[bda1200]

Thank you to anyone willing to read and respond. Quickly, please please don’t say anything over the top or that will feed into a belief that I am making a fatal error. This will only cause me panic at the faintest symptoms.

Briefly, I am skinny, but not overly skinny. I weigh 115 pounds and am about 5’9 and at most, 5’10 or so. I am on 900 mg Lithium. I also have gastrointestinal issues and cannot eat much; I eat about a small meal a day some days. Anyway, I began exercising a few weeks ago and it made me feel like I was gaining a sense of control as I was losing weight. My life is a mess and I hate myself, but this sense of control and weight loss gave me peace. One day I looked older and very tired and I began to like myself. I wanted to look thinner and started to feel this sense of control over my circumstances.

I want to keep doing this and get my weight down to maybe 105 and stop. My concern is I am going to end up killing myself accidentally because I don’t eat, am overexercising burning calories I don’t have, am losing weight, and taking 900 mg of Lithium. I’m concerned it is going to become toxic to me. Yet, I don’t want to give up the weight loss. I finally like how I look and feel! I love the control.

Am I going to end up accidentally hurting mysel? Please don’t feed into this because it will only cause me panic at the faintest symtpoms. I fear death only because I feel I am going to a worse place.

Please scientific, objective answers only. Thank you!

[Skeezyks]

Hello bda: Welcome to PsychCentral. I noticed it has been a couple of days since you posted this. And no one has replied to your post. So I thought I would. However, since you have concerns with regard to the kinds of replies you might receive here, I'll be brief.

I have no authority here on PC. So this is just my personal opinion. However I don't believe there is anyone here on PC who would be in a position to offer advice with regard to your lithium toxicity concerns. Our purpose, here on PsychCentral, is to provide one another with support and to exchange information & experiences. The majority of us a consumers of mental health services, not medical or mental health professionals. My personal, non-professional recommendation would be that you consult a physician or other medical / psychiatric services provider with regard to your concerns. I wish you well...

[Wonderfalls]

There's not an immediate time emergency but I do think you should contact your doctor about whether you may have some symptoms of anorexia. Of course I'm not an expert either.

[Nola0250]

At 5'9" and 115 lbs, your BMI (body mass index) is less than 17. You are significantly underweight. BMI is not a perfect measure, but there is no world in which you are not seriously underweight already. 105lbs is not a reasonable goal.

I think you should consider that you may have an eating disorder, or you may be getting a little OCD about body management. Please talk to your Pdoc ASAP.

[Tucson]

You said that you are thin, but you still want to diet and lose weight? Are you thinking about what you have said here? Hey, it is your body, and I am not trying to say that I know better than you. I recommend you to see your doctor.

[Guiness187055]

Make sure you are drinking plenty of water to avoid lithium toxicity. Like the others said you may want to see a doctor about your weight issues.

It is crucial that you tell your doctors (including psychiatrist) about any weight loss plans. Your eating habits/amounts and exercise amounts. Lithium in particular sort of mandates that. You don't want to take any chances of hurting yourself or even dying from Lithium toxicity. Even without meds, I too am concerned about your health. Be very honest about your weight and weight goals.