[clarerob48]

About 10 weeks ago I decided to stop taking my lithium, without Dr input. Two weeks ago my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I have now discussed my situation with our GP.
As I did not really want to go back to taking lithium we have agreed that I will restart at the first sign of any relapse. He has also said that it would be started and increased as quickly as possible. He would do this in conjunction with my psychiatrist.
What I really want to know is does anyone know how quickly lithium can be increased safely.
Im not going to do this before seeing either GP or psychiatrist, but wonder if I should restart it anyway so I am not drowsy when I need to be driving. My husband has his operation to remove the tumour in 2 weeks time and wont be able to drive for quite a while. As will live in a rural area with no bus service I need to be able to drive to get him to and from hospital
Sorry if this all a bit jumbled up

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Lithium levels even out after 4 days so you can increase the dose after blood testing on the 4th day. I don't know how often they'd want to test as you went up (in the hospital they'll go up faster than once every 4 days for example) but that's how long before a level will tell anything about how you are doing with any dose.

[clarerob48]

Thank you.
Hopefully they'll start at a higher dose than they did when I first started it, and increase it in bigger jumps. I had a toxic reaction at just 800mg after I'd been on the drug for 5 years, so I expect they will be cautious