Posted by Christ_empowered on January 29, 2012, at 21:40:07
In reply to Re: Can zyprexa + lithium cocktail stop working?, posted by stewie on January 29, 2012, at 12:56:19
Wow. Lithium+Haldol. That's...risky. Glad it worked, though.
Anyway, sometimes you have to up the antipsychotic dose. I don't know much about what's going on there--some changes in brain structure from long-term neuroleptic exposure, I dunno--but its not uncommon to see someone start on, say, 5mgs zyprexa in year 1 and end up on 20 in year 6. It happens.
Lithium can stop working, but I seem to recall reading that its not so prone to "poop out." Then again, compliance is low, especially over the long haul (your brother is one of relatively few patients who take it without fail, every day, for years) and episodes after stopping lithium can be more severe than episodes before lithium treatment. This is also true of antipsychotics--drop an antipsychotic suddenly, and you can have INTENSE freak outs, the likes of which didn't happen before the neuroleptic.
Lithium, from what I've read, can also be kind of hard to reinstate. If someone is one it, it works, then they drop it for whatever reason, there's no guarantee that the lithium will work as well (or at all) in round 2.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:1008693
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120120/msgs/1008784.html