First of all, a definite answer: it is possible to have children. But under the guidance of a specialist and with the courage to take the risk themselves, because in reality it is often doctors who are afraid to advise epileptic patients to have children for fear of taking responsibility. 1. About whether it is hereditary. Only a very small number of types of epilepsy are hereditary. You can consult a specialist after a clear diagnosis of the type of epilepsy to see if it will be passed on to your offspring. 2. For male patients: In the case of long-term medication, it is very unlikely that the medication will affect the offspring. Although there is no research data specifically on this, theoretically, the effect of medication can be disregarded as long as the pregnancy is successful. In practice, I have often encountered cases of men with epilepsy whose wives can conceive and bear children normally while taking medication. Of course, whether seizures and medication affect male fertility is a separate issue. 3. For female patients: the following two factors should be considered. (1) The effect of seizures. It is often encountered that some patients with epilepsy have significantly reduced the number of seizures or stopped having seizures after pregnancy, and some patients have instead had their seizures worsen after pregnancy. In the 1990s, some foreign scholars did a retrospective analysis and found that 15% of patients had increased seizure frequency, 24% had decreased seizures, and more than half of the patients had no change in seizure frequency after pregnancy. The remaining half of the patients had no change in seizure frequency after pregnancy. Seizures that are generally less severe and of shorter duration (often less than one minute) do not affect the fetus. Severe generalized tonic clonic grand mal seizures are hazardous. On the one hand, patients are often in a state of hypoxia, which in severe cases also leads to disturbances in the systemic internal environment, and on the other hand, patients may fall and collide, all of which can cause harm to the fetus. (There have been reports of intracranial hemorrhage in fetuses caused by falls during seizures in pregnant women.) (2) Effects of drugs. Theoretically, any long-term use of antiepileptic drugs will increase the risk if pregnancy is to occur, mainly including increased seizure frequency, risk of vaginal bleeding, leading to fetal malformation, and neonatal hemorrhage. However, these conditions are increased in probability (relative to a healthy pregnant woman), the vast majority of cases remain normal, and there are measures that can be taken to reduce the risk. Appropriate choice of antiepileptic drugs. Traditional antiepileptic drugs commonly used are phenytoin sodium (or dalantin), phenobarbital (or luminal), carbamazepine (or deltodine), and sodium valproate (or magnesium valproate, or depakene), for which there is definite evidence of effects on the fetus. The newer antiepileptic drugs commonly used are oxcarbazepine (or trilostane), lamotrigine (or lipitor), levetiracetam (or kepulan), and topiramate (or tolteride), which have been used for a short time and have less relevant information, but are significantly better than traditional antiepileptic drugs in terms of other side effects and should be considered as a priority. It is also worth pointing out that lamotrigine, which has been partially studied in the last decade, has shown no difference in its effects on the fetus compared to healthy pregnant women. In fact, my guideline in recent years has also been to choose lamotrigine first for female patients who are preparing to become pregnant while trying to control their seizures. So what should be done for female patients who are preparing to have children? The first thing is to have a plan. This is important because the fetal growth and development is almost complete in the first trimester with all the major organs, especially the nervous system. It is common that when a patient finds out she is pregnant it is often more than 2 months old, by which time the danger is likely to have already occurred. When a patient is considering pregnancy, he or she should first consult a specialist to see if he or she can stop the medication. For cases where the number of seizures is low and the degree of seizures is mild, he or she can try to gradually reduce and stop the medication (of course, always under the guidance of a specialist). If it is not possible to stop the medication, try to choose monotherapy and choose a medication and dose with fewer side effects, provided, of course, that the seizures are controlled. Also take oral folic acid supplementation 3 months before pregnancy and during the initial 3 months of pregnancy to prevent congenital neural tube development malformations (e.g. congenital spina bifida). Vitamin K supplementation near the time of birth to prevent neonatal hemorrhage. In fact, folic acid and vitamin K are now also used in healthy pregnant women, and ultrasound can be performed at 16-18 weeks of gestation to check for spina bifida, cardiac malformations or limb defects, and amniocentesis can be performed to determine alpha-fetoprotein levels when available. Finally, it should be emphasized that, according to statistical results, despite all the above-mentioned risks, it was eventually found that about 90% of women with epilepsy have normal pregnancies and births, and that the babies born are normal. In addition, 1 to 3 percent of healthy pregnant women are found to have abnormal babies, so there is no cause for undue concern.