[pirilin]

Hi Guyz,

I'm on two sure winners. Lithium and Alprazolam.
There most be more. Which ones you fear. Horror stories win extra points.??

[raspberrytorte]

Oh my god. Clonazepam. That was the worse wthdrawal I have ever experienced. Nightmare for four months straight. In the midst of it I didn't think I was going to make it but I'm a stubborn *****. It's really something you can't fully comprehend unless you've experienced it. The **** should be illegal. Seriously.

[gina_re]

Lithium. Fortunately I've never been on it, but I don't hear good reviews.

I actually fear Latuda and other anti-psychotics.

Anti-psychotics have been shown to reduce the amount of grey matter in your brain. In other words, your brain literally shrinks from too much anti-psychotic usage (since brain cells are killed), and obviously the damage is irreversible.

Latuda is a 2nd-generation anti-psychotic, so it doesn't do as much damage as 1st-generation anti-psychotics, but it still does damage nonetheless.

I think I want to get off Latuda once I titrate up on Lamictal. I'm going to ask my pdoc about it tomorrow during my appointment.

[Blue_Bird]

Lithium. I was on the max dose (1800mg) and it shut down my kidneys because my levels were really toxic. I forget what they're supposed to be but mine were around 4.3 or something like that.

I was vomiting several times a day, incontinence (Lost control of my bowels sorry for the TMI) shaking so much I looked like I had parkinsons and kept falling/having balance issues.

I ended up in the ICU for a week on dialysis, don't remember much of it. Had seizures while I was there too.

Never. Again.

[lilypup]

Lithium...did a number on my kidneys too.
Also Haldol...had a seizure.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Lithium made me sick a lot!

[Miss Laura]

Lithium I have it written down I don't wish to ever take this unless my doctors feel it's a must

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Haldol, thorazine

[Nammu]

Depakote, hands down. So sick on it, metabolic syndrome.

And what ever combo I was on back in the nineties that nearly shut down my kidneys, couldn't pee, they catherized me several times instead of taking me off meds.

Lithium, toxicity and thyroid

Haldol, the zombie shuffle

[BastetsMuse]

Originally Posted by pirilin

Hi Guyz, I'm on two sure winners. Lithium and Alprazolam. There most be more. Which ones you fear. Horror stories win extra points.??

Horror stories win extra points? Well, when I was taking Depakote - which I did for a year, I think -- I had unremitting diarrhea, the kind where I had almost no notice that I needed to go and would poop my pants on a regular basis. So I fear Depakote probably the most of all psych medications; it was so toxic for me.

No one believed me that the diarrhea was caused by the Depakote, either; I had to take myself off it and get back to normal bowel movements before my doctors believed me. After that, they tended to listen to me more.

[zijax]

Neurotin made me twitch. Klonipin became addicitive. Lithium made me gain 60 lbs, tremors, stomach sick and blurred vision. BlueBicycle, I didn't know that about Latuda, I'm on 120 mg and now apprehensive about taking it

[passionfruit3]

Geodon and hadol but Geodon more cause I stopped breathing on it

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[Trippin2.0]

Lithium wins hands down in my book.


I had acne for the first time at age 26, my once brilliant memory was shot to hell, I even suffered permanent gaps. My usually excellent vocabulary diminished to that of an 11 year old, and I needed a spell checker for the first time in my life. Did I mention that I had tremors so bad, I lost my fine motor skills??? Seriously couldn't apply eyeliner, nail polish or even tie a button. Smoking a cigarette in a social setting was soooo embarrassing! Oh and don't let me get started on the apathy, its like my beautiful torturous emotions had all been squashed into oblivion. I became an empty shell of my former self.... stupid, acne riddled, emotionless, and parkinsonion.


Never again. Quitting it cold turkey was worth the hell of withdrawal.


Took me two years to undo the brain damage and the acne, but unfortunately the tremor was only reduced, it never went away.

[scatterbrained04]

Probably Lithium. My life would have to be in shambles for me to agree to take it.

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[gina_re]

Reading all of these...I'm so glad I never had to take Lithium....

[seoultous]

Lithium. No doubt in my mind.

