Worst drug side effect

There was an old poll about the same thing, but in more detail. The "winner": weight gain.

http://forums.psychcentral.com/bipol...e-effects.html

On my phone so not gonna vote its an effort... But here it is.


Excessive weight gain, simply because its very unhealthy due to the fact that it's unnatural and instantaneous, can lead to diabetes, cholesterol problems and metabolic syndrome. Thus also making it harder to lose too.


(Never personally had it as a side effect, as my body seems to be allergic to fat, but I wouldn't mind normal weight gain though, I would actually welcome it.)


Retardation is an absolute no no; lithium butchered my IQ points in a matter of 6 months, diminished my vocabulary to that of a 10 year old, slaughtered my memory, seriously; laughable short term, goldfish level working memory, and deleted some long-term memories permanently... This includes people I no longer know. Brain damage is an apt description.


Tremors so bad I had zero fine motor skills, could not even write legibly.


It took me 2 years to get my brain back to its pre-lithium glory.


I had to relearn words, definitions, spelling, pronunciation. Long term stuff has sadly been deleted forever, as mentioned above, nothing jogs it or makes it even remotely familiar. Tremors are currently only visible on bad days...


I will say this though, if lithium didn't make me shaky and stupid, I never would've had the guts to flush my meds down the toilet.


So it did at least one good thing for me, it's the reason I've been med free for the past 3 years.

By far the worst side effect for me was lithium rash after my doze was bumped up Still makes me burn and itch just thinking about it. Needless to say it disappeared once the lithium dissolved out of my system.

Tardive dyskinesia which appeared after three years on various drugs. My psychiatrist had told me it was rare and people only got it after many years taking these drugs - turns out neither is true.

Lithium messed up my memory and coordination in all sorts of ways. One day I couldn't remember how I usually brushed my teeth. I know it sounds ridiculous but I had to work out what to do - and my lack of coordination didn't help. I couldn't even write properly or sign my name on lithium.

Lithium and valproate made a bowel condition I suffer from much worse. I couldn't leave the house for fear I would have an accident.

Valproate made me put on a lot of weight. After coming off lithium and valproate I was so depressed I lost it again.

Venlafaxine put me into a trance-like stupor.

I have had 13 drugs in various combinations in three years. Now I don't take anything. Lot of bad effects and unfortunately nothing worked very well for me. Now I am scared to take anything else.