WHEN Yvonne Tollan was trying to start a family she faced a seemingly impossible dilemma.

If she conceived, the medication she was taking to control her epilepsy might affect the development of her unborn baby - but suffering a seizure could be dangerous for her and the child as well.

Now Ms Tollan, from Glasgow, has a healthy five-month-old daughter called Leah and the family life she feared was beyond hope.

Specialists in Glasgow advised her when she was trying to conceive and when she finally fell pregnant.

Now a campaign, bringing together that medical team and charity Epilepsy Connections, is trying to reach other women with epilepsy across Glasgow urging them to come forward for medical advice before they start trying for a baby.

Research has shown that would-be-mums with the condition who get the right information have healthier pregnancies and children.

From this week 290 pharmacies across Greater Glasgow and Clyde will be handing out leaflets to women when they collect their epilepsy medication urging them to seek support before attempting to conceive. Posters and postcards are also being distributed issuing the same advice.

Dr Linda Stephen, associate specialist in neurology for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Ms Tollan's doctor, said: "We know that there are women out there we are missing because we see them when they come late in pregnancy. They are the ones who sometimes have problems. This is what we are trying to change. We need to get out into the community and get the word out."

Across Scotland 400 women with epilepsy give birth every year. Most will have a healthy baby but their child faces a higher risk of abnormalities ranging from widespread eyes to spina-bifida - where a gap in the spine can cause serious problems including paralysis, incontinence and brain damage.

Ms Tollan, who tried for a baby for eight years before she fell pregnant, said: "I was shocked that it had actually happened. Because I had been in contact with Dr Stephen she was very good and very supportive. She talked me through what to do and talked me through the risks of having a seizure when I was pregnant. She was so accessible if I needed her."

During her pregnancy, if Ms Tollan felt the onset of migraine-like symptoms she would increase her medication and ring the doctor.

She said: "I was on one of the safer epilepsy drugs but the baby still had a risk of cleft lip and palette (when the top lip is split) and things like webbed hands and feet. When we went for the 20 week scan it was fine."

However, just before her due date Ms Tollan was diagnosed with heart failure. Leah was born by emergency caesarean section and spent her first days in the hotel beside the Golden Jubilee National Hospital being taken to her mother's ward for feeds.

"I was worried I would not be able to breastfeed because of all the medication I was on," said Ms Tollan. In fact, she said, it was a way to wean Leah off the drugs which she had been exposed to in the womb.

Ms Tollan said "it has definitely all been worth it" and urges other women with epilepsy to follow the advice of the campaign and seek medical expertise before they conceive.

Sara Twaddle, director of evidence for Healthcare Improvement Scotland, said new guidelines on the diagnosis of patients with epilepsy had flagged-up the need to give women clear information about pregnancy.

The GGC campaign aims to turn the aspirations of the guidelines, known as SIGN 143, into reality.

Dr Stephen said: "Although there is generally much political enthusiasm for guidelines, once launched they may end up gathering dust on a shelf, rather than being put into practice. The epilepsy community in Glasgow were determined that this was not going to be the case."

If their leaflets see more women with epilepsy seeking appointments, she hopes they will be rolled out in other parts of Scotland.

Shirley Maxwell, executive director of Epilepsy Connections, said: "Working with health professional colleagues and women with epilepsy to produce information materials and a project to distribute them via community pharmacists is part of our wider efforts to make sure that people with epilepsy have the information they need, and to promote the (official) guideline. Although health boards are not required to implement SIGN 143, doing so would help ensure that every adult with epilepsy, or suspected epilepsy, has access to accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment."