Lithium - Anyone on it??

I got started on this a week ago now. 400mg twice daily. Get quite spaced out at times and light headed and the nausea feeling. Do these pass?? And does it work for you?? Had first blood test for it yesterday and see the psychiatrist tomorrow.

On Friday they increased it to 1200mg, so now 400mg in morning and 800mg at night. Another blood test and psyc appt next week. Makes me feel so sick and light headed though. Although thats not helped at moment I've got a cold.

Don't know whats the lithium and whats the cold. Sore, forgetful, fainting/light headed,sick/vomiting (think thats the lithium though), so tired, weak, short on breath sometimes, disorientation, confusion (more that usual). Don't know what goes to what, the running/blocked noise will be cold.

Hi LC ..... Could you check with your Dr if these things continue .... just to be on the safe side. Did they give you any information on side effects?
Daze

Yea have had stuff to read. Somethings fit, but then m flatmates just had stomach bug so some of the same things could be from that.

They've just increased it again to 800mg in morning and 800mg at night. Side effects suck, but they said those will pass once dose has been stabilised. Kinda good thing I'm not working coz at times I'll just pass out suddenly, other times get really light headed/dizzy etc.

Is there anyone else on here that takes lithium??

I am on lithium. My doses were increased gradually over months and I am now on 1250mg. I experienced practically no side effects, I like it but develop resistance to a dose after a while. My understanding is doses should be 15-20mg per kg body weight so I cant go much higher. Logical cents are you in a manic phase? this might explain the rapid increase in dose and the high dose. If that is the case they might decrease the dose when you have stabilised. Every one is different and my experience is of little value to you but in time you should tolerate the med better or they can find a substitute. Dont hesitate to contact your Doctor about concerns you have . Take that falling asleep thing very seriously as it can cause serious problems.

Hi Meluare,

Nice to hear from someone else that is on lithium. If I go by the 20mg per kg then my dose is just under what it could be. I've been having blood tests weekly and also seeing my psychiatrist weekly. I think they've kinda wanted to increase the dose as much as they can as quickly as possible because of the state I was in at the first instance. I have been told that once the dose is stabilised the side effects will pass. I'm just impatient and want them gone now.

Another thing I find kinda annoying is the fact that it basically means I can't use any painkillers now for headaches or anything. They said pretty much panadol is the only thing I can use and that doesn't work for me.

Hi logicalcents, Hope youre feeling better. I seem to remember reading once that Lithium is prescribed for severe headaches, if that is so it could be of benefit to you in that regard reducing the need for painkillers.

Unfortunately I don't think it works against headaches for me as I've had a few still. Need to ring my psychiatrist and talk to her to see if there is anything else I could maybe take as I have another painkiller Mersyndol but I'm unsure if can take it and my pharmacist is not 100% sure either.

logical-cents wrote:Unfortunately I don't think it works against headaches for me as I've had a few still. Need to ring my psychiatrist and talk to her to see if there is anything else I could maybe take as I have another painkiller Mersyndol but I'm unsure if can take it and my pharmacist is not 100% sure either.

Hi logicalcents. Hope the lithium is helping and side effects are reducing. I did a search and lithium is mainly used for cluster head aches. I tried to find something on compatibility with codeine but couldnt. I really like lithium but it stops working after a few months at a given dose. It ran out 2 or 3 weeks ago, Ive upped the dose, I cant increase much more. Best wishes.

Hi meluare,

Yes am starting to notice changes so hopefully that is the lithium working, side effects are slowly starting to reduce a bit. Hope it won't stop working coz I don't think I can have my dose increased too much more.

Hi Logicalcents
Good and no. I think my resistance is not typical. I think it probable they will reduce the dose once things stabilise. You shouldnt need as high a dose for maintenance, just a guess. A lot of doctors dont like lithium especially high doses. Iam glad things are improving for you.

Hmmm not sure about dose being reduced, maybe eventually, but I think the plan is pretty much to keep me on it as it is. She's going to take a look at the effexor dose next and see whether that needs increasing or there may be the possibility that I can come of that and just stay on the lithium.

