pregnant was not “the end of the world”.

“To be told that there were many different teams that look after women who are pregnant with epilepsy, that it can be done, was what I needed to hear,” she said.

When she became pregnant with her eldest child Conall, now six, Debbie’s seizures decreased, but her biggest fear was still falling and hurting her baby.

“I was never really worried about the seizure itself, it was more the falls. I was really afraid of being anywhere near stairs,” she said.

As pain, tiredness and stress are triggers, she planned for an early epidural to block pain during the birth.

The birth was traumatic and Debbie was having absent seizures – where you lose awareness of your surroundings for a short time.