Posted by Noa on April 20, 2000, at 14:21:10
In reply to Re: I'm back from exile, posted by kate on April 20, 2000, at 13:52:03
Hi, Kate,
I actually stopped taking the lithium very recently. I started in mid December, and after a week or two, did begin to notice gradual improvement in my mood until mid February, when I started to feel worse, with lots of fatigue, total lack of strength and energy, and worsening depression. It turns out the lithum was making my hypothryoid worse. At first, we tried just increasing my thyroid meds, and even increased the lithium, because my level reading was low. But I just had a long month of struggling with the lack of energy and feeling totally demoralized. During that time, I accomplished very little at work. So, I decided I did not want to continue the lithium, because of the thryoid problems and because of the side effects I experienced. The main problem was having to urinate all the time, I mean ALL THE TIME. I also think that either the lithium or the effexor, or the combination of both, also caused me to have other urinary problems, the main one being incontinence. The urge to go came on really suddenly with no warning and no time to spare, because I would also have difficulty holding it in. Needless to say, this started to be quite upsetting. Since being off the lithium, after a few days I noticed having to go less frequently, and tho I occasionally still have the urgency and difficulty holding it in, this is happening much less frequently, both overall, and in relation to how often I currently need to go. Along with the frequency effect, I was also incredibly thirsty all the time. I would drink at least one gallon of water a day. Often more. And I craved juicy drinks. I just cleaned out my car and threw about 100 glass bottles from all kinds of juice drinks, into the recycling bin. Drinking water and juice and iced tea and cocacola became a passion while I was on lithium. I would have fantasies about what I would buy to drink, while being fairly detached about what I ate. I was obsessed with it. I drank things I never look twice at before--coke, gatorade, etc. I couldn't get enough. The drinking thing wouldn't have bothered me much by itself. The urinary thing did, obviously. And the thryoid thing made my mind up.
I hope you have better luck. A lot of people do.
poster:Noa
thread:30722
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000420/msgs/30726.html