Hey guys! More questions!

lithium pulled me out of a very long and very bad episode but after a while it turned me flat and stupid and i also worried about long term effect.

I take Lithium for mania. I went off bc of weight gain and was in the hospital two weeks later. I stayed off a month and was put back in the hospital a second time. I went back on Lithium and have not been back in the hospital. If my insurance ever stopped covering it I'd find a way to get it. I also take Lamictal for depression and without it I'd be in the hospital too. I would cry every day and wouldn't get out of bed. I was suicidal and had bad anxiety. I did the step up to 300, 600 and then 900 MG. Been on Lithium since 2012 and Lamictal since 2012 too.

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Thanks Nevvy! I notice your Lamictal dose is a lot less than mine! I do like Lamictal though!

That's awesome news! Again, I'm on more Lamictal than everyone but maybe that can be cut down now that I'm on Lithium. I like taking the least ammount of Meds that can! I have Bipolar I and panic/generalized disorder. They are weaning me off the Cymbalta but it is kicking my *** with anxiety! Once I get down to 60mg I'm hysterical with anxiety. It's awful! Just had blood work yesterday for this past week to see how my thyroid, kidney functions and Lithium levels are doing!

Yeah I did the Lamictal route at one stage. Cymbalta is good for the anxiety yes, but hopefully you will be able to find other coping strategies as you begin to wean further off it

I should say, having read your post again, that I have had psychotic symptoms but never, ever anything like the psychosis I've had in my first severe post-lithium episode. And now that you've made see that I'm going to be asking some questions, even though going back on lithium is just not going to happen unless it is a last resort because I can't stand another toxicity. The last time my mom was home and knew how terribly sick I was and wanted to get me to an ER but I was too sick to move and she knew I'd be furious if she called the ambulance when I didn't have insurance. She decided to make me go in after a certain amount of time or when I wasn't so violently ill but when that stopped my levels were knocked down and I was ok and my levels wouldn't have tested so high because it was viciously removed from my system. So I called my pdoc instead and left a message because of course it was a Saturday. I could have paged the resident but he would have made me come to the er 2.5 hours away for a blood test that wasn't going to show anything (one benefit of having been toxic 2 other times was I knew the routine).

I'm now very, very curious about the psychosis because I was on lithium from before diagnosis until last year. Since I stopped it I had one episode start and respond to a med change, a few more minor episodes and this monsterous 6 month, psychotic episode.

My pdoc won't prescribe lithium for me - but it's for a strange reason. Lithium requires blood draws and I have no veins! It literally takes 10-12 tries to get blood out of me every single time. The nurses at the local hospital won't even try to start an IV on me - they call an anesthesiologist to do it - and that takes about 20 tries. It is ridiculous. My pdoc won't put me through that.

I would definitely support cutting down meds. In fact each month I have to decide which ones I want. Which ones are most important. See my insurance only covers six meds PER MONTH!?! This includes medical meds too. So if I go to my PCP and need a med that is one less mental health med I can get that same month. I started out taking 200 in 2013 MG now I take 400 MG in 2014 of Lamictal.

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Cocosurviving-What insurance do you have? That is a really weird policy. I've never heard of limiting the # of meds.

Do you know about Rxoutreach.com? If you financially qualify (and they are generous) they have a lot of meds at really reduced prices. I used it for a few meds when I didn't have insurance and they cut prices by a lot, even on one med that had just gone generic and would have been I think $150/month out of pocket and which my family dr. says is not a medicine I can choose not to take. I think it lowered it to $60/3 months or something like that; it was a huge difference.

I'll definitely check into that program. I work as a sub at a preschool so not always 40 hours. This makes me able to get Medicaid as I can't afford to pay high premiums. The downside is the crazy rules on meds that you really need.

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If you qualify for Medicaid you also will qualify for my other (and still used) way to get meds: most brand name meds you can get through patient assistance programs with the companies for no cost. You have to go to the webpage and apply and your dr has to fill out a little form with the script and they'll give you a year of meds for no cost. Usually it says that if you have insurance you don't qualify but I have Medicare and get meds through 4 programs, at least one of which also exempts me on being a tiny bit over the income level. I just include a statement with my application that says that I do have insurance however due to my limited income and blagh blagh costs (things to maintain life) I cannot afford my co-pays for meds and they have always immediately accepted me. One company has me sign their own form for exemption but that's it; I get somewhere around $36000 worth of free Seroquel XR annually. Since my insurance pays for half my Seroquel before capping it that's an enormous savings just on one drug. I take Nexium twice a day and they pay for that and my higher than usual Seroquel doses without questioning it. I also get Emsam and a drug called Amitiza for constipation (stupid side effects) for free through those programs. I know Latuda is also easy to get with very generous income limits.

It might help if you want to try something name-brand at some point.....I happened to be on these meds when I suddenly didn't have insurance anymore so I learned about the programs quickly and got on them fast. My family dr's office actually has someone whose job it is to make sure people get on these programs and get their meds.

I was on Lamictal for years, and it stopped working
I tried Lithium, and it gave me the poops, and a sore tum
My Pdoc put me on Lithmax and all seems okay.

Lamictal saved my life. It really did

Yeah, always ask to change formulas of lithium if one isn't working well for you. I was on all 3 at different times and the eskolith form was the only one that kept my levels controlled. (One lithobid or straight lithium my levels went all over the place. I did get toxic 2 more times on eskolith but generally I stayed stable).

Wow!!! I definitely don't have that problem! I have a huge one on each arm and the nurse rotates each week for my blood work.

That stinks! Weening is so hard but it's one thing of doing it for your health and another due to insurance!

I didn't know there were other types!

I was on lithium for a week during mania. It did help my mood but didn't agree with me physically. Now I am on lamictal. I have heard lithium helps with acute mania quickly.

Lithium carbonate is all lithium but if that is the generic you get then you are on straight, old lithium. Esaklith is lithium CR in generic (continuous release). Lithobid/lithomax/litho a few other things is lithium ER extended release. CR was much easier for me to handle and my body liked it better. I was on the regular for a long time but after my first toxicity changed because I had thrown it up so many times smelling the capsules made me sick (I got toxic and remained toxic for months because we kept drawing levels but my levels would be down because of vomiting which was attributed to the ulcer I also had then and stress b/c my therapist left the country with almost no notice. After 6 months I went off work to focus on not vomiting and that's when the toxicity finally showed up. So I threw up a lot for many months and got pretty sensitive about it. Ugh. Awful memories.

I'm on 2,100 mg of lithium daily as well as 400 mg of Lamictal, among other things. My level is 1 for the lithium. It's the only thing that control my mood and my horrific problem of suicidal ideation and actual attempts.

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I'm on 1200mg lithium slow release at the moment. It's definitely done wonders for the ups although I am asking my doc if I can ease up on it a little bit on the dose. I feel intellectually drained and words don't seem to come to me as easy as they should.

More frequent trips to the toilet and the feeling of being a bit more stupid are bothering me. More stable? Yes, I think so. Missing some of the creativity and intelligence I have/ had? Yes. Worst part? Still thinking to myself "is it worth it?"

Not got an answer for that yet.