Posted by Janelle on July 21, 2003, at 16:28:21
I'm on 600 mg of Lithium Carbonate a day, which is the highest dose I can tolerate (well blood level wise) and I was talking all 600 mg at night. Then the next day I had bad tremors to the point where I could barely write, and I have nice handwriting! :-)
I asked my pdoc if it's possible to have s/e like the tremors without being in the *toxic* range on a blood test, and she said yes, it sure is possible.
My sister suggested that I ask my pdoc about splitting the dose into 300 mg in the am and 300 mg in the pm. So I did, and pdoc's immediate response was that this might make the tremors worse (I should have asked why, but didn't). But she encouraged me to "experiment" and try it for a week or two.
So far, results are MIXED! Some days, daytime tremors are bad and others they aren't. What I have noticed is that I feel more *mellow* and patient on the split dose (can a mere 300 mg in the am really have such an effect?).
Then at night when I take the other 300 mg I now have difficult falling asleep (I had less difficulty when I took the 600mg at night - I'm on a bunch of other meds as well)
Does anyone here know which is more effective/recommended for taking Lithium Carbonate - should a person divide the dose or take it all at once?
poster:Janelle
thread:244002
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030718/msgs/244002.html