Posted by raisinb on January 29, 2012, at 11:50:03
In reply to Re: Lithium's Safety Evaluated Safer Than Thought » raisinb, posted by SLS on January 29, 2012, at 6:51:06
I was hospitalized in the fall, and both the pdocs there and my regular pdoc thought Lithium should be my drug of choice. I guess it's the reducing suicidality piece.
I had bad cystic acne I couldn't get rid of, despite all the topical, antibiotic, and natural remedies I tried. I even had some accutane from sources I won't mention, and that only helped a bit.
I also had severe constipation. Again, no mild remedies helped; despite water, exercise, fiber, and stool softeners, I had to take stimulant laxatives a few times a week. Not to provide TMI, but safe to say, that's no way to live!
I also had the cognitive effects I mentioned above. Felt like my brain was encased in cement.
It stabilized my moods, but did it to the point of anhedonia. I just felt nothing all the time.
I gave it three months; I don't know if that's an adequate trial, but I got fed up. The blood level was .8, which was not too high. The pdoc was strongly against me ditching it, but agreed to put me on Trileptal. It seems to be going okay, but not ideal. When I get severely stressed, I need to attack my moods with extra therapy, hard exercise, and total social withdrawal. I guess I'd rather spend several days in my apartment playing video games than deal with Lithium.
poster:raisinb
thread:1008213
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120120/msgs/1008732.html