Lithium for Bipolar

[Pinkandpurplehairedlady]

Does anyone on here take Lithium for their bipolar? I seem to have been stuck in a cycle of either being low or high and not very much stability in between. I have a mess review with the psychiatrist next week and was thinking about asking to try Lithium. Has it worked for anyone?

I’m currently taking aripiprazole, duloxetine and lamotagrine but my moods don’t seem to be very well controlled.

Hi I started taking lithium 8 weeks ago and am very happy with the results I have tried every mood stabiliser and antipsychotic over the last 5 years to no avail I have bipolar 1. I was on lamotrigine for many years and didn’t see any results I also take quetiapine and since being on lithium have lowered it from 600 to 200. The first week I felt icky and quite sick but that has settled now I was also on aripiprazole and didn’t find it worked for me. Hope that helps and hope you start feeling better soon.

I have been on Lithium my entire adult life (I am now middle aged). For some sufferers of Bipolar 1 like it works very well. You have to have your blood tested every three months to make sure it is at a therapeutic level and they need to keep an eye on your thyroid function because it can cause long term damage.

I do still have episodes when I have to take antipsychotics to treat mania but I am very sure that without the lithium these would be far more frequent.

Just a heads up if you are trying to conceive Lithium can cause heart defects so you need to speak to your doctor before you start TTC. Also you can't breastfeed on it.

Yes I take lithium for bipolar. I've been on it for about 2 and half years now. As well as quetiapine and sertraline and honestly, lithium was a game changer. I'd been on lamotrigine and aripiprazole previously, but it didn't help hugely. I mean, it was ok, but lithium has made the biggest difference

NC’d for this (might be identifying if linked to my other posts) … Ive been diagnosed BP1 about 9 months after 20yrs of major recurrent depression & all sorts of meds. I’ve resisted lithium all year, fearful and thinking it was overkill for what I saw as just a bit of hellish rapid-cycling mania and suicidality. Anyhow, turns out I can’t cling onto my job, relationship, parenting etc without some proper meds other than lamotrigine & diazepam, so went for blood tests today in order to commence lithium this week.

Very heartening to hear the likes of @BippityBoppity87 and @DownToTheSeaAgain saying such positive things about lithium from their experience. Thank you for sharing your experiences & encouragement. It’s been a help to me (especially as I recently came of the BPUK e-comm so have no other people with bipolar to chat with about it all). Hopefully it’ll have been helpful to the OP as well.

Was wondering whether there’s a BP chat thread on here. I’m a long-time user of MN (11yrs) but only tend to see threads on the MH boards discussing things like anxiety/stress/depression/fear of SSRI’s etc, which I feel I can’t relate to at all as theyre a different kettle of fish to the experiences I’ve had for 20+ years and particularly the complexities of the mania / mixed eps / rapid cycling stuff that is currently wreaking havoc across my own life.

If there’s no existing chat threads to join, maybe I might be brave and set one up… if anyone would be interested in joining me perhaps?

I’d like to join a thread about living with bipolar if you set one up.

@Pinkandpurplehairedlady - that’s great.
I’ve never set a shared thread up before so am a bit nervous, but will get onto it. It’d be a good place to meet & chat and share wisdom/support.

I have a partner with bipolar I so would I be able to join as his main carer? Ha takes depakote and olanzipine and he's had 2 manias and a depressive episode within the last 10 months. He wasn't diagnosed until 30 which I think is quite rare.

It would really help me to know what support has helped all of you!

I started on lithium in June, so far I’ve had no manic/hypomanic episodes, but I still feel quite down and anxious. So I don’t know if maybe it’s just not the med for me or if I need something adding, I’m on risperidone too. Got a psych appointment on Thursday so will see what he says.

Hi @DonnieDark and @Whatayear2021 as well as @DownToTheSeaAgain @Hm2020 @BippityBoppity87 @Pinkandpurplehairedlady (hope I haven’t missed anyone?)

I set up a group thread as mooted, for anyone to discuss bipolar. I didn’t want to hijack your thread @Pinkandpurplehairedlady if people wanted to talk more generally.

Hope no one minds me setting it up. I’m rushing about at work right now but will check back later to see if anyone wants to use the thread.

Can you link the thread?

I’m currently not on anything as I’m pregnant but usually I’m on 1200mg of lithium and it was life changing! Made me a little nauseated sometimes and gave me the occasional twitch but that was it. It was so nice feeling normal after years of being so unstable!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/feeling_depressed/4366833-Living-with-Bipolar-Come-join-to-chat-ups-downs-and-everything-in-between

Hi everyone, I have BP2 and have had PND now for nearly 8 months. I’m deciding between Venlafaxine and Lithium as my next med. I’m already on Lamotrigine and it works to a degree but not when I’m in a deep depression. I tried Quetiapine but hated it.

The people I know on Lithium have Type 1, but I’ve read a number of studies suggesting it in fact works even better for Type 2.

Does anyone here take Lithium successfully for Type 2 and specifically has it worked for depressive episodes as well as to keep you stable between episodes?

Thank you so much.