Risks

One of my husband's big worries about having children is that he/she will inherit his terrible allergies and epilepsy.  The allergies, I have a suspicion, are the result of his mother bleaching the walls of their home when he and his brother were toddlers, limiting their exposure to environmental factors that later in life triggered allergic reactions.  The epilepsy was a bigger worry, so I did a bit of research.

From epilepsy.com:

Q. If I have epilepsy, will my children also have it?

A. Less than 2 people out of every 100 (2%) develop epilepsy at some pointduring their lifetime. The risk for children whose father has epilepsy isonly slightly higher. If the mother has epilepsy and the father does not,the risk is still less than 5%. If both parents have epilepsy, the risk is abit higher. Most children will not inherit epilepsy from a parent, but thechance of inheriting epilepsy is higher for some types. 

If you have epilepsy, it is normal for you to be afraid that your childrenwill have epilepsy too. However, a fear that your children will haveepilepsy is not enough reason to decide against having any. The risk is low,most children outgrow epilepsy, and most people who have it are able tocontrol their seizures by taking one medicine.

Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, M.D.

Well, 2% hardly seems like much cause to worry, so that takes a load off my
mind, and hopefully off of his, too.