Thanx for sharing your experience. Apart from sleeping 10 hours, did you still feel fatigue and lethargic through out the day? Like you were dragging? or even in a haze? How many mgs were you on? Were you taking anything else together with the lithium? If you read my response to the post above, i was initially on high doses of topomax which is why i didn't feel any fatigue till the doc took my off the topomax. Well i'm glad to know that the fatigue does subside eventually....though 3 months seems like a long time. I'm hoping the increased doses of lamictal will counteract the fatigue like my doc said.

As for the weight gain....i'm so totally dreading that possibility since i gained a ton of weight yrs ago when i was on depakote. I'm confused....you gained water weight? I thought lithium was an appetite stimulant which is what causes the weight gain....i'm also assuming it slows down your metabolism. Did you find that you were eating more or hungrier while on lithium? I don't understand how drinking more water will cause weight gain. Also, you mentioned a hypo-thyroid issue. Did the hypo-thyroid issue happen after being on lithium or before? I ask because lithium is known to cause hypo-thyroidism which i already just developed before going on lithium--but just barely have it. I was put on a low dose of synthroid this fall when the hypo-thyroidism was discovered and i actually gained weight from that low (starting) dose of the synthroid. I thought the opposite was supposed to happen, but certain researchers believe that low doses of synthroid can actually cause weight gain. I ended up putting on 20 lbs in 2 months as soon as i went on synthroid and couldn't figure out why i had gained so much weight so fast----i just attributed to the hypo-thryroidism. But when i read about the low dose thing, i stopped taking synthroid to test their theory and low and behold i started to put off the weight i had gained. Though my thyroid levels were normal again for a while, just recently i found out it just came back again, but i don't know the severity of it yet till i see my doc.

Oh and thanx a lot regarding the advice of taking zinc. I wonder how many mgs i should take. I'm glad abilify is working for you. For me, it caused a lot of anxiety. Damn all these side effects....so sick of playing the detective "trial and error" game. i hope one day they come up with "designer" meds to fit each persons chemistry. Hope this happens in our life time.

thanx again for sharing your experience with lithium.