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Mental health

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Original poster

Lithium, experiences of taking it?

12 replies

maniclady · 20/09/2013 18:48

Pychiatrristwants me to take lithium in addition to apiprazole and sertraline to replace my depakote as I'm losing too much hair. What are people's experiences of taking this? Particularly what it did with regards to weight gain?

OP posts:

mixedmind · 20/09/2013 19:11

I got some weight gain and it caused me to have underactive thyroid. Otherwise very good medicine.

Original poster

maniclady · 21/09/2013 18:24

Thank you mixedmind can I ask how much weight you gained?

OP posts:

HopeClearwater · 21/09/2013 23:48

It's a long time ago but it did not affect my weight much. However I found myself constantly thirsty and needing to go to the loo frequently. Took me a long time to get level stabilised and in the end it didn't make enough difference to my mood to justify the downsides of being on it.

mawbroon · 21/09/2013 23:57

I am thinking about Lithium too as I have gained loads of weight on Quetiapine, but I think I am scared to mess with my meds because they are working so well for me.

mixedmind · 22/09/2013 12:37

I can't remember how much I gained but at least one dress size. I would rather take quetiapine (can't take it) than lithium, because of the damage lithium can cause to kidneys and thyroid. I have now underactive thyroid because of lithium.

fedupandtired · 22/09/2013 13:15

Weight gain was a lot slower than with olanzapine but it caused my thyroid to become under active which caused my hair to fall which you might want to bear in mind seeing as that's already an issue.

Sophiedotty · 22/09/2013 15:31

I took it for a while. It didn't help my mood at all & gave me a metallic taste in my mouth & headaches.

dontrunwithscissors · 22/09/2013 21:56

At 0.6 level, it made me sick 3, 4, or 5 times a day. SHook like a leaf. But I lost a heap of weight. Truly the worst med I've tried, but others swear by it. I'm glad I tried it and now know.

Original poster

maniclady · 23/09/2013 08:31

Thanks all you've given me alot to think about.

OP posts:

mixedmind · 26/09/2013 08:23

I can't stand lithium, but I have to take it because the other mood stabilisers (the ones I have tried) won't work. Lithium is not optimal either. But psych is not describing any antidepressants even though I don't get manias.

maniclady: if you suffer manias why you have been described antidepressants?

Original poster

maniclady · 26/09/2013 09:25

I don't know I'm on a very low dose and they take it away when I'm going up. But otherwise I Spend all of my time depressed until I go manic I don't get gaps of normality. The mix I'm on keeps me stable and my psychiatrist says anti ds are okay in conjunction with a mood stabilizer.

OP posts:

dontrunwithscissors · 26/09/2013 12:42

All the AD's I've been on have sent me high, even though I don't experience highs in any other situation. The one AD that has worked brilliantly without any problems is Valdoxan. It's been a god send and turned my life around. However, it's new and super-expensive. I think many pdoc's don't have much experience of prescribing it, but there was research on its potential use in bipolar depression with a reduced chance of pushing mood high.

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