Posted by barbaracat on March 22, 2005, at 12:31:01
In reply to Re: Dysphoric Mania » ed_uk, posted by CareBear04 on March 22, 2005, at 11:45:59
Hey, I'm with you CareBear. A handful on this board have reported the same thing with 450mg working just fine. You mentioned your body being able to better metabolize Li. Are you doing anything in particular to bring this about?
I have to think that all this rampant polypharmacy at high doses is confusing the living heck out of our livers and the enzymes needed to break the meds down. One thing I appreciate about Lithium is that it bypasses liver metabolism and is excreted directly in the kidneys - but huge doses put a huge burden on the kidneys and that ain't right. I've opted for less is better in all my meds and haven't suffered any bad consequences. In fact, I've noticed that just a sliver of a benzo will sometimes affect me stronger than the whole pill.
> it's funny, ed, because i used to think i only responded to high doses of lithium. looking back, 1800mg of lithium is an awful lot for a girl of 100 pounds. right now, i'm on a teeny dose of 450mg, and i feel fine. part of the change has to do with my body's ability to metabolize lithium-- 450mg now brings a much higher level than it used to. but more than that, i think it's just impossible to isolate what the lithium is doing when one takes a cocktail of drugs. i thought it was the lithium keeping me afloat when i was at a high dose, but who knows, maybe it was something altogether different? but overall, the less lithium the better. taking it always makes me remember why i hate it.
poster:barbaracat
thread:461961
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050322/msgs/474001.html