Lithium

Your thoughts on Lithium.
~Dosage
~Did you have success
~Did you have side effects
~Did you take it with another anti-depressant?

I was put on Lithium 4 days ago, starting at 300mg for 2 weeks, along with 150 Wellbutrin. Feel great so far. Kinda worried about side-effects later.

I was on 1800 mg of Lithium and got toxicity, I was extremely sick and in the ICU for a week because my kidneys were shutting down and I was having seizures.

Never again.

Lithium did not work very well for me and made me very bloated and gain weight. Also make sure you are drinking A LOT of water!

I'm on 1200mg and I am still manic, less but still there, and it is building. We are still trying to find the sweet spot, if there is one. At this point I think my body is rejecting the meds because I am special. Maybe even invincible.

I don't know if I have side effects from it or not because I am on many meds.

I've been on doses varying from 800 to 1200 mg. I took it for unipolar depression. It didn't work. By some miracle, I didn't get toxicity even though I didn't drink for a couple of weeks while on it (I did eat a litre of yoghurt a day to get some liquid into myself) (I was psychotic and basically thought drinking would make me immortal - and given that I was suicidal, that wasn't what I wanted).

I didn't have any side effects.

And I also was on clomipramine (anafranil) while on it. (a TCA)

Made me shakey, forgetful, ugly (acne) and stupid.


Can't remember the exact dosage but I think it was 750 / 900 and I took it in conjunction with risperdal and Prozac.


Lithium?

Never again, its like poison to my system, 4 years later I still have the tremors and have made peace with the fact that they're permanent.

900 mg, works for me, no side effects, been on it 5 years

Dosage 900mg/day
~Did you have successYes, but I hated it at the start
~Did you have side effectsThe first two weeks were pure hell. Massive thirst, everything tasted like salt, a metallic mouth and a wonky sense of balance
~Did you take it with another anti-depressant? Yes, 300mg Wellbutrin and 60mg Cymbalta

I've been on it since March, and I still find from time to time that I get an upset tummy. I was on Lithium and the sore tum was worse. I am on Lithmax and it has gotten less frequent

I only got up to I think 300mg or something and couldn't physically tolerate it so I had to stop.

I was on it for many years. I had 3 toxicities and after the 3rd came off it because it was getting harder to keep my levels reasonable (I'd be fine when I had my labs and then a few months later toxic).

But, and this is a big but, it was a really good med for me. We've really been finding that out during this episode from hell that has lasted for 11 months without a break longer than a day of slightly feeling better. I learned that it was what kept me from outright psychosis apparently and it seems that it made it easier to get things to level off.

I had issues on it (the toxicities obviously), some hand tremors controlled by propanolol for a while mainly b/c my assistants couldn't read my handwriting, a problem called diabetes insipidus where my kidneys didn't hold on to electrolytes so I needed a med to encourage that, but when I wasn't having toxicity issues it was really a good drug to me.

It's also neuroprotective so it's good to take it for that reason alone.

I took it without ADs for a while (maybe a year) and then with various ADs until 6 years ago when I went on an MAOI and finally had an AD that worked without dosage issues.

I can't scroll up to your post so I'm hoping I hit all your questions here. My memory isn't very good today.

I've been on lithium for a year. I'm currently taking 1500mg and have no side effects other than increased thirst. I have to take it with food or it will upset my stomach. Wellbutrin made me crazy but I'm doing well on 120mg of Cymbalta. Lithium is my wonder drug. It took away the suicidal impulses I had during mixed episodes and allows me to be on an antidepressant.

I've taken Lithium twice in my lifetime. Most recently, I took it in conjection with 5 other meds. For some reason I can't think of the dosage at this exact moment but it was lofty and my levels stayed at 1.1 or 1.2. It packed on the lbs and helped little. It did keep the mania to a minimum but did very little for my suicidal depression.

I was on it for a couple years. Average dose was 900mg , But once popped up to 1200 and promptly went toxic. Hella scarey ! A few times I was able to pick up that I was heading to a danger zone and would D/C it for a few days to bring it back down.

I think at the time it did help, I was a real mess and I had to find stability so I could work to build coping skills, Meds can only do so much , Yanno

I was thirsty , even with increase in daily fluids. I broke out with terrible Acne , I felt like a 12 year old. I seriously had trouble finding words and spelling them? Eeeek even Dictionary . com was often useless as I could barely remember the first few letters at times. I mean the word " what" was a huge problem for me. I also got the lovely tremor... I seriously was concerned about my Kidneys and Pdoc understood my concerns , even with routine blood work I ran into trouble, so I stopped taking it.

I can't take AD's... flings me right into mixed.

Was Lithium helpful ? Yes at the time. I do still have the tremor and I stopped the junk 1.5 years ago.. pisses me off .. but it could be worse.

I take 750mg daily, was on 1g but new pdoc says is trialing just 750mg. My levels are only 0.4-0.5 on 750mg. I really don't have any side effects that I can really recognise except mild nausea after taking it especially without food, also I developed gastritis but that's gone away with nexium. I haven't had any weight gain or acne. My memory & concentration were terrible prior to starting lithium & I also had a tremor prior too so I can't comment on that. I'm not sure if it's helping or not for my depression/suicidal ideation but it definatly reduces my agitation, at both 1g & 750mg it achieves this. I can't think of anything worse than dysphoric hypomania, it's living hell. Lithium definatly takes that away or at least reduces it to tolerable levels. I also take 40mg fluoxetine, which helped incredibly to begin with but has plateaued & I feel may not be working the same anymore. Don't know if that's because of the addition of lithium or if it's just antidepressant poop out. Nothing has touched my anxiety.

I felt fine when i was on lithium until they bumped my doze to 800 mg per day. I developed a burning rash that took almost a month to go away.

I took it for two months after being diagnosed as BP this past June. It really made a difference with my mood but wrecked my body. I swelled all over, I would get overheated and then the final straw is that it started affecting my thyroid (already have Hashimoto's). I had to be take off of it. I really didn't want to be but it is what it is. BTW, I also gained 15 pounds on it in two months. If it works for you and you have no physical side effects, you are very lucky!

I'm gonna use this thread to ask for advice. I have been taking 800mg of Lithium for 6 months now, everything's been fine however I developed a rash on my ears and neck, it's been 2 weeks. Could it be from Lithium? I found it odd because I've been taking Lithium for half an year and until now I had no side effects.

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I don't think lithium causes rashes often but any med can do any strange things at any time. You should check in with your family dr since it has lasted so long.

I can't remember what dose I was on but it worked well besides the CONSTANT diarrhea. Even with a OTC med, nothing helped tat side effect. Then months down the road I noticed I started shaking very badly and it was affecting my work as a medical assistant. No one wants to be injected by someone with the shakes! Then my next blood test came back that I had toxicity. So besides the physical effects, it was good for me mentally. Still not worth going back to thogh

Dx: BP2, PTSD, bulimia/anorexia
Risperdal 4mg
Trileptal 300mgs
Buspar 45mgs
Ativan 1mg PRN
Vyvance 70mgs PRN

I have been taking lithium for 8 months, just went up to 1200 mg after being on 900 mg before. It works great; however, I have gained 30+ pounds during this time. I have just begun seeing a new pdoc and she has prescribed topomax to hopefully help with the weight problem.

Stepped up to 900. At one point when I went through a depression I stepped up to 1800.
Now I'm back at 900. I gain 30-40 lbs. Been taking since 2012 and my body has to have it. I stepped down off it once and ended up in the hospital. I had a mixed episode

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