Posted by Ritch on June 16, 2002, at 15:37:54
In reply to How does alcohol affect Lithium treatment?, posted by JohnX2 on June 16, 2002, at 8:34:53
>
> How does alcohol affect Lithium treatment?Good question. Lithium affects the balance of your other electrolytes such as sodium, calcium, and potassium due to ion competition. Alcohol can cause dehydration. If you get dehydrated your lithium level should shoot up, perhaps to toxic levels if your lithium level is already fairy high. Theoretically, that could cause some kind of neurotoxicity. From what I vaguely remember..my pdoc was telling me that "hangovers" were actually more dangerous than being drunk while on lithium, I think because of the dehydration/ion competition. I remember some alcohol experiences when on lithium back in the 80's, and hangovers did seem pretty nasty. I remember getting a lot of leg muscle cramps, anyway.
hope this helps,
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:110028
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020609/msgs/110066.html