[crystalrose]

Pdoc wants to put me on lithium a low dose and im confused in why she wants to do this. Im not bipolar and i dont have trouble in regulating my moods and im afraid taking it will make me numb. I refuse to go on it. i think she is a drug pusher. She is a new pdoc and i feel less trust for her since she has suggested this.

[googley]

Hi,
Do you suffer from depression? Are you on an anti-depressant? I was put on lithium as an augmentation to my anti-depressant even though I am not bipolar and have found it helpful. Hope this gives you more information. Good luck on finding what you need.

[dearyou]

Originally Posted by crystalrose

Pdoc wants to put me on lithium a low dose and im confused in why she wants to do this. Im not bipolar and i dont have trouble in regulating my moods and im afraid taking it will make me numb. I refuse to go on it. i think she is a drug pusher. She is a new pdoc and i feel less trust for her since she has suggested this.

Did you ask your doctor why she wants to do this? Sometimes they give lithium to people who need a boost to their antidepressant. Yes, mood stabilizers are used for treatment resistant depression. It could also be that she thinks that you have some form of "soft bipolar" (do you have a family history of mood disorders or bipolar? do you react or have you ever reacted strangely to antidepressants?)...Really though, you should ask her!

As for the drug pusher idea, what exactly would be her motivation? Lithium is dirt cheap and really not a big psychiatric drug money maker for anyone. If she was pushing drugs for financial gain, perhaps she'd be pushing something like a new atypical antipsychotic that has mood stabilizing capabilities and has yet to go generic...

Really though, it's not as if you can't refuse lithium.

[Amazonmom]

I've been taking Lithium for bipolar, but it hasn't made me numb. Lithium has been used as a treatment for unipolar depression for some time. Usually in a small dose or used with antidepressants.

It's cheap. It helps me fall asleep. I actually am learning to like the stuff.

And this is coming from somebody who freaked out at the thought of Lithium when her PNP told her to take it.

Give it a shot.

FUN FACT: Lithium was in 7UP until the FDA forced the makers to take it out.

[Tumnus]

Lithium can also cause some changes in thyroid function, a side effect sometimes used by doctors for the benefit of the patient.

[krzyk101]

I cant say I would blame you for not wanting to go on lithium, especiallly in this day and age when there are so many modern 'first trials' of a mood stabelizer and drugs like lithium are very dangerous even in low doses, all meds come with physical possible adverse side effects, yet for a first go this one ususally is used as a last resort when the others fail.

I would simply tell your pdoc that you do NOT feel that the benifits of Lithium drug therapy outweigh the potential risks of adverse and negetive side effects.

So many pdocs are so over worried about antidepressants causing mania they are afraid to even prescribe anti depressants to clinically depressed persons, and in turn the new thing now seems to be 'mood stabilizers' as was the old standby back in the day of thorazine.

Just say NO to Lithium. If you do agree to try it make sure your pdoc does the required blood work to measure the lithium levels and check you kidneys often.

[crystalrose]

pdoc suggested it again and i said NO she seemed ok about it and is now prescribing seroquel instead. I'm also changing anti depressant from zoloft to effexor. definatly saying no to lithium but i don't think she will ask again.

[Yoko]

Originally Posted by crystalrose

pdoc suggested it again and i said NO she seemed ok about it and is now prescribing seroquel instead. I'm also changing anti depressant from zoloft to effexor. definatly saying no to lithium but i don't think she will ask again.

Good luck with the effexor. I had terrible side effects from it, but everyone reacts differently. I am now back on Paxil.

[Beholden]

Originally Posted by crystalrose

pdoc suggested it again and i said NO she seemed ok about it and is now prescribing seroquel instead. I'm also changing anti depressant from zoloft to effexor. definatly saying no to lithium but i don't think she will ask again.

Most docs I've gone to only change one drug or whatever at a time, why is your pdoc doing 2 new drugs and different classes of AN at that? i agree with you not wanting lithium, but zoloft is an SSRI and effexor is an SNRI. and seroquel is something else again. If I were you, I'd only want to do 1 change at a time and see how that makes me feel, especially since zoloft hasn't done what you had hoped. Just my opinion, I'm not a doctor, just had a lot of experience with drugs in my day with depression.

Hope you find the correct drug to treat your depression, that's the important thing. Good luck.