Posted by BarbaraCat on March 18, 2003, at 23:51:46
In reply to Re: Sorry to ask again but need answers about Lithium » zeliva, posted by Ritch on March 18, 2003, at 23:04:40
Be real careful with calcium channel blockers. They can exacerbate mood disorders. No one knows for sure how mood stabilizers work, but one theory has to do with regulating calcium channels effect on neural electrical potentials. It could be that taking verapamil, propanolol, etc. counteracts the action of lithium, which would by definition reduce the side effects, but cancel out the effectiveness. Just a thought.
> Jill, the single most troublesome side-effect I got from lithium when I was on it was IBS-related diarrhea. I took sub-therapeutic doses (300mg/day) to try to keep it manageable when higher doses of lithium worked much better mood-wise (450-600mg/day was my *spot*). Just an FYI, but I was reading on one of the grand rounds slides here that the calcium-channel blocker verapamil is sometimes used to counter lithium-induced diarrhea. You might mention this to your pdoc. I wished I would have known about this strategy 20 years ago!
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:208633
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030314/msgs/210571.html