Lithium taste???

purpledaisy · Aug 15, 2012, 08:38 PM

Just started lithium last night, for the first time since 1994.

I woke up with this weird, almost metallic taste in my mouth.

This morning, I got iced tea at a coffee house and sent it back to the counter. It tasted terrible. I got water instead. It tasted terrible.

I've been extremely thirsty today and everything has tasted off.

Am I imagining things?

~Christina · Aug 15, 2012, 09:10 PM

I got the "everything tastes weird for about a month"

The increased thirst which is a common side effect and most doctors advice patients to drink more..

Hope your "taste" gets back to normal soon

Yoda · Aug 15, 2012, 09:23 PM

In An Unquiet Mind I read that farmers had used lithium to keep coyotes from killing the sheep because the coyotes found the lithium taste unappealing. Not sure if they sacrificed some sheep tainted with lithium or put lithium in the sheep feed.

BlackPup · Aug 15, 2012, 09:26 PM

I got a weird taste and increased thirst with lithium also

Aug 15, 2012, 09:37 PM

Watch for any digestive upset also. When it reaches that point, I think you should ask your doctors about lowering the dosage.

My endocrinologist says that lithium is one of the most toxic medications on the market, despite the fact that it's still the benchmark for treatment of bipolar illness.

It can get pretty rough over time: it causes closure of the tiny arteries in the kidneys and there's nothing doctors can do about that, according to my nephrologist.

There are other medications just as effective now. If you aren't happy after a month, please ask for another med.

Needless to say, I had kidney damage from lithium, but as soon as I requested a different medication, the kidney chemical balance came back in line.

It should be good if you aren't on a high dosage and if you take it more than once
daily. I'd be leary of being given one big dose once a day.

Hope your sense of taste improves.

Genetic

Yoda · Aug 16, 2012, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by genetic

Watch for any digestive upset also.

Genetic

Good point. When I was lithium toxic I had projectile vomiting and diarrhea at the same time; didn't know which end to aim at the toilet.

purpledaisy · Aug 16, 2012, 12:41 PM

He put me on 300 mg in the morning and 300 mg at night.

Not sure if that's a big dose or not.

This taste is awful, though.

Even water tastes terrible. I'm so incredibly thirsty because of the lithium, but I don't even feel refreshed when I drink something.

polar_bear1 · Aug 16, 2012, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by purpledaisy

He put me on 300 mg in the morning and 300 mg at night.

Not sure if that's a big dose or not.

This taste is awful, though.

Even water tastes terrible. I'm so incredibly thirsty because of the lithium, but I don't even feel refreshed when I drink something.

Hi, I take 2000mg every evening in one dose- before bedtime... for a time I took 2500 but got tremors.. It´s tough to say what is a "high" doze, it´s so individual

Hope you give it a go- took me time to get used to it, but I can clearly say that it has saved my life.
And now they are finding out that it pretects the brain from alzheimer and dementia... So it ain´t all bad.
Be patient, this takes time. Take care.

Aug 16, 2012, 01:28 PM

Breaking the dosage is good, in my view. It means that you have less circulating in the body at any given time.

I don't think 600 mg @ 300 mg. twice daily is too high at all.

Try a couple of alkaseltzers if the bad taste continues. (It's the acidic residue that gets to you.)

Also, putting a little lemon in the water you drink might help, too, until your system adjusts to the lithium.

Hope you're feeling stronger each day.

Genetic

Confusedinomicon · Aug 16, 2012, 03:42 PM

Request for the extended release. It doesn't taste like crap and its easier on the stomach. It's also about ~10 dollars more expensive than the regular tablets.

I cannot take the regular one because of the taste. I gag when I put the pill in my mouth, its terrible. I've been taking it for almost a year. I see a new doctor soon so we may/may not change it up.

cocoabeans · Aug 16, 2012, 06:30 PM

Lithium scares me! I had a doctor suggest it once and I said no way! He tried to sell me on it being natural, I said, "so is arsenic."

It's supposed to be good if it doesn't make you sick.

Good luck.

purpledaisy · Aug 16, 2012, 07:20 PM

I was on lithium before, ending in 1994.

Now I'm trying to remember what I was like back then.

Did it tone down my episodes?

Did it tone them down so much that I was a personality-less zombie?

Can't remember.

purpledaisy · Aug 17, 2012, 06:35 PM

This taste is really driving me nuts.

Water tastes like metal.

Everything else tastes like it's just wrong. Like the wrong formula for Coca Cola or bad tea bags were used.

I'm chewing gum a lot more than usual, to try to get the taste out of my mouth.

Ugh.

And the lithium capsules are so big that my esophagus hurts after I swallow.

Not just a little discomfort that goes away, either.

Last night, I was up part of the night because I felt like something was on the way back up.

Had to prop myself up with pillows and finally fell back to sleep, only to wake up hungry but unable to eat because it feels like if I push ANYTHING else down there, it's going to come up.

cocoabeans · Aug 17, 2012, 11:22 PM

Try 7 up, according to wikipedia they used to put lithium in it! It'll be like the original?

feel better!

BlueInanna · Aug 17, 2012, 11:40 PM

I had the metallic taste problem with one of the meds I had before lithium... can't remember which one, but it was bad. but with lithium, I get a salty taste in my mouth, I think it's finally starting to go away. If you don't like this lithium, you can tell your pdoc you want off of it, right? Many here are saying there are many other options. Meds should work for us to feel better, not make us want to barf from horrible taste left in the mouth.

purpledaisy · Aug 20, 2012, 09:02 PM

It is now 5 days later, and I can't tell if the lithium taste is still there and I got used to it, OR if the lithium taste has gone away.

A few things still taste a little funky to me.

Water doesn't taste so much like I'm pouring dirty metal down my throat, which is great.

Now the big problem is my stomach feels like a whole is being gnawed through its wall.