Hi logical its bleak here weather wise so its a good time to return your post.
From reading and my psychiatrist I get the inpression they like to minimise lithium doses. It is hard on the kidneys and thyroid. With the thyroid all that is required is another pill if the gland doesnt work properly. The kidney damage is most commonly a reduction in the ability to concentrate urine, you pee more often. Rarely, it causes serious kidney damage and dialysis is required. About 3 NZers a year will go on to dialysis as a consequence of taking lithium. I dont know how many NZers are on lithium, I guess it would be about 20,000. My psychiatrist gave me some information from ACC, Iam angry about it as it just looks like scaremongering. How many bipolars who would benefit from a mood stabiliser like lithium are out there ruining there lives on alcohol, drugs, suicides, accidents etc.. I am sure its more than 3 a year. I think they should put an effort into finding and treating them rather than discourage people from taking lithium.The kidney damage can be from toxic levels in the blood or accumulative damage over years. Some people are going to have susceptability to damage or other risk factors that compound the problem. Generally the higher the blood readings the more likelyhood of damage.
A blood reading over 1.5 is considered toxic. The old maximum was 1.2, they might exceed that in certain circumstances but that was the recommendation. Medsafe now give a range of 7 (or 6?) to 1.0. A lot of Doctors including mine think .7 to .8 is the ideal. In a severe disorder they dont worry about going higher, with cyclothymia which is what I have they are very reluctant to increase the dose level above optimum.(and the vibe I get is theyre not convinced I have anything biologically wrong). If you are close to a lithium dose of 20mg a kg body weight then I am guessing your blood reading is in the high .8s to high .9s. I cant really coment on what you should take but assuming those are your blood readings it should be safe. Risk factors for kidney problems are high blood pressure and a family history of kidney disorders. Women are a lot more susceptable to thyroid problems.
I very rarely practicaly never get headaches but I notice on the Lithium if I start to get dehydrated I start to feel a mild headache.
I hope you fid this interesting and of some value, take care.

Thanks meluare, I know it's taken me a while to reply. It is interesting and I have read quite a bit of stuff on the internet. My psychiatrist says that the recommended level she'd like for me is between .6 - 1.0 mine was sitting around .8 - .9 was causing me severe nausea so we reduced it about 2 weeks ago and I know that in the appointment tomorrow it will be going up again as with the reducement there has been a big drop in my mood and hearing voices again and thoughts of self-harm which I hadn't had those for nearly a couple of months so shall see what happens tomorrow.

I haven't ever been on it but I believe it has really great results for people with Bi Polar once they get the level just right, apparently that can take a while to sort out.

Yea, they've added risperidone to the mix of meds now. So will see how that goes as well.

Hi Logical cents, good to hear from you. You mention your moods not as good, it is possible I have heard to get to much of a mood stabiliser and they then cause depression. How ever the voices arent to good so upping the stabiliser/antisycotic is reasonable. I dont know much about Risperidone.
Iam doing alright. I had trouble with resistence in the lithium and took my dose up to 1500mg as it lost effectiveness. I felt OK at that level but could feel I was on something, a bit sedated a bit something else. In order to get the dose down Doc gave me 25mg of seroquel. I dropped my dose of lithium to 1250mg and started the quetiapine. I have compulsions that the lithium was preventing when effective, they were still under control with the combo. Another thing Lithium does for me I discovered is it reduces my pulse rate. For decades my average resting pulse rate would be around mid 70s, on 1500mg it was low 60s on 1000mg it is in the high 60s. I am now taking 1000mg of lithium and the compulsion problem is low to moderate. I think I am getting resistent to the seroquel as it had a real pronounced effect on my sleep at first. Now I have some trouble falling asleep and dont feel so good waking in the mornings. I am going to start taking it earlier in the evenings. This resistent thing is bad, you think things are going well and then suddenly things go to pack.

I use to be on lithium tablets, the last prescription they gave me capsules. I find the capsules better, I had a problem that was fixed on the tablets but came back after a while. The capsules have sorted that problem out. Maybe I will get resistant after a while, hope not. Has any one out there an opinion on tablets vs capsules?