[otherg]

I've heard bad things about Lithium and have never been on it. I've tolerated most side effects of my meds, but when I tried to add Latuda I broke out in hives while increasing the dose.

[Wanderlust90]

Wow lithium isn't exactly anyone's favourite, I only had nausea/occasional vomiting & nasty reflux but it was enough to stop me from taking it. I'm actually more scared of the APs but they seem to help me the most. It's the longer term, movement & metabolic side effects that scare me.

Wow, lithium was actually not that bad for me. It didn't work very well, but I didn't have too many side effects. Even when I intentionally took a massive overdose, nothing happened except I puked a lot and was a little shaky.

I forgot about depakote. I've never taken it, but not something I'm willing to try.

[pirilin]

Only one benzo so far. Pins. Nobody else concerned about benzos?.

I've been trying to cut the alprazolam. Very hard to do, even if it's only .75 mg.
I'm solid on .5mg now. Last nght I didn't take any, and I'm dead today.
Didn't sleep much either. Tonight I'll try .25 and see how it goes.

[RomanJames2014]

Honestly the weight gainers are the most scary to me.

As someone who has lost a lot of weight, I'm afraid I'l gain it all back.

The lithium causes massive confusion with me as well.

I didn't know it was a side effect until I told my psychiatrist that I thought I had Alzheimer's lol. He reassured me that it was the lithium.

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[piano97]

Hey Pirilin,

Definitely taper. I know it's a small dose (.5mg) but going to .25 is a 50% decrease. I've read a lot of stuff that says to not do quicker than 10-20% at a time, for a week or two. I know it sucks, and you want off it. I'm totally doing the same thing with risperdal right now. I was on 3 a few months ago and did a slow taper though now still needing to take .25 bc I feel like I'm going to explode into a million pieces and can't think clear if I don't. I'm currently in my 3rd try at completing stopping...by day 3 I've had to take a dose for a couple days to settle back down. It feels like I'm just prolonging things, and it sucks. So I feel where you're coming from.

So the moral of the story is that it's totally OK, and best, to do a slow gradual taper. Even to the point where you are doing really really small doses.

I would take at least .25 tonight, or chip off a little bit more and maybe .35 for a few days, then .25 a few days, then .15-.2 a few days, then .1 (I know that's tiny but if it means you sleep or you don't...) a few days, then try being completely off it.

[pirilin]

Originally Posted by piano97

Hey Pirilin,

Definitely taper. I know it's a small dose (.5mg) but going to .25 is a 50% decrease. I've read a lot of stuff that says to not do quicker than 10-20% at a time, for a week or two. I know it sucks, and you want off it. I'm totally doing the same thing with risperdal right now. I was on 3 a few months ago and did a slow taper though now still needing to take .25 bc I feel like I'm going to explode into a million pieces and can't think clear if I don't. I'm currently in my 3rd try at completing stopping...by day 3 I've had to take a dose for a couple days to settle back down. It feels like I'm just prolonging things, and it sucks. So I feel where you're coming from.

So the moral of the story is that it's totally OK, and best, to do a slow gradual taper. Even to the point where you are doing really really small doses.

I would take at least .25 tonight, or chip off a little bit more and maybe .35 for a few days, then .25 a few days, then .15-.2 a few days, then .1 (I know that's tiny but if it means you sleep or you don't...) a few days, then try being completely off it.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply.

I'm confronting a problem now. The 1mg pills are not round anymore. They look like a football. It's scored to cut in half. But the corners are killing me.
That's why I didn't take any last night.
I guess when the is a will........ Thanks again.

[Keegan2015]

Wow! Tons of lithium hatred abounds in this thread.

Lithium has been great for me (I've been on it almost 3 months now), I haven't had any significant side effects besides the typical "head fog" from time to time and maybe a general loss of energy.

I haven't gained weight (which was my main concern) and haven't had any shakiness / vomitting / severe acne like others have been mentioning.

It has kept my moods relatively stable and has worked for me better than any other mood stabilizer that I've tried.

Sooooo for people curious about Lithium ... don't immediately write it off, it works well for some people.

I don't think I'd ever want to go back on risperdal though, the weight gain was ridiculous.