Posted by BarbaraCat on March 27, 2002, at 14:24:00
In reply to Re: Should I increase my lithium? » Geezer, posted by Ritch on March 27, 2002, at 13:57:27
Ah, Mitch, my man. Just the post I wanted to see. I just sent off a question to Geezer which you might have read, but I'm interested in info about subtherapeutic levels of lithium and BPII. My level is .5 and it seems to be doing the trick with the Remeron. My pdoc wants me to push it up but I sure don't want to fix anything that ain't broke. I'd much prefer not to deal with the tremors and renal problems from a higher dose. Any of your thoughts on this would be appreciated. - BCat
From what I have read over the years about lithium levels .5-1.5 mEQ is used for "short-term acute control" with .6-1.2 mEQ used for "maintenance". There have been some studies showing that maintenance blood levels all the way down to .3 mEQ are effective for some folks. Usually a min. of .45 is a target. FWIW, I found the "subtherapeutic" blood levels to be "therapeutic" for BPII symptoms.
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> Mitch
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:99855
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020327/msgs/100585.html