Posted by BarbaraCat on August 27, 2003, at 18:25:53
In reply to basket-case in a wave-pool, posted by fluffy on August 27, 2003, at 12:26:35
Good luck with lithium, Katy!!! I hope and pray it works for you as well as for me. It may take 2-3 weeks, but for me, I noticed a diff in 3 days. A note on the tremors. I got them very mildly at first on lithium and then they subsided. When I started nortriptyline, they REALLY came on like gangbusters. I couldn't even put in my contact lenses and my handwriting went to hell in a 'hand basket' (there's that basket thing again). The tremors subsided somewhat but it was only after stopping the nortriptyline that they went away completely. I was concerned at first that it was the lithium and that I'd have to reconsider taking it, because my fine motor skills were shot to hell (in a hand-basket), but I'm relieved that it wasn't the fault of lithium. I got some frequent peeing spells at first and some other annoying side effects that I can't remember. I think I felt nauseous at first, so I take it with or after a meal. Oh yeah, my hair felt weird at first, wouldn't hold haircoloring, and got very curly which it never was before! I'm now back to thick and wavy and normal. How strange! I kinda liked the curly! I also use extra sea salt as recommended because it gets excreted with increased urine and salt also benefits lithium's nerve conduction.
I'd encourage you to play around with subtherapeutic doses if you can. My pdoc subscribed 900mg for me, but I found it to be too much and too zombie-like, even though I was in the low end of the therapeutic window. I think lithium acts as a synergistic potentiator with other meds so the party line on dosing may not be accurate when you're taking something like lamictal. Again, good luck, Fluffsters! - Barbara
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:9730
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030823/msgs/254822.html