[BiPolarJoe]

So the post I just put out in the New Member section states a bit of my history and current situation but I'll try to recap briefly.

I was diagnosed with depression (unipolar per the most recent DSM-5 rule book) back in 2005. I was put on Lexapro by my primary care doctor and that certainly lifted me out nicely at first. After about 2-3 years of steadily increasing the dosage to keep the depression at bay, I searched out a pdoc and began working closely with her. Once Lexapro became essentially ineffective, we switched to Cymbalta and again that worked initially. After a year or two of increasing the Cympalta dosage and getting to a point of it not being effective, we added Lamotrigine to help lift my mood. Again, this worked initially but certainly wasn't a cure as I still was fighting bouts of depression.

In 2014 I came to a point of feeling that maybe I was misdiagnosed and wanted a clean slate to work with. Without consulting my pdoc, I began a slow titration off both the Cymbalta and Lamotrigine. Needless to say, it didn't go well. I put myself into a hypomanic state followed by a deep, deep depression once I had taken myself off both medications. Once I went crawling back to my pdoc and shared what I had done, our trust in each other was gone so I searched out another pdoc to try and begin again.

I am still seeing this second pdoc and we have a really good relationship going...100% honesty regarding medications, alcohol, life changes, etc. Given a few bouts with hypomania the past 2-3 years, my current diagnosis is Bipolar II. I am currently taking Lamotrigine 300mg, Quetiapine 100mg and Latuda 80mg. I was taking Trintellix 60mg for a few months and then switched back to Cymbalta 60mg for a bit but given hypomania set in for essentially this entire summer, we decided to pull that out of the cocktail just over a week ago. Depression is back, not the lowest I have ever been but certainly not a comfortable place to be.

Now to my question for all of you. I am considering requesting to try lithium. There is such negative stigma around lithium but in my current research, I think lots of the negative press it has received over the years is unfounded. My distrust for pharmaceutical companies and their drive for profits leads me to think they would rather have patients try every new $expensive$ med they put out before trying a naturally occurring mineral like lithium that they certainly don't make much profit on. I am open to any and all thoughts, comments you all may have.

FYI, I am reading a "newer" book on the shelves titled "BIPOLAR, Not So Much" by Chris Aiken, MD and James Phelps, MD. It just came out this year and I really like the honest approach it takes to treating unipolar, Bipolar and everything in the spectrum in between. These two doctors are big fans of both lamotrigine and lithium for treating people on the bipolar spectrum. You can google this book and they have a webpage dedicated to further education as it relates to this book (I would post up the link but this site doesn't allow one to post links until I have something like 10 posts...strange)

Sorry for the lengthy first post as I had lots to explain...future post will be more to the point

[*Laurie*]

Interesting...I have seen a lot of positive information about lithium. It seems to help many people. I was put on a low-dose lithium about 3 weeks ago and I feel that it has helped to stabilize my moods. I'm seeing my pdoc on Tuesday and am going to ask if he'll raise my lithium dose.

[Trippin2.0]

Yes metals occur naturally, as opposed to whatever they put in those synthetic chemicals, but also not the number one thing you wanna put in your body... That's why all the blood tests, to make sure you don't reach toxic levels and eff up your kidneys and such.

I know I know, someone is thinking "Its a salt" and yes, eventually they turn it into a salt, but its starts out as a metal and that's why we can't actually absorb it like we do normal salt...

Anyway, anti lithium ramblings aside (I had a bad experience on it) it has helped tons of people, with minimal side effects.
So if you wanna give it a go, I say its worth a shot.

PS. Despite my utter disdain for it, I must give it props for getting rid of my suicidal ideation while on it.

[benzenering]

I have taken 900 mg lithium for several years with no side effects. I tend to be very suicidal, and it has helped immensely in this regard. Also, I believe it has kept my mania symptoms in check.

We are all different...many people have trouble with lithium, but that holds for all of these crazy psych drugs we are on (yep, pun intended).

