Does starting Lithium make you hypomanic?

As I mentioned in other posts I'm in hospital due to a mixed episode. Last night I was given my first dose of Lithium and my mood has completely flipped from depressed to euphoric. This happened last time I started Lithium. Then it passed in two days and then I went back in the dark till the Lithium kicked in.

Has anyone else had a similar experience. i still feel agitated and anxious but happy and a bit crazy, expansive and God like. . It is wierd. Any tips on not falling into a hole again? Man I love this forum and all of you here

Wow so I wasn't imagining this? I started Lithium a little over a week ago and 2 days after I took my first dose, I skyrocketed into euphoric hypomania. I'm a rapid cycler so each of my moods lasts only a week as it is, but usually I have a few days of "normal" mood after depression before becoming hypomanic. This time, I was depressed for only 5 days and then bam, hypomanic. I thought it was just a coincidence since I didn't think the medicine would have effects that quickly. Then again, I also started getting really thirsty after only a few days as well. The difference is my hypomanic episode lasted for its usual time for me instead of ending after a few days like it did for you.

I commented in the other thread.

No, lithium made me a dead zombie.

Is this your first time on Lithium? I would love this hypomania to hang around and not lead me into depression again. It is so wierd switching from very depressed to hypo overnight. I still feel the ground beneath me is unstable though so I'm not better yet.

One time I was manic that went pretty bad mixed
When I was in the hospital they started me on lithium and the bad parts of the mixed went away and I was left back in euphoric mania
Eventually it evened out
As time went on it made me dumb and flat though

I was mixed and switched to depressed on lithium.

I guess all our bodies process Lithium differently. When on it my brain is still sharp when well so I'm lucky that way. Still have weight gain, tremors, thirst and thyroid problems though but I guess that beats staying in a mixed state.

Lithium worked for me in a very very short time. Just didn't like how bloated I got. Thinking about going back to it since nothing else seems to help my depression. It worked in a matter of days. I didn't think it was hypomania but could have been. We all process it differently

Yeah this is my first time. I agree that it's very weird switching so suddenly, even for me. I hope that you become stable soon. How long did it take for the Lithium to fully kick in, other than the sudden hypomania/other side effects?

It took about a month before I noticed any significant improvement but once it kicked in it was very effective

I was only on it for a week. It didn't agree with me.

I'm hoping for a similar outcome!

Good luck!

I am a big fan of Lithium it's my holy grail. But there are drawbacks for "some". I've been taking it since 2012. I started on it because I was dealing with mania (had just got diagnosed). The day I went to the doc I was coming down off the episode. I started Lithium and back to mania I went. I was told to keep taking it that it would start to work soon....well it did. I started to stabilize and not want to be homicidal. I was not dealing with euphoric state anymore or spending sprees etc.

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Unfortunately today I woke up back in a horror mixed state. It has been a horrible day and even though I took 150mg of Seroquel, 20mg Olanzapine and 4mg of Clonazapam over today I am still pacing and agitated. Mixed states are hell!!!

I tried Lithium years ago and it didn't agree with me at all. I was constantly thirsty and it made me feel sick all the time. And it did very little to relieve my symptoms.

They always gave me too much sedating meds along with the lithium...and then I'd get bloated and quit the meds.