Posted by psyclist on November 10, 2008, at 9:17:27
In reply to Lithium make you feel stoned/depersonalized?, posted by qbsbrown on November 9, 2008, at 12:19:10
> I'm BPII, and don't tolerate anticonvulsants or antipsychotics very well.
>
> At 600mg of lithium, it helps a little bit, and I feel fine. But there is only a trace of it in my blood. Doc wants to get up to therapeutic level. When I raise to 900mgs, I feel very depersonalized and stoned. Does this go away? I have this reaction (derealization), to many or most meds, must be a defense mechanism.
>
> a)might this go away
> b) is lithium effective for BP II and racing thoughts?
> c) is it ok to take lexapro with Lithium
>
> Thank you all.
>
> BrianYep I am bipolar too but I've never bothered about the numeral. The obvious answer/comment is what happens with 800mg of Lithium? I take 900mg and can readily associate with your feelings of being stoned. Maybe I have been stoned for the past 30 years. Shudder!!! But maybe 800mg will be the happy medium between getting onto a therapeutic blood serum level and avoiding the feeling of being stoned. I always associated the feeling with anhedonism but on reflection I think your 'stoned' fits the feeling better.
So my answers to your questions are as follows:
a) Avoid too much Lithium. I myself feel stoned on 900mg but only moderately stoned.
b) Subdivisions of Bipolar Disorder are not my speciality. Lithium does help for racing thoughts. The secret I believe is not taking too much of the stuff. If your pills don't equate to a lesser dose get hold of a pill-cutter and cut the bastards down to size. It seems to me that your pills are 300mg each. Great. Take two and cut one in half making a total of 750mg. Thats a happy medium between keeping the racing thoughts at bay and avoiding the feeling of being stoned.
c) Sorry I don't know about lexapro. Does it have another name? Like you I do not tolerate anti-psychotics. They make my brain feel numb.
Good luck Brian. I hope someone else fills in the bits that I have left out.
poster:psyclist
thread:861762
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20081106/msgs/862021.html