Posted by Barbara Cat on May 3, 2003, at 11:10:28
In reply to Withdrawel Symptoms » McPac, posted by for2itous on May 2, 2003, at 20:34:13
Is it lithium withdrawal or just old symptoms, good question. I've done a web search and all 'experts' in the field claim there are no withdrawal symptoms from stopping lithium, but most people had a return of old symptoms, mainly mania. I think that's true for me - I noticed I was going into a house cleaning frenzy at all hours of the night. A worthy mania, but unfortunately my presence of mind quickly evaporates and I'm left with a fretful misery with all sorts of loose ends that I can't manage anymore. That frazzled disjointed anxious depression is an old feeling for sure and one that I tried to heal with SSRIs, unsuccessfully. They'd all fizzle out eventually. Only with lithium have I stabilized. It's been almost 16 months now and this is the longest that I've been stable, even letting myself hope that I can eventually have a life. Oh, the vanilla lethargic sort of depression comes every now and then but it's usually due to being burnt out or something I can ascribe it to. I haven't had the spooky horror show type since starting lithium.
Being without it for almost two weeks, I could see how the discordant anxiety could easily turn into dread and bleakness, mainly because I just don't think straight without lithium and things spiral out of control. Thanks for cheering me on during this. You folks are so great. Oh, BTW some of you might have seen the thread where I was experimenting with lithium orotate. I threw in the towel after 3 days without seeing any improvement and went back to good old lithium carbonate. - BarbaraKitty (I like that!)
poster:Barbara Cat
thread:223357
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030429/msgs/224048.html