What will be the best contraception for women taking new epileptic drugs?

Modified on Fri, 1 Jul, 2022 at 5:27 PM

Drug interactions


The UKMEC recommendations relate to safety of use of a particular method of contraception for women with particular conditions, and do not indicate a ‘best’ method


Epilepsy itself is a condition for which there are no restrictions on the use of contraceptive methods, but restrictions may apply if certain antiepileptic drugs (AED) are used. Potential drug interactions between AED drugs and hormonal contraceptives can be checked using the online drug interaction checker .


Epilepsy may pose a significant health risk to women during pregnancy and therefore be advised to consider using highly effective long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). Similarly, some anti-epileptic drugs are teratogenic so it is essential that LARC methods are promoted to prevent unplanned pregnancy in women taking AED.


View the UKMEC. 

Was this article helpful?

That’s Great!

Thank you for your feedback

Sorry! We couldn't be helpful

Thank you for your feedback

Let us know how can we improve this article!

Select at least one of the reasons
CAPTCHA verification is required.

Feedback sent

We appreciate your effort and will try to fix the article