[reticentrenegade]

I am having a moderate manic episode right now that I'm pretty sure was triggered by Saphris--I took it for a week and this started so I stopped taking it and went to my psychiatrist today. I was prescribed 300mg of lithium two times a day. Can someone possibly give me a beginner's guide to lithium? I am pretty familiar with antidepressants but I have not really learned anything about lithium and now that I'm going to start it tonight I'd like to know what to expect if possible.

Things I would like to know:

• What is the dose range for twice daily controlled release lithium? Is 300mg 2x a day a lot or not a lot at all?

• What should I expect for side effects? Or just what should I expect in general when starting lithium?

• Do I have to time my doses exactly or is around the same general time okay?

• Will it make my mania better or controlled or will it cycle me back to depression? Or neither?

• Anything else important that I should know/be aware of?

Thank you very much! It is much appreciated and I'm hopeful that this will help ease my current state of not enjoying things :s

[Blue_Bird]

You're not on a high dose, I was up to 1800mg before I had to get off of it because of Toxicity and my kidneys started to shut down, had seizures, was really sick and in ICU for a week on dialysis.

It may work for you, everyone's different. Just watch out for signs of toxicity like extremely bad tremors, lack of balance, throwing up, incontinence, etc.

[reticentrenegade]

Oh no, that sounds horrible! I'm so sorry that happened to you and I hope that you've fully recovered Thanks for letting me know what to look out for though, I will definitely keep an eye out for those signs!