have you eased yourself off lithium (after quite a long time) without going mad/killing yourself?

[Mitchy1nge]

am thinking it might be nice to ever so gradually stop taking it and see what's what but would be good to hear from people who have succeeded and are still alive

all anyone ever points out is that I will be about 8 million times more likely to commit suicide

[Khalessi]

Not lithium but I have reduced my antipsychotic meds and had a relapse- that was with support from my gp. I'm going to try again but the mh team are not supportive (cos it's more work for them- they discharge me as soon as I'm stable) and its vital you get support and do this with supervision.
Why do you want to come off?

[Mitchy1nge]

thanks for reply, sorry your team are not supportive, mine say they will supervise my withdrawal if I'm absolutely insistent but they are not very enthusiastic about it at this exact point in time

haven't had 'an episode' for ages, haven't been in hospital for years (3? 4?) and it was always my understanding that after a reasonable time of sort of stability it would be ok to look at coming off it, especially as first started taking it well over 10 years ago and it's a nasty toxic thing to take just on the off chance of 'becoming unwell' isn't it?

[Mentalpsychiatrist]

Very bad things happen when I stop taking my lithium as my recent spell in hospital shows. Generally I would consider dose reduction after a patient has been stable for five years but that's me being conservative. If you really want to try to go without and your team will support you then I don't see why you shouldn't try but will you be willing to go back on meds if things don't go well?

[Mitchy1nge]

thanks, hope you are feeling better. Did you plan to withdraw over a period of time or just stop?

yeah of course, if am actually ill with actual elation or depression of course I'll resume it and probably just stay on it indefinitely

we are at least trying a slightly lower dose at the moment although the idea is still to keep serum levels between 0.7 and 0.9, I want to take my time over it because have only ever come off in an unplanned or abrupt way and that's never gone well

[Mentalpsychiatrist]

I, like an idiot who knows better, just stopped. It sounds like you're planning on going about it in an infinitely more sensible fashion.

[thornbird123]

I did after three yours on it. Psychiatrist thought I could stop it, too. I was stable for several years until pregnancy messed thing up. Now I am back to lithium.

[Khalessi]

It sounds like you're doing it the right way and I'm glad you have support in place. Best wishes for a smooth ride ??

[Mitchy1nge]

thanks everyone

will see how it goes at a lower dose for a while, I am actually shit at taking it 100% consistently and have often gone over a year without any blood tests so I don't know why they keep prescribing it really

[Mitchy1nge]

how humiliating would it be on scale of 1-10 (1 - should kill self over the shame, 10 - not even slightly humiliating) if I crawled back and asked to go back to normal nearly toxic levels?

[LastingLight]

9 - you have the right to make decisions about your medication.

[Mitchy1nge]

thanks, that's an excellent point :)

[Mentalpsychiatrist]

I go for a 10. You gave it a whirl and it was a bad idea. You 're not the first and you won't be the last. It's much better to admit your mistake and get back on to a drug that clearly works for you.

[Khalessi]

Mitchy it's def a 10 and demonstrates your insight. I hope you're doing ok.

[Mitchy1nge]

I am sort of ok, but could be a bit more mentally normal and will be interested to see my levels (am sure they are still technically well within the therapeutic range. Just not as therapeutic as am used to. On the plus side it is finally possible to be really well hydrated.