Birth Control Pill may Raise Seizure Risk For Some Women

Credit: prevention.com

"A new study suggests that ethinyl estradiol, the primary component of oral contraceptives, could increase seizures in women with epilepsy.

“We were inspired by an earlier study which surveyed women with epilepsy and found that those using hormonal contraceptives self-reported 4.5 times more seizures than those that did not use oral contraceptives,” says Samba Reddy, professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.

Findings of the new study, published in the journal Epilepsy Research, show that when epileptic animal models received ethinyl estradiol, they not only had more frequent seizures, but the seizures were more likely to be uncontrolled. “We suspected for some time that hormonal birth control increases seizure activity in women with epilepsy, but now we know what part of the contraceptive is problematic.”

Epilepsy is more difficult to control in women once they reach sexual maturity, Reddy says. “The hormones that control menstruation and pregnancy can trigger seizures. Women often experience more seizures in the week before their period due to the change in these hormones...”

Learn more here:

http://www.futurity.org/birth-control-epilepsy-seizures-1128012/