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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by francineus on April 16, 2008, at 14:48:03
My pdoc lowered my lithium levels a few days ago and I have been having the worst GI nausea. ANy reason to believe that lowering the dose can cause GI distress. Which mood stabilizers (besides lamictil) are easy to take.
Posted by CareBear04 on April 17, 2008, at 16:50:57
In reply to Lithium and GI upset, posted by francineus on April 16, 2008, at 14:48:03
hi-- what formulation of lithium do you take? i prefer eskalith CR or lithobid, the extended release forms. with the regular release, i've had GI upset both when going up and going down on the dose.
as far as other mood stabilizers, i haven't had much luck with the anticonvulsants as primary meds. i'm not sure any of them are really "easy" to take, at least not the really potent ones. depakote made me off-balance and dizzy, and after seeing my friend's sister gain 30 pounds in 3 weeks, i was terrified of gaining that kind of weight. trileptal made me feel completely dead and out of touch with reality. the others-- neurontin and topomax-- weren't unpleasant, but i couldn't feel them working at all in terms of either mood or anxiety. i do like lamictal and don't have bad side effects from it, but it takes a really long time to titrate up to an effective dose.
then there are the atypical antipsychotics. i didn't find abilify to do much, either good or bad, for me. zyprexa was effective, but i thought the side effects made it generally not worth the benefits. seroquel helps me sleep, but i don't think it stabilizes my mood or anxiety at all. and geodon was really good and preventing my mood from getting too high, but not so much at keeping me from getting depressed. and i also had really bad akathisia from geodon.
hope this helps,
cb
Posted by francineus on April 17, 2008, at 18:37:38
In reply to Re: Lithium and GI upset » francineus, posted by CareBear04 on April 17, 2008, at 16:50:57
Great points! thank you!
This is the end of the thread.
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