[BiPolarJoe]

Thanks for the posts folks...all great comments. I am aware of the potential side effects and how our liver and thyroid play an important roll in that regard. With what I have read, it seems that if regular blood work is done, the side effects can be controlled. Trippin2.0, given your bad experience on it, I would be interested to know if you were having regular blood draws and if so, what did you narrow in on for a lithium blood level? I understand one is typically looking for 0.6 to about 1.0 for treating the bipolar spectrum.

benzenering, good point. As we all know, we are all made up of different chemistries and respond to compounds differently and that is one thing that makes treatment so difficult. Are you monitoring your lithium blood levels?...Have you stayed at the same level throughout your treatment?

Laurie, I will be very interested how you respond to lithium treatment. The feedback we can give each other is priceless

[Trippin2.0]

I stayed within a stable 0.7 range, was never toxic, didn't have any organ damage and had regular blood work, despite my very strong dislike for needles.

For some reason I experienced a very rare side effect, extreme stupidity.

I could not deal with being dumber than a rock, AND getting lithium acne, so I was no longer smart nor pretty.

Regained my grey matter two years after quitting, oh and my skin returned back to normal too.

[Guiness187055]

I take 1200mg a day and stay at a .7 therapeutic level. Lithium has done wonders for my mood.

[BiPolarJoe]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

I stayed within a stable 0.7 range, was never toxic, didn't have any organ damage and had regular blood work, despite my very strong dislike for needles.

For some reason I experienced a very rare side effect, extreme stupidity.

I could not deal with being dumber than a rock, AND getting lithium acne, so I was no longer smart nor pretty.

Regained my grey matter two years after quitting, oh and my skin returned back to normal too.

Interesting, so crap side effects was your experience...I would be a non-fan as well if that was my reaction to it.

[BiPolarJoe]

Originally Posted by Guiness187055

I take 1200mg a day and stay at a .7 therapeutic level. Lithium has done wonders for my mood.

Thanks for the response - people really seem to respond differently but we really shouldn't be surprised I guess. People seem to respond differently to the entire gamut of psyche meds out there.

[benzenering]

Originally Posted by BiPolarJoe

benzenering, good point. As we all know, we are all made up of different chemistries and respond to compounds differently and that is one thing that makes treatment so difficult. Are you monitoring your lithium blood levels?...Have you stayed at the same level throughout your treatment?

My lithium levels are now checked every 3 months. It was more frequently when I started out, if I remember correctly. My numbers hover between 0.7 and 0.8, so it is pretty darn steady.

[lost_lover]

I took it a few years ago after having dealt with so many side effects from 'newer' medications. My thought process with that lithium has been around so long that every possible side effect has probably been researched, there wouldn't be any surprises. I forget how much I was on as it was several years ago and I have has so many medication changes. I thought it worked pretty well for me mood wise but I had any annoying side effect that made me stop taking it without talking to my doctor and we all know how that goes. I had really bad tremors on it, not just seeing my hands shake but dropping stuff all the time too. Since I was waiting tables at the time it looked really bad and my boss ended up firing me because he assumed I had a drug problem because I was shaking so much. When I would serve coffee or tea the saucer or cup would rattle while I was putting it down and it was a very high-end restaurant so officially I was fired for not using proper service techniques.

If what you are taking isn't working I would say give it a try. While my logic may be stupid I still think that fact that is a so well researched is a bonus. The reason there are so many side effects listed for it is that it has been around so long so even the really uncommon ones have had time a present themselves, at least that is my theory. While I didn't have this issue I was told the most common bad side effect is it can kill your personality (like any mood stabilizer) and you get a little zombie like.

[Goals2017]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

I stayed within a stable 0.7 range, was never toxic, didn't have any organ damage and had regular blood work, despite my very strong dislike for needles.

For some reason I experienced a very rare side effect, extreme stupidity.

I could not deal with being dumber than a rock, AND getting lithium acne, so I was no longer smart nor pretty.

Regained my grey matter two years after quitting, oh and my skin returned back to normal too.

Trip I am also on lithium can you explain how it made you "stupid" I believe I am suffering from that as well but can't seem to articulate it properly.

