Posted by JohnL on September 20, 1999, at 3:31:28
In reply to Grounds for Lithi-gation?, posted by Rick on September 19, 1999, at 18:10:52
I think the blood tests are mainly to check organ functions, like thyroid and liver. Lithium makes kidneys work overtime. The EKG is important at high doses. My psychiatrist did not indicate the need to do a blood test for augmentation in the 600-900mg range, though I voluntarily did one anyway. It's not a bad idea to check liver, thryoid, and blood counts once or twice a year when taking any of these meds we take. Also, even though psychiatrists are specialists, I don't think they can keep up with every single detail of different combos. For example, I recently tried Lithium. Even at just 300mg it was bad stuff. I forgot where I saw it, but I read something just the other day that said Lamictal + Lithium is a bad combo. Well, I'm on Lamictal. Maybe that explains it. So if I'm going to go back to Lithium, I need to first ween off the Lamictal. My psychiatrist wasn't aware of this though, and I wonder how many are. I had to do a lot of research to stumble onto it.
Back to the blood test though, I don't know if it is standard practice to give a blood test at low augmentation doses, but I wouldn't think it is vitally important. It becomes crucial at high doses. I'm no expert on Lithium, but that is the extend of my knowledge at this time. There are some Lithium vets here who can probably provide better answers.
poster:JohnL
thread:11784
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990914/msgs/11800.html