Posted by SLS on July 19, 2005, at 9:19:30
In reply to Lithium experience - Scott?, posted by rod on July 19, 2005, at 4:43:47
> HiHo Scott
HiHo Roland.
Do you think that you are bipolar?
> So, I have tried Depakote for some days. After an initial positive response at 150mg I experienced some bad side effects on cognition. and 300mg gave me the worst sutpor I ever had.
Hmm. I don't think I've ever heard of such a reaction to such a low dosage. If there is one thing these drugs have taught us is that there is great variability in the brains of individuals who present with the same illness.
> Ok, now I am giving those Li ions a chance...
No more Depakote?
> I have taken 225mg Lithium Carbonate. And well, I like it. its calming and distressing, makes me think more clearly.. and has some antidepressant effect. But I fear its just some kind of temporary improvement.
It is interesting how quickly lithium can produce an antidepressant effect. It can happen within the first three days, especially when an antidepressant is already on board. Psychiatry has had much experience combining lithium and tricyclics. Unfortunately, much of that experience has disappeared through attrition of practitioners. I get the impression that when lithium begins to work in such a situation, it tends to continue working. I wish there were guarantees, but the choice of lithium was a smart one.
> Scott, my question, you get a temporary relief on Lithium?Not really. In fact, it makes me feel worse. Actually, I'm pretty angry with lithium. It abolished my ultra rapid cycle. My cycle had a consistent period of 11 days: 8 days down and 3 days up. Switches in mood state occurred over the course of 30-45 minutes. It was very abrupt. Now, I never see euthymia. At least I could count on 3 days to accomplish things prior to taking lithium. Once, lithium gave me a few days of mild relief when it was added blindly while I was a research patient. I was continued on lithium 600mg for over 9 months. If my thyroid levels were affected, I would have been treated for it. It never became an issue.
Did you check your thyroid when you got worse? It has some antithyroid properties. (and it also activates the HPA axis, anyway). T4 (lithium, bipolar) augmentation provides better results than T3 augmentation (unipolar).
This has been my contention for over 10 years. T3 made me much, much worse. I am so glad that you reaffirmed my suspicions. I found T4 to be helpful. I have approached my current pdoc to consider adding it. He was not too interested in it.
> To be on the safe side, I will have my thyroid checked. I will see my doc in ~3 weeks. I hope nothing goes wrong in the meanwhile. (You might ask yourself who on earth prescribes you it without making any blood test :-P .. well its possible where I live.... ehehehe refills for free :-D .. nuff said (it wont be possible anymore when they introduce the chip card system, which is soon to happen)).
>
> I will stay at 225mg in the meanwhile.I hope it works it works for you, Roland. In the meantime, just know that the low-dosage strategy of lithium augmentation to antidepressants is usually stated to use dosages between 300-600mg, so you have quite a bit of room left. 225 is a nice number too. :-)
> I am thinking about dropping Lyrica, because Li has a similar effect to me.
Interesting. I have placed Lyrica on my list of things to try in the near future. Can you describe what your experience with it was?
> I hope Li does the trick on the long term for me...
That would be hugely convenient, wouldn't it?
:-)
I hope so too.
Good luck and be well.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:530034
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050718/msgs/530053.html