Pdoc says I need to go on Lithium but I don't trust her...

Always trust yourself! Listen to your body! Doctors are just the people you went to high school with. Do not put all your trust in them.

Lithium toxicity doesn't always show up in the blood work. You can have therapeutic levels and be toxic. This happens when your body is trying to compensate and absorbs it into your tissues. I know, I was toxic for 4.5 years and my blood levels were always good. My docs didn't pay attention to my clinical presentation and what I was saying. But, I trusted them and wanted to do the right thing and listen to them and take care of my mental health. Never put that much trust into someone who spends a few minutes with you every couple of months even if they have known you for years, like mine did.

I ended up at the Mayo Clinic with encephalopathy, involuntary jerking, kidney dysfunction, cognitive deficits, respiratory depression, allergic reactions, muscle spasms, etc and they said, "but she looks fine." That is what happens when doctors don't want to take responsibility for poisoning someone for so long and causing damage to her body. Yes even the great Mayo is unethical at times. They have refused to help me with my muscle and joint problems and won't put in writing what happened. Luckily I recorded my visits so they will have a hard time explaining themselves in court.

Do not end up like me. Question everything and everyone who you are trusting your brain with. They do not have to live with the consequences.

Ironically, I was misdiagnosed. They had pathologized a normal human behavior and gave me medication which induced mental illness. Then they gave me medication to cure what that medication was causing until I couldn't sleep anymore and told me I had narcolepsy and medicated me for that. I didn't have narcolepsy...I was being poisoned and therefore wasn't getting restorative sleep.

Our culture is good at pathologizing normal behavior. It is ok to be different.

Our healthcare system is not designed where doctors develop empathy for their patients, quite the opposite. You are ultimately responsible for your health and should consult healthcare practitioners with different training before putting your life in someone's hands.

I recommend reading this book written by a doctor: Don't let your doctor kill you.

This happened to me and I'm a highly educated professional...

Lithium has been a great mood stabilizer for me. I now take 900 mg XR (extended release) a day. It seems that if I'm on a higher dose, I run into side-effects. As long as your doctor checks your blood Lithium levels periodically, and you let him/her know of side-effects, you should be good!

Doctors aren't out to get you. Do your research and ask a lot of questions and decide with the doctor. If there is a med you are really scared of tell them and work around it. There are lots of meds out there and even more med combos to try.

I agree that lithium isn't bad. I have been on it for a few months maybe 6? I haven't gained any weight. It is more natural imo than other meds. And I would hands down recommend lithium over depakote. The only complaint I have is sometimes it gives me stomach pains, but I take it at night so mostly it is not noticeable.

Finding the right team to help you may take more changing docs. I found it extremely helpful to write up my history including meds for a new doc. Then you can update and reuse it. It saves a lot of time, they have all the info, and take you much more seriously in what little time they are now allotted to a visit. I am new in a town and it has been hell to find the right team, but I think I have the right people now. If you had all those toxicities something was truly wrong. I took lithium for a long time and never had one. Do you have a pillbox to be sure you are not doubling up on doses? drug interactions are also something I know is a factor.
There are now plenty of other stabilizers. Write up your history, get the right doc (talk therapists can recommend people), choose your main stabilizing drug, etc

I didn't have any weight gain on lithium. It brought me out of a brutal up-down cycle. I continue to be side effect free onit (as long as I stay hydrated).

WHAT BOOK?? I SO EMPATHIZE WITH YOUR LAMENT ABOUT THE SYSTEM. The new 15 minute interval pdocs are using is ridiculous. THIS MADE ME WANT TO CRY, AND IM NOT A CRIER. POST NAME OF BOOK ON MAIN PAGE. THANKS