[inflammable]

I'm on a bunch of meds, and lately, I've been having a lot of problems with memory and concentration. I've also had problems with feeling agitated, restless, and just feeling a pressured need to move. I'm also experiencing tremors, making my hands shake and my typing ability lessened. I have a psychiatrist appointment in two weeks, so I just have to suffer through somehow. I'm trying to drink lots of water and sleep well, but I'm still experiencing all these side effects. Makes working hard. How do you deal with your side effects? What concrete things help you manage?

[Curiosity77]

I think it's OK to wait out the memory and concentration problems, but the restlessness and agitation sound like akithesia, and I think it would pretty hard to wait that out for 2 weeks. Can you get in touch with your pdoc before that to let them know what's happening? You may have to lower your dose or add another med to counteract the akithesia. If you can't get in touch with your pdoc then you might be stuck. When I had akithesia I paced around and rode my bike a lot, and that seemed to help. But it was terrible.

[exclamationpoint]

Hey there.

How long have you been on the meds? Some of my side effects wore off, but it took two months. (One of the side effects was increased sweating, which was kinda embarrassing.) Concentration and memory problems are still going on, but my doctor keeps saying it's actually because I'm still having depressive symptoms, so I don't know. I would talk to your doctor about it. S/he might have suggestions for managing side effects even if you can't switch meds or doses.

[inflammable]

Originally Posted by Curiosity77

I think it's OK to wait out the memory and concentration problems, but the restlessness and agitation sound like akithesia, and I think it would pretty hard to wait that out for 2 weeks. Can you get in touch with your pdoc before that to let them know what's happening? You may have to lower your dose or add another med to counteract the akithesia. If you can't get in touch with your pdoc then you might be stuck. When I had akithesia I paced around and rode my bike a lot, and that seemed to help. But it was terrible.

It's definitely akathesia, and it is terrible. My doctor put me on another med to help with the akathesia, but so far it hasn't gotten any better. I may try talking with my doctor before then, but I don't think there are any earlier appointments, unfortunately. I'm trying to be more active too, since that may help.

[inflammable]

Originally Posted by exclamationpoint

Hey there.

How long have you been on the meds? Some of my side effects wore off, but it took two months. (One of the side effects was increased sweating, which was kinda embarrassing.) Concentration and memory problems are still going on, but my doctor keeps saying it's actually because I'm still having depressive symptoms, so I don't know. I would talk to your doctor about it. S/he might have suggestions for managing side effects even if you can't switch meds or doses.

I've been on one med for about 4 months, and the others for about 2. The weird thing was that I didn't have side effects from anything till about three weeks ago. Then everything has been intense.

I was on meds before, but years ago. I was med free from 2010 to March of this year.

What's tricky about my psychiatrist is that this is a new psychiatrist, who I only met briefly once before. My meds were being handled by a psychiatrist who worked at my partial hospitalization program. I left this program on Friday.

I'm sort of new again to the world of meds. I first was on meds from roughly ages 18-22, when I went off meds, only to give them a shot again when I was 25-26, then went off fairly quickly. But things started getting bad for me earlier this year, and I went to see a psychiatrist who prescribed lithium, which I still take. But I ended up spiraling downward, and was hospitalized throughout much of April, until I ended up the partial hospitalization program for 2.5 months. During this time, my previous psychiatrist dumped me as a patient because I wanted to overdose on lithium. This new psychiatrist is someone that was set up for me after one of my hospital stays. I haven't seen her officially yet because I was getting my medication handled in the PHP. It's all a mess.

So I do want to talk to my new psychiatrist about this, and get her input, but I'm not officially a patient of hers until I go to my first appointment. I don't know what the protocol is, if I can just call her for help with my side effects even though she doesn't even know what meds I'm on.

[exclamationpoint]

Hey inflammable.

yeah, that sounds difficult. I would just call and see what she says. She can probably either help you, or let you know who to go to for med management in the meantime. It's kind of weird that they've recently been giving you side effects. It's probably important to check that out.

I also just want to say that I relate to your history. I was on meds from 19-22ish, then quit, back on them since last year because I went through a really serious depression.

Take care.

[lilypup]

My hands shake terribly and have for a long time. I can hardly write with a pen and it's hard to sign things or fill out forms, or hold a small teacup. I just view it as a price to pay for helping my bipolar. I used to teach third grade and I just made do with my shaky hands. I just told the kids they shook because I took medicine. No big deal to them. Sure hope you get some relief soon.

[Trippin2.0]

No advice here, as from what I know they tend to treat side effects with more meds.

I replied because I wanted to add that when I was put on lithium, I developed side effects over time, and they intensifed slowly but surely instead of diminished as is the norm.

I'm no expert, but my best guess is that the onset of side effects may be dosage related, as in my case the lithium was titrated slowly until we reached therapeutic and it was after that, that things slowly went downhill for me, which was about 2 or 3 months in.
My pdoc didn't take my concerns seriously though, because I wasn't toxic, he wasn't phased.

So yeah, just wanted you to know that even though its not the norm, you're not alone in your experience.