
Aug 09, 2022, 10:24 AM
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Member Since: Mar 2013
Posts: 443
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Quote:
Originally Posted by *Beth*
Weellllll, I'm rapidly losing confidence in med dude. When that happens I lose respect and when I lose respect I am kinda done and ready to move on. Time to make phone calls.
He seemed annoyed that I went in today, so soon after my last appointment. I suggested to him that we raise the lithium dose, but he was adamant about my having blood work done tomorrow for fear of lithium toxicity. That means I can't raise the dose until at least Thursday, because he has to get the lab result.
So he said maybe stop the lithium and try Depakote. Then he said we've tried a bunch of meds and none of them have worked. I reminded him that we tried "a bunch of meds" for sleep, not for mood stuff. Those meds didn't help with sleep, only 50mgs of Seroquel helps.
Oh, yeah, that's true, says the dude.
He asked me if I've felt any change since being on lithium. I said no...but it's been only 4 days. He said I should feel better by now. Ummm...??? 4 days of only 600mg of lithium and I should feel stable? Nah, I doubt it.
Then he said there's only "so much medication can do" (OH, boy, here we go with that one). That's the game they play. The way to get around it is to tell them I want to stop my meds. Then they start prescribing like crazy, insisting that I need to be on a list of medications. (But I THOUGHT there is only so much medication can do, Herr Doktor.... )
I suggested that we raise my Lamictal. No, med dude says; 200mg is the maximum dose. No, say I - I have been on 300mg and was quite stable on it for a couple of years.
Well, if you were IP...but there's only so much I can do outpatient. Because they could do your lithium serum right there if you were IP. I can prescribe an extra 100mg of Lamictal, but it's off-label. (Who gives a f**k, if it works?).
Me thinking: whatever. Wasted my time and gas coming over here.
So they closed the lab next to the hospital and the lab I have to drive out to tomorrow is an 18 mile round-trip. I told med dude that I don't have enough gas in my car to make that trip. He looked at me, blank.
I came home made calls and found out that I actually can go to the ER to get a lithium serum drawn. Of course, there's the waiting (not a big deal, I can read a book). But I still have the gas issue, although the hospital is much closer.
I called David; he has $4 in change. I have $1 and some pennies. That's not even a gallon.
Right now I feel so done with the mental health system. And you know what? Even if I did go IP I know it would be a waste of time. I've done it 3 times before and all I ended up with was one less bra, because someone stole mine while I was there. Oh - and a case of ptsd because a crazy old lady tried to smother me with a pillow while I was asleep. Yeah, IP was reeeaaallll helpful.
So I guess the question I'm asking is if I really should notice a different after taking only seven 300mg lithium pills? If I should, then lithium isn't helping. If it's too early to tell, then it's worth putting the $5 of gas in my car to get to the lab.
@MuddyBoots No need to stay away, sweetie. We can spew vitriol together.
I do adore you all and I do expect that "I" will eventually return.
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Lithium can definitely work quick but like I said before it really all depends on the level and how quick you reach it. I’ve reached my level pretty quick in the past but I was on 1500mg a day. It worked fast for me. It also depends what you’re needing it to work on at that point in time. I wasn’t manic at the time I was just unstable and it levelled me out. That was the first time I took it. Another time I took it I was psychotic and inpatient and switched back to it from depakote and that along with the antipsychotics really helped me. Again it worked relatively quickly because of the dose. Maybe if you’re really manic or something it would take longer to work and at lower doses it will probably take longer. I wouldn’t think you’d have toxicity at 600mg a day so not sure why your dr wouldn’t move you up but I guess he would know more about that than me!
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