Posted by SLS on October 13, 2000, at 12:42:29
In reply to Augmenting Effexor XR with Lithium, posted by Christina on October 13, 2000, at 10:09:33
> My pdoc recently prescribed 300 mg of Lithium to augment the Effexor (I have a family history of bipolar, but have not experienced much manic activity). I don't want to start this until I receive from feedback from others who have tried this approach.
> Please... any comments (negative or positive) will be greatly appreciated.
> thanks
Hi Christina.It is almost always worth trying lithium to act as a "helper" drug to an antidepressant, for both bipolar and unipolar depression. It has been observed for at least twenty years that adding lithium to antidepressants can work when the antidepressant by itself won't.
For depression - not mania - a strategy most often used is to add low-dosages of lithium. The range that I have seen studied is from 300-600mg - dosages generally too low to act as a true anti-manic mood stabilizer. Many people don't experience any side effects at such low dosages. So, it looks like your doctor has chosen a well-documented approach to treating you.
Hope it works for you.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:46274
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20001012/msgs/46281.html