Posted by Noa on March 27, 2000, at 7:00:07
In reply to Re: Tapering off Lithium - Longish, posted by Scott L. Schofield on March 26, 2000, at 19:58:07
Scott, thank you for your concern.
I have what probably is best described as "double depression". I have been taking more and more medication over the years, and after another episode in November, my pdoc recommended lithium as an augmentation strategy. I started it in December, began to notice gradual improvement over six weeks, and then a sudden worsening of my depression, with physical symptoms of fatigue and slowness. My pdoc adjusted my thyroid medication, with the idea that the lithium made me more hypothyroid. Since then, it has been frustrating. I feel a bit better for a few days, then worse. Overall, my energy level is terrible, my mind feels like it is filled with fuzzballs, and I feel demoralized. On top of that, the lithium causes me to have to urinate extremely frequently, and to be voraciously thirsty all the time. Between the lithium and the effexor, my bladder control is inconsistent, which is annoying and embarrassing. If I felt the lithium were making me feel better, perhaps I would tolerate the urinary problems, but it is not making me feel better. I feel tired, listless, unmotivated, exhausted, uncoordinated, disorganized, mentally slow, and demoralized. One thing the lithium has done for me is to get me to think more directly about the hypothyroidism and to sort that out from the other depressive issues. And I feel strongly that for me, it is counterproductive to stay on lithium and have to constantly deal with the push and pull of lithium vs. thyroid meds.
Finally, Scott, although my pdoc conceptualizes my depressive disorder as a bipolar depression (a la Akiskal's bipolar III), I have never had any manic or hypomanic symptoms. The closest I can say I have come to hypomania is to have had moods that for me, in comparison with my depression, were ultramicrominihypomanic. Certainly not sufficient for the diagnostic criteria.
So, I haven't taken lithium for long, it hasn't shown itself to be that helpful for my depression, it seems to worsen some aspects of my depression associated with hypothyroid, and the side effects are, to say the least, bothersome.
poster:Noa
thread:28042
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000321/msgs/28221.html