Women with Epilepsy : A Handbook of Health and Treatment Issues

Published in association with the Epilepsy Foundation of America, this handbook reviews the special problems faced by women with epilepsy. Hormone levels affect seizures and treatments affect fertility, pregnancy and birth outcomes. The authors aim to inform best practice and provide women with the information needed for effective self-advocacy.

In this handbook for sufferers, their clinicians, families and friends, Martha Morrell assembles a team of experts to review the special problems faced by women with epilepsy. In many ways epilepsy is a different disease in women than in men, given the biological and gender differences between the two. Epilepsy treatments affect fertility, and can cause pregnancy complications and birth defects, but most of the available drugs have been tested on men. Moreover, hormone effects on seizures are of particular concern to women at puberty, at menopause, and over the menstrual cycle. Many health-care providers are not informed about the unique issues facing women with epilepsy. This book, published in association with the Epilepsy Foundation of America, fills that gap and provides women with epilepsy with the information they need to be effective self-advocates.