Lithium Withdrawal Symptoms

I didn't see anything about this in other threads and I looked it up online and only found information about it possibly resulting in a manic episode.... Not a concern of mine, I'm already in a mixed/manic episode. My concerns is physical symptoms. I have this weird rushing feeling in my brain that makes me feel a little dizzy and blurred. I'm also having numbing of my hands. These are the same withdrawal effects I had when I came off of Effexor, back in November. Anyone else have these effects coming off of Lithium?

I didn't have any effects from dropping Lithium, except I became hypomanic and edged into a mixed episode. Though, I wasn't supposed to go off of it, and I'm taking it again.

Lithium does not contain addictive substances, so there should be no real withdrawal symptoms.

I stopped a few times with lithium and never had any side effects.

Are you stopping gradually?

I had a crisis with the Lithium building up in my system and had to detox fast. It consisted of drinking water gatorade etc every waking moment. I don't know how it would be with you but if you need to detox faster liquids worked for me...it took a few days.
Fortunately for me Lamictal was just approved for bp treatment. It has worked well for me as a mood stabilizer and has kept the depression away. Good luck to you.

Yep. My pdoc has taken me down 300 mg at a time. I'm wondering if maybe the Effexor withdrawal effects are happening again because my brain is losing another chemical. I dont know if that is at all possible. But it seems to be the only possibility if there is not anyone else who has experienced physical symptoms.

It should be very different than what you went through with effexor, effexor is a "SSNRI". But to be on the safe side do talk to your doc about it. My doc always give me a b-complex vitamen prescription when I stop with lithium.

Maybe I'm crazy

When I came off fluoxetine I did so complete cold turkey (I'd had a manic episode which ended with me completely florid, and trying to kill myself). I had these weird electric shock sensations in my head. Took quite a while for them to subside. After that I was off meds for a while, then the doctor put me on something else (can't remember what now). It just made me tired, to the point where I would just sit for hours on end staring at a wall unless someone shook me out of it. When I came off that med, I started getting the electric shocks in my head again. I spoke to the doctor about it, and he said it shouldn't be happening, but that sometimes a person's brain became used to detoxing in a certain way, so I was having "phantom withdrawal" from whatever the med was... in other words my brain learned to zap shock me when I was coming of a drug.

Since then it's happened again when I stopped a drug... perhaps this is what's happening with you?

I have been diagnosed type 2 1 bipolar for 20 years. The first ten years I decided to medicate myself with drugs and alcohol, I know..like pouring gasoline onto a fire. After discovering lithium, I thought it was a miracle! I was even able to graduate from OSU. Well, I noticed in the last few years that my memory if awful, the weight gain is climbing again, I also had my thyroid removed due lithium induced multi nodule goiters and most importantly, my joy is GONE. Not really depressed just can't get excited about anything. I tried going off of lithium before and is was horrifying, My chest was so tight, I thought I was having a heart attack! I am going off a lot slower this time. I would love to hear other's experience
Thanks
~Lisa

I was doing reasonably well, and stable for a couple of weeks after we got my lithium levels to around 0.7 mmol/l on 750mg of Camcolit. Then I changed brands to Quilonum, and my pdoc prescribed 1 tablet daily, thinking it was a 900mg dose, when in fact it was a 450mg dose that should have been taken twice daily.
I was also prescribed Concerta 54 for ADHD, and responded to that with instant excitability and distress, followed by a crashing depression. (Stopped Concerta immediately).
But for the following 2 weeks I have been suicidal with increasing confusion and feelings that the world was conspiring against me.
When I found out last night that I had been put on a wrong dose of lithium, I had my proof that the enemy had indeed infiltrated one of my most trusted allies - my pdoc.

That wasn't complete cold turkey, but the effect of the dosage change seems to be quite radical.

I stopped Lithium cold turkey 10 days ago and have had no side effects at all. Was on 1000mg a day.