Lithium and Water -- important info to discuss with your psychiatrist.

Nearly 20 years ago, the first bipolar medicine I took was Lithium. I was on the bus shortly after I started it, and I suddenly had horrible stomach cramps, ran off the bus just in time to vomit in the gutter (didn't vomit inside the bus -- but I was very lucky.) I was with a friend from the bipolar group I was in at the clinic. He knew a lot about bipolar, whereas I was a beginner, recently diagnosed. (I was 54 years old when I got dx.d) My friend said matter-of-factly "It's the lithium. Are you drinking lots of water?" I said, I was not. He said, "When you're on lithium you have to drink lots of water." I have to wonder why the pdoc did not tell me that! Duh.

I later read that if you don't drink a lot of water, the lithium builds up in your system, and becomes too much. Maybe toxic levels? I'm not sure. But anyway, if you drink lots of water (cut cut down on caffeine if you drink a lot of that because it takes water out of your system -- you really need to check with your pdoc about how much water, and how much/little caffeine you can tolerate.

I was rx/d lithium again in summer, 2016. I was fearful of taking it b/c of that earlier experience. but that particular pdoc was a hard-sales type. (I've since replaced him with a better doctor.) I did drink lots of water, had no digestive problems, but it didn't help my mood stabilize. I did have to wonder, though, if the pdoc from 2 decades ago had rx/d too strong a dose. Actually, mood wise, I had a summer form hell! I also found out the lithium affect the parathyroids. It's in my chart that I'm having some sort of problem with my parathyroid -- that lithium pdoc did not see that in the chart, I supposed, or maybe he would not have been so insistent that I take that med. The endocrinologist said a couple of weeks ago, that my parathyroid readings were the highest yet, and that the 4 months I took Li may have caused the increase. Lithium also can have an effect on the thyroid. I have already had surgery on my thyroid, so only have 1/5 of it left. I also am having some sort of problem with my thyroid. I will have to have surgery soon, on one or both of these glands, so to Rx lithium in my case is highly erroneous judgment.