[Pastel Kitten]

My hypomania got too out of control last night. I started speaking so fast, moving so fast..everything was so fast. That part was fine. I was feeling so euphoric. My boyfriend told me I was going too fast and tried to calm me down, which worked for about 10 minutes, but I skyrocketed back up in no time. Then I made a mistake and almost jeapordized my relationship - again. Why. I didn't think I was doing anything wrong, at the time. In fact I was positive that it was something I should be doing. I feel so ashamed..so awful. I've hurt the person I love the most yet again, albeit in a slightly different way than before. It didn't even fully sink in until I woke up. I thought that I had gained better control of myself and had learned from past errors. I refused to believe that my disorder is controlling me...but it clearly is, to a greater extent than I may have realized. I still take responsibility for what I have done, but I also know that I was not in full control. My boyfriend is very understanding of my condition but he is hurt nonetheless, and I am not okay with that. I sure hope that lithium starts working soon. The euphoria, motivation, and confidence are great - but the clouded judgement and consequences that follow it? Not so much.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

When do you increase your lithium? 300 isn't very much. I'm on 225 b/c I'm ridiculously sensitive to it; my body seems to have responded to toxicities with the attitude that we'll be on high alert if that stuff is in my body but for anyone else 300 is very low.

[Pastel Kitten]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

When do you increase your lithium? 300 isn't very much. I'm on 225 b/c I'm ridiculously sensitive to it; my body seems to have responded to toxicities with the attitude that we'll be on high alert if that stuff is in my body but for anyone else 300 is very low.

My pdoc hasn't said anything about increasing my dosage. She thinks I won't need it because I only get hypomanic, and not manic. I've only been on it just shy of two weeks though, so I guess I'll just have to see if it works.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Might be worth calling and asking if you can have an increase. THey may have you do a level but at that low they may not bother. That's the only way they know to increase or not. But if you explain you've been on two weeks and are having issues and would like to know if an increase is possible they'll probably agree. I can't think of anyone I know being close to therapeutic level at 300 and you have to be there (or in a case like mine at a level that works for you safely) before it will help, regardless of mania or hypomania. Generally you need your blood level to be .6-1.1 to be therapeutic. Everyone processes it diferently but it's unlikely that little is giving you much of a level. Even with my body tending to run high on it 450 mg used to get me to only .4 which is what we found is perfect for me. That's unusual though. Generally lithium dose has nothing to do with whether you get full-blown mania or not.

Dose changes can be done every 5 days so you should be able to do one if the dr. would agree.

There's no harm in calling. They are used to it and if you are still having symptoms they are usually glad for you to call rather than risk things worsening.

[Pastel Kitten]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Might be worth calling and asking if you can have an increase. THey may have you do a level but at that low they may not bother. That's the only way they know to increase or not. But if you explain you've been on two weeks and are having issues and would like to know if an increase is possible they'll probably agree. I can't think of anyone I know being close to therapeutic level at 300 and you have to be there (or in a case like mine at a level that works for you safely) before it will help, regardless of mania or hypomania. Generally you need your blood level to be .6-1.1 to be therapeutic. Everyone processes it diferently but it's unlikely that little is giving you much of a level. Even with my body tending to run high on it 450 mg used to get me to only .4 which is what we found is perfect for me. That's unusual though. Generally lithium dose has nothing to do with whether you get full-blown mania or not.

Dose changes can be done every 5 days so you should be able to do one if the dr. would agree.

There's no harm in calling. They are used to it and if you are still having symptoms they are usually glad for you to call rather than risk things worsening.

Thanks, I'll consider calling her, although my appointment isn't too much longer from now so I might just wait it out till then unless things really start turning sour. I think I'm going to mention this situation to her, so she gets a sense of what really goes on in my head when I'm hypomanic, since I know it's different for everyone. Maybe then she will suggest a higher dose of lithium. I'm not sure though, because she still wants to see how I do on lamictal which I am titrating up on. The lithium was supposed to be an "in the meantime" med since lamictal takes longer to work.