lithium, tremors, and balance

I am wondering what other persons experiences may be with vertigo and other balance issues. Do you think this might be on account of or aggravated by Lithium (or another psychiatric medication)?

I shake at times quite a great deal; bad enough that people including strangers ask if I am all right. I have times when I am dizzy and been out of balance. I have bruise on my arms and legs from banging into things. The worst of all this is that I have had to give up kayaking and paddle boarding. I just can't risk it.

Could this be a side effect of medication? Can any of you think of a way I might manage this?

I have none of those issues. What you are describing is lithium toxicity. What are your blood levels it should be between a .6 and a 1.0. Any less and lithium dose not work any higher and you can exeperiance toxicity.

I had tremors even with a low dose of lithium, but your symptoms do sound extreme. I think you should get your lithium levels checked.

I dont remember having vertigo but I did have extremely bad tremors on lithium that cause me to drop stuff all the time. Actually lost a job from how bad I looked on it.

Hmmmm, interesting you asked about this. I had some questions raised over the past New Year about physical health issues that may have been linked to lithium. It turned out I was given the all-clear. The lithium levels are acceptable. They began to wean me off the lithium anyway but I did not do well. I became unhinged so the decision was made to increase it back to a therapeutic dosage; mind you, at a significantly smaller one than previous. At this time I have been having my blood tests done regularly every eight weeks.

Oh this is concerning.

I have heard that beta blockers can help with this. I don't know what these are.

Can diet and eating habits affect this condition? It seems to worsen at certain times of day.

You need to get your Lithium level checked. I used to be on 1800mg of it and got severe toxicity. My levels were up to 4.6, I spent a week in the ICU and on dialysis because my kidneys started shutting down.

Not trying to scare you, but it's important to get it checked. Especially if you're shaking a lot and having balance problems. I was shaking as if I had Parkinson disease and falling all the time and having terrible balance. Throwing up, incontinence. I didn't get to the hospital when I should have because nobody recognized the symptoms, not even my "doctor" at the time. I was very lucky