For Lithium users

I have a few questions.

1. Did you start it in a depressed, manic or mixed episode?

2. What is your dose?

3. How long did it take to work?

4. Has it continued to work?

5. Do you like it?

6. Was it your last resort?

I ask because my p-doc as indicated that Lithium is my last resort for treatment of bipolar. She also said that I will begin to feel it within a week. I haven't felt anything different yet. I still seem to be cycling. I have only been on it since Monday, but I assumed that if I were going to feel it within a week that I would be feeling it already. I am on a low dose to augment my Trileptal (which has never worked since I started it in July).

Uhm. Mixed I think. My therapeudic dose was 900mg. It kicked in after a few weeks and worked for quite awhile. I did have to change to something else eventually (nothing seems to work forever with me). I didn't mind lithium. It did make me thirsty ALL the time, and I had hand tremors that were pretty annoying, but it was working, so I could live with the side effects. It was NOT my last resort. I'm currently on tegretol. I think working within a week is too quick an estimate, particularly if you aren't on a therapeudic dose yet. Has she had blood levels drawn? Unless it is within therapeudic levels, it isn't going to do much.

Lithium was my first moodstabilizer and the only one that has done anything for me. If it does the job, it's fine by me. I have been normal mood when I have taken it, and it seems to funtion best at keeping the mixed episodes under control but i need an AD with antianxiety function to complete the treatment. Valproate made me sicker than a dog and made my hair fall out Huggs dear, and good luck!

I started Lithium early in 2009 after nothing else worked. It worked great for me. Was at 900mg but then based on symptoms and blood levels I increased it to 1200mg for a while. I self-decreased the dose because it's now interfering with my thyroid level and I'm between pocs so I talked to my family doc and he agreed to let me handle my dose titrations and he will write orders. As far as side effects, I do have the hand tremors and I will get thirsty at night after I take my PM dose but otherwise I don't have any side effects (other than it burning out my thyroid). As far as symptom control it's offered me the best control for the longest period of time. I had a 6 month period where I felt 'normal' and even had significant stressors during that time but was doing so well. I went into a depressed episode at the end of November and that worsened over the next several weeks and has no turned into a more mixed episode but I've decreased my Lithium level so that would make a little sense. Hopefully you'll have good results with it. Good luck!!

1. Did you start it in a depressed, manic or mixed episode?
I started Lithium in a hypomanic episode. The second time I started in a depressive episode with suicidal ideation.

2. What is your dose? 900 mg a day, immediate release capsules. I have a blood level of about .7 on this dose.

3. How long did it take to work? about a week.

4. Has it continued to work? Yes. It keeps me a tiny bit depressed, and tired a lot. I may ask for something else to augment. But it keeps me from extreme moods.

5. Do you like it? Yes. It's cheap. I can eat a normal diet, and only have to prevent dehydration. I don't find the blood tests bothersome. I do have a tremor that has interfered with my job due to Lithium...but the beta blocker Propranolol has eliminated the tremor.

6. Was it your last resort? No. I originally took Lithium with Lamictal. I had a severe hypersensitivity response to Lamictal, so now I only take Lithium. So really it was the first drug I tried,and it has worked for me.

My friend is also bipolar and she needs 1800 mg a day to get the same blood level I do. It's all about the levels, not the dose really. It may take some experimenting to get to the right level for you, I know it stinks to have to wait after what you have been through. I do wonder why your Pdoc keeps you on trileptal when it's not helping. Boo on them!

I took 1050 mg a day for 9 months. It took about 2 weeks to work and certainly had a beneficial effect. Did not like the salty aftertaste.
I had to discontinue it as it was affecting my kidney function.

Was in a mixed episode when Lithium was 1st prescribed.

Was on Lithium for only a couple weeks as blood test showed kidney malfunction (bipolar 1 as was my mother who committed suicide so I know it is a dangerous malady). But I never felt so good as I did on Lithium (& by that time I was about 45 yrs. old--having had my 1st suicide attempt at 15). The doc ordered a sonogram or something like that to make sure I didn't have a tumor or something,but no, it was the Lithium despite my drinking so much water that --yeah--I was happy--but was happy in the john!

Loved Lithium--if it works for you great--but keep up on the blood tests & any side effects... (memory loss, "foggy" thinking, weight gain, hair loss, predisposition to diabetes, etc.).

Plus, once you are on a certain med doesn't mean you will be on it forever.

Thank you, All.

I asked my p-doc why I am still on Trileptal and she said that sometimes you don't know how much a med is helping until you take it away. She doesn't want to take that risk given the last year's events. Maybe if Lithium starts working, I'll ask if we can scale back on Trileptal.

Has anyone had an increase in symptoms on Lithium? I have been feeling increasingly angry and it's hard to explain. I am depressed and angry and feel like I could crawl out of my skin. I also have moments of feeling like I want to overhaul everything that's wrong in my life, but can't get the energy to do it. I feel even less stable than I was and I wasn't really very stable to begin with.
It hasn't even been a week, but I want to know what the he** is going on.

I have been on Lithium twice. The first time I took it for several months and my doctor only checked my blood level one time two weeks after I started taking it. I called my physician because I had zero hours sleep in five days and was having hallucinations and also had nausea and vomiting and diarrhea. My doc sent me to the emergency department first to rule out a medical diagnosis and then admitted me to a psychiatric hospital. I was lithium toxic. My level was 2.9; therapeutic is 0.5-0.9 And while I was toxic I itched horribly all over my body, even my scalp.

A couple of years later a different physician put me on lithium and I started having s/s of being toxic after only two weeks. Can't remember what dosage I took.