[Rainey11]

Hello. I've been taking medication for Bipolar II for 13 years. I recently weaned myself off Restoril because I thought it was causing my longterm memory issues (and also because it was no longer working). My longterm memory loss is still just as bad. The only med I still take is Lamictal for mood stabilization and clonidin (a blood pressure med) for anxiety. Within those 13 years I have taken or tried just about every psych med possible. Is there a way to recover the lost memories? Or are they gone for good? It breaks my heart as most of the memories of my children from that time are cloudy or missing completely.

[mazing]

It really depends on the medication doses and the individual. Usually some of the memories will return in time but they may not be as clear as they originally were and usually not all of the memories return.

Give it time. If you have only recently weaned off the drug then it might take some time for the effects to wear off.

[Trippin2.0]

I hope they do, but idk only time will tell.

Its been over 2 years after Lithium and I never regained mine.

[nbritton]

Originally Posted by Rainey11

Hello. I've been taking medication for Bipolar II for 13 years. I recently weaned myself off Restoril because I thought it was causing my longterm memory issues (and also because it was no longer working). My longterm memory loss is still just as bad. The only med I still take is Lamictal for mood stabilization and clonidin (a blood pressure med) for anxiety. Within those 13 years I have taken or tried just about every psych med possible. Is there a way to recover the lost memories? Or are they gone for good? It breaks my heart as most of the memories of my children from that time are cloudy or missing completely.

Lamictal causes memory loss, the leading theory, according to google search, is it depletes or interferes with folate. If that is the case, you may want to take B12, folate, or something else.

To recover lost memory and brain function, I recommend zolpidem (Ambien) in combination with lithium. You've heard of the Ambien effect? Well, I believe lithium is able to reconnect whatever zolpidem can reactivate. Lithium is well documented to be a very powerful neurogenesis agent[1], including even reversing gray matter atrophy. What I think happens is once zolpidem reactivates the dormant neurons, over time lithium re-establishes the neuronal connections.

I'm currently on the combination, and was able to regain a significant amount of early childhood memories, which I didn't even know were lost. Over the course of months they just popped back into my thoughts one after another when triggered by my senses. I'm thinking I had a minor traumatic event during childhood, because I appear to have regained lost childhood talents as well, such as being able to paint again.

• Zolpidem: 10 ~ 20 mg.
• Lithium Carbonate: 900+ mg.
• A protein shake, i.g. EAS Myoplex Original.

Additionally, I'm willing to bet the addition of Lithium Orotate, 15 ~ 30 mg, will accelerate the process.

[1]: Lithium regulates hippocampal neurogenesis by ERK pathway and facilitates recovery of spatial learning and memory in rats after transient global cerebral ischemia