So new doc introduced Lithium.... never had it before.

[moriah]

He also replaced my Abilify with Geodon, and my Prozac which was making me manic with Serzone. Left my trazodone and prasozin as is.

Any tips on how to make it suck less? I'm already drinking as much water as I can, and peeing like a racehorse. So far the only thing the combo has done has been to make me feel like a zombie, but I hope in the next week or two that will pass.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. If I were you, I would talk to either my doc or my pharmacist.

Maybe the pharmacist first, since they know more about drugs and their interactions, side effects and so on, than the doctors do.

I don't know these drugs myself, but a lot of side effects happen early on while your body is getting used to them. I hope that the zombie feelings are in that group.

I hope you feel better very soon!

[moriah]

3. Thank you, hon. *hugs*

I think it's probably the fact that even the Serzone says it makes people sleepy, just like the Geodon and trazodone. Lithium is supposed to balance people out, and my prasozin lowers blood pressure so it can also make a person a little sleepy/dizzy.

I'm hopeful, too, that it only lasts a week or two. I have stuff that must be done, and right now I don't trust myself behind the wheel.

[elleng]

2. I know nothing about these,

Last edited Sat Oct 4, 2014, 06:12 PM - Edit history (1)

but there is a specialty. Try to find one of these docs in your area: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-psychiatric-pharmacology.htm

[mopinko]

4. be careful with the lithium.

my sister has been on it for a long time and has had a couple instances when other meds, antibiotics, caused it to not be metabolized properly. so it built up to a dangerous level.
you also have to step that down VERY slowly.
it is, however, a very useful med, and often helps where nothing else does.

get some extra sleep if you can. as was said, usually it take a little while to get used to new meds. things should look up soon.

[moriah]

5. I'll watch it, and hopefully this doc will do the required blood tests. If he doesn't....

.... well, I'll tell him I don't think he's the right doc for me. Blood levels have to be closely watched.

[mopinko]

6. they sure do.

my sister is in a nursing home, and damn do i wish there was a better one for her.
not at all happy with the way they take care of folks.
she also has ms, and has mobility problems, which is the big thing that put her there. and yet they allowed her to get very overweight, a side effect of the drugs she is on. she is now totally immobile.

my children have all been told to just shoot me if i end up like that.

[moriah]

8. My grandmother died at 500+ pounds. Perhaps closer to 6.

The nursing home had her on a strict 500 calorie a day diet to try to lose weight and gain mobility, but she still gained 100 lbs while she was in there, had only been 4-something before but already couldn't bathe herself or walk since her knees needed total replacements and she couldn't go under anesthesia..

She knew her time was coming and used her stipend of spending money to buy yarn and crochet. I still have two of her dolls that she made dresses for, plus a "Sewing Granny" that had a air freshener underneath the skirt and the hat was a pincusion, plus had pockets all around to hold thread spools. I'm grateful she could still crochet, gave her something to do and she loved doing it. She usually sold them but about six months before her death she started making stuff like those things for me and for my older sister, as well as the people she knew who had been there for her, so they'd have something to remember her by.

[moriah]

7. Update: Doc had to reduce my dose. Now at 600 mg a day instead of 900.

I started having absolutely horrible tremors. My family already has a predisposition to essential tremor, so it may just be that it enhances what's already there for me.

He had me go off of the lithium for 24 hours, get my blood drawn, then start back at only 2 capsules a day, morning and night.

I don't know what the level was (yet) so I don't know if it was actual toxicity or just side effects. It might be that I have to go on a beta-blocker along with it, but my Prazosin already lowers blood pressure. I don't know what's worse, shaking so much I can't drive, or nightmaring all night with horrible repetitive dreams that I go right back into when I wake up. Of course, I still do that some, so I'd probably deal with the nightmares to keep driving. Or maybe I'll get a therapeutic blood level at this lower dose without shaking so bad.

[Peace Seeker]

9. Depekote

If your on lithium, I imagine you have tried Depekote? Worked well and was able to downgrade my mood stabilizer eventually to lamictil which doesn't do as much, but I can function. Best wishes to you. Geodon was helpful, I think you have to take that on a full stomach if I remember right, which shouldn't be difficult with all these awful appetite increasing mood stablizers!

-Annette

[olddots]

10. really. really really be carefull with your diet

and that means everything .All these drugs we take can effect us more than trial studies could ever
show .

[postatomic]

11. I was on Lithium for awhile

The regular blood tests and the awful side effects (we all react to drugs a little differently) caused me to tell my Doctor to just throw me in a locked padded room and toss the key. I went through some alternative drugs and landed on a few that I could tolerate and seem to work.

I know it's a good drug for the right circumstance. It just wasn't for me.

Good luck with this.