Posted by blueboy on July 3, 2008, at 13:54:39
In reply to Re: Long term lithium, posted by BPPsychFellow on July 2, 2008, at 21:40:57
> We have years and years of experience using lithium. Doctors, particularly in bipolar disorder, know that a certain blood level is needed in order for the treatment to be most effective--both in the short and long term. Having said that, low-dose lithium can also be a great medication. Its often used to help with unipolar depression when standard medicines need a little "boost."
>
> At low doses there are often only very mild (or NO) side effects. There are a lot of people out there who have taken lithium, every day, for years--even decades. Patty Duke, an award winning actress has taken lithium since the 1980's.
>Thanks for the post. My pdoc mentioned lithium and I quietly freaked out. But your post got me thinking. If my Lamictal (for BP II) doesn't do the trick for hypomania, I may talk to him about the possibility of low dosage lithium to control hypomania.
BTW, the only thing that has worked for me, to date, is a high dose of clonazepam (3mg is best), and since I have addiction problems I have to limit it rather strictly. At least I have something available to stop those nasty mixed-state episodes.
poster:blueboy
thread:837754
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080626/msgs/837848.html