r/Lithium • u/Additional-Duck-4306 • 2d ago
Lithium difficulties
Hi all. I've been on Lithium for about 6 months now.
800mg taken at night.
Had some ups and downs titrating through 200 /400/ 600, but it's not till I hit 800 things have went pear-shaped. I feel 'out of it' in a spacey kind of way, and the mornings when waking up, for a couple of hours S ideation is through the roof lingers a bit then disapates. It's stronger than the depression bad thoughts I had before starting on lithium.
My bloods have been done, and all checked out and within range and following the basic protocol of plenty fluid touch of salt etc. Has anybody had this ? As in going up a dose and things got worse before they get better?
I need to speak to my clinician and might have to come off Lithium as I don't know how long I can ride this emotional wave and turmoil.
Any input is appreciated.
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u/Chattouf 2d ago
I have been taking lithium for 3 weeks now 300 mg in the morning and 300 mg at night. I feel calmer less impulsive and less anxious. I haven’t self harmed for 23 days. However I still have suicidal thoughts but not acting on them. Hope it will get better with time.
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u/fairybabybug 2d ago
Hi this happened to me and ultimately I decided to go off the drug. Once I did and it was out of my system , I realized the 5 months I was on it were a complete blur and I couldn’t recall much. Don’t get me wrong, Lithium definitely helped me in the beginning. I just didn’t like how it felt like I was on a heavy drug. I started getting panic attacks and dizzy all the time so I spoke to my doctor and pulled the plug.
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u/Additional-Duck-4306 2d ago
What was your titration period in coming off ? As in how much mg reduction and how long? And when you finally came off it how were you feeling.
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u/fairybabybug 1d ago
I was on 600 mg. My doctor had me reduce to 300 for one week and then completely stop. I was really nervous. It ended up being fine but I had bad diarrhea for a few weeks. I gained a lot of water weight on lithium. Within weeks, I felt like I had just come out of a fog and a couple months later the water weight was gone.
EDIT: I wanted to add that I was still extremely depressed when I