Dear jimgreg,
I have been on lithium er, 450mg x2 for around eight maybe nine years. I have blood work up every three months. It is responsible for affecting my thyroid and some day I am pretty sure it will kill it. But Lamictal, Depakote andy of the second and third generation stabilizers, I have not tolerated.
Do you have routine blood tests? Do you juice and over water your internal body?
I hate the fact that it is probably the cause of my lack of creativety, but I love the part about living in a city known for gambling and I am safe.
Sorry you went toxic
zzzmykids
the missing word is "mood-stabilizer" - (must have pasted it from somewhere)
Lithium is the oldest and easily the most studied ************** for bipolars.
Efficacy serum range is 0.4 to 1.2 mmol/L. Toxicity can commence at around 1.4 and onwards.
I went toxic (1.7) some months age (this was related to kidney function issues eminating from a bad adverse drug reaction).
My symptoms were bad headaches and moderate to bad tremours.
I ceased lithium for 4 days and then recommenced (900 mg/day) without problems.
One last comment I would make is that studies have shown that the slow release version has slightly fewer side effects.
PM me if you need detail.
I'm sorry. As I remember you were starting Lamictal. That didn't work out? I know you've seen this list of mood stabilizers:
http://www.psycheducation.org/depression/meds/moodstabilizers.htm
But you might want to show it to your psychiatrist. Lithium is a very effective medication but if you had an adverse side effect you might want to try others before you go back on it. Your psychiatrist probably only tried a few standard options. There's a lot more out there that's FDA approved but used off label as mood stabilizers. You could obtain a consult with a mood disorders specialist and then go back to your regular psychiatrist. That might be an idea worth asking about.