Pdoc appointment results

Pastel Kitten · Dec 06, 2015, 11:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolagrace

I never had any terrible problems personally with either lithium or lamictal. The lithium kicked in after about a month. Mostly I dealt with thirst (and the constant trips to the restroom because I was always drinking water) and some hand tremors which improved when we went down a bit on the dosage. Lamictal took forever to hit a therapeutic dose for me; had to go up to 400 mg to get there. Some achiness during titration, but that subsided once I go up above 100 mg.

My husband has had trouble with both lithium and lamictal. He went into severe toxicity with lithium despite careful monitoring, went into kidney failure and had to be put on dialysis in the ICU for a week. Very scary time. Needless to say they won't be putting him on lithium again. (Note: he has complicated medical issues so his toxicity was probably tied up with those problems but we probably will never know for sure.)

With lamictal he had severe memory and cognitive problems when the dose got above 100 mg. Once reduced below 100mg those problems improved.

Oh wow, what a scary time indeed. Is he doing better now that he is not on either of these meds anymore? How often do you need to get a blood test, while on lithium? I'm really not looking forward to it. Hate needles

BeyondtheRainbow · Dec 06, 2015, 12:13 PM

You'll be fine. I Hope I didn't scare you. I didn't mean to, just wanted to tell you what the rash is like and honestly hoped to put your mind at ease that it is so rare and that if you get it you'll probably know easily. Sorry if I did scare you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pastel Kitten

Wow I'm so sorry you had such a negative experience with lamictal! I can't imagine how scary that must have been. I sure hope I don't experience something similar, but thank you for telling me some of the warning signs. I'll be sure not to ignore even a slight rash.

Dec 06, 2015, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pastel Kitten

Oh wow, what a scary time indeed. Is he doing better now that he is not on either of these meds anymore? How often do you need to get a blood test, while on lithium? I'm really not looking forward to it. Hate needles

That kind of severe toxicity is not that common. He was on a fairly common dosage of 1200mg and was being monitored, but like I said, he has complicating health issues that probably were at play.

He is on very few meds now: just wellbutrin xl for depression and seroquel (mostly to help him sleep as he lives in chronic pain). He is doing very well.

Generally they should be checking lithium levels every 2-3 months once a good therapeutic dose is established. Don't worry about the blood test. Really, it's just a quick stick; turn you head and you'll be fine.

Dec 06, 2015, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

That's the exact thing that happened to me, my kidneys shut down and I was in the ICU for a week on dialysis and I had seizures. I was on 1800mg though and my levels went to about 4.6, I barely remember being in the hospital I was so messed up, they sent me home with a walker. Crazy experience, it helps some people but when it's too much it's dangerous as hell

It was a nightmare. Because the dialysis pulled all the meds off his system so quickly, he became psychotic and was hallucinating and delusional for a good week. Not fun. Fortunately, there was no long-term kidney damage. I won't touch lithium even for myself anymore; it was pretty traumatic.

Pastel Kitten · Dec 06, 2015, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

You'll be fine. I Hope I didn't scare you. I didn't mean to, just wanted to tell you what the rash is like and honestly hoped to put your mind at ease that it is so rare and that if you get it you'll probably know easily. Sorry if I did scare you.

Don't worry about it! I'm not so much scared as I am concerned that you and others have had to suffer through that. I'm just glad to be more informed

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