[Goals2017]

Originally Posted by lost_lover

I took it a few years ago after having dealt with so many side effects from 'newer' medications. My thought process with that lithium has been around so long that every possible side effect has probably been researched, there wouldn't be any surprises. I forget how much I was on as it was several years ago and I have has so many medication changes. I thought it worked pretty well for me mood wise but I had any annoying side effect that made me stop taking it without talking to my doctor and we all know how that goes. I had really bad tremors on it, not just seeing my hands shake but dropping stuff all the time too. Since I was waiting tables at the time it looked really bad and my boss ended up firing me because he assumed I had a drug problem because I was shaking so much. When I would serve coffee or tea the saucer or cup would rattle while I was putting it down and it was a very high-end restaurant so officially I was fired for not using proper service techniques.

If what you are taking isn't working I would say give it a try. While my logic may be stupid I still think that fact that is a so well researched is a bonus. The reason there are so many side effects listed for it is that it has been around so long so even the really uncommon ones have had time a present themselves, at least that is my theory. While I didn't have this issue I was told the most common bad side effect is it can kill your personality (like any mood stabilizer) and you get a little zombie like.

Yup currently experiencing that now "zombie effect" on the personality

[Trippin2.0]

Well, beside my emotions being muted to the point of apathy, my brain felt like melted cheese.

My vocabulary was diminished gradually, it became so bad, I was speaking at the level of a 10 year old.

So in essence I lost words.

I also forgot how to spell, and needed to make use of a spell check for the first time at age 26.

My memory was screwed.

I would go to the shop for three measly items, bread, milk, eggs, and only remember eggs by the time I got there. (Shop is across the road)

Talking was a pain because I would struggle to articulate and express myself, words I wanted to use I no longer had access to, and it just made me feel stupid.

I even permanently forgot some stuff.

Like movies I watched and holiday trips I've been on, people I've met and hung out with... All erased. No jogging of memory muscles makes any of it come back. Its gone, like it never happened, despite photographic evidence to the contrary

Add tremors so bad that I had no fine motor skills, and I was 100% miserable and unimpressed.

Pdoc wouldn't change my meds and he didn't believe me, apparently my experience is impossible, and that's when I cold turkeyed all my meds... Got back on a mood stabilizer 3 years later tho

[BiPolarJoe]

Originally Posted by Trippin2.0

Well, beside my emotions being muted to the point of apathy, my brain felt like melted cheese.

My vocabulary was diminished gradually, it became so bad, I was speaking at the level of a 10 year old.

So in essence I lost words.

I also forgot how to spell, and needed to make use of a spell check for the first time at age 26.

My memory was screwed.

I would go to the shop for three measly items, bread, milk, eggs, and only remember eggs by the time I got there. (Shop is across the road)

Talking was a pain because I would struggle to articulate and express myself, words I wanted to use I no longer had access to, and it just made me feel stupid.

I even permanently forgot some stuff.

Like movies I watched and holiday trips I've been on, people I've met and hung out with... All erased. No jogging of memory muscles makes any of it come back. Its gone, like it never happened, despite photographic evidence to the contrary

Add tremors so bad that I had no fine motor skills, and I was 100% miserable and unimpressed.

Pdoc wouldn't change my meds and he didn't believe me, apparently my experience is impossible, and that's when I cold turkeyed all my meds... Got back on a mood stabilizer 3 years later tho

Thanks for this Trippin2.0 - very helpful. This is what I don't want to happen hence my reservations about trying it at all. We all respond to meds differently but the mental numbing, crap concentration and memory loss are side effects I won't tolerate.

I’ve started lithium, and so far I have am not having noticeable side effects. For a change!! Meds tends to make me tired or give me a headache. Here’s hoping for a good outcome

[WildcatVet]

I took 1500mg of lithium daily for Bipolar II and it's been the only medication that really controlled my rapid, mixed cycling. Some minimal weight gain...and I think that by feeling better I regained my appetite...but NO other side effects. Basically a wonder drug for me.
Because of a major screw-up in IP I ended up on Depakote...good for mania but not for depression. As soon as I can get an appt with my new pdoc...end of November I'm going back on it...only drawback is the blood tests but that's no biggie...