Patience and Medication

Do you guys have the patience to wait and find the right medication that will work for you?

*Mind you, this is from my experience so it might not be the same case for everyone!
I've been on lithium 800mg for almost a month already and I never felt any worse on medication so far. Worse than Valproic in my opinion. I've been suffering from heavy head, as if my mind is made of cotton. Lost my interest in things, feeling nothing and worst of all, anxiety for days. I had my first panic attack last week. Never had one since the last 5 years. I also have annoying hand tremors and metallic taste in my mouth. My doc told me to hold on to get me to the therapeutic dosage. But tbh, I'm losing my mind. I don't know if I should give up. I might start thinking about living medication free.

I think if you've already been on it a month those side effects aren't going to go away. I had all those same side effects with lithium and it was horrible. I also went into toxicity twice. My doctors at the time didn't believe my symptoms and told me I was just being dramatic. but after three or four months I said no more. It wasn't working to stabilize my mood either so there was no point in being on it.

I think you need to ask yourself if these side effects are tolerable or not. they are unlikely to go away even if you reach therapeutic doses (although anything is possible).

Part of it is patience, but part of it is also knowing when to call it quits.

I agree with Wildflower, in that we need to have some idea of when to hang in and when to consider a med a failure.

I do have patience for med trials, simply because I need meds.
I have often called an end to the trial of specific meds, simply because the side-effects are too much and the drug is not effectively helping.

I do discuss these decisions with the prescribing physician; however, I make the ultimate decision based upon my own comfort level and the degree of effectiveness of the med.

I hope you find optimal functioning soon in your search.


WC

I'm like WC, I need meds. Med-free is not an option. I have had tons of med changes. I just want to avoid two specific side effects otherwise I'll try anything.

Thanks guys for the advice. Mine may not be the worse case scenario, but I do know that going medication free will send me to the er every once in a while due to the depressive episode. That is why I've been trying to be patient for so long finding the right meds to work.
Considering the fact that medication is making things worse, I guess I'll just listen to my own body.

Good luck xo

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Yeah I don't have much patience. I ditched my valproate after around 2 months. It did stabilise my mood (somewhat) when I was severely manic but made me gain a ton of weight. Lamotragine has been my saviour.

Sometimes some things just do not work and all patience in the world will not change that. You need to know your body.

I gave my new meds,2-3 weeks, it took a long time to get the right combo. I am curious maybe only 1 med isn't right for you I take a combo and it works for me. I also noticed I am on a lower dose of the meds as most here. Maybe talk to you doctor about a lower dose in combination with another. For me it was the old school, lithium, elavil and trazadone. I like that they are cheap, and they may not eliminate the mood swings, they help keep them on the level I can live my life..

THIS. I couldn't agree more.

That gives me some hope. I will discuss it with my pdoc soon, thanks! So maybe, getting a combo with lower dosage might helps to eliminate some of the awful side effects. I'm thankful though that lithium did not cause weight gain for me. In fact, I barely eat when I'm hungry.

After a month and you're still feeling bad, I'd talk to pdoc. And the tremor worries me. I got a tremor when I had toxicity. I'm not saying you have it but you might want to get labs done very soon. Who knows maybe you need a higher dose or a new med in general.

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Lamotragine (Lamictal) worked wonders for me too, but my last med increase caused a rash so they took me off it. I have been in a downward spiral since. My pdoc is going to give lamictal another shot though, he has had cases it worked and didn't get the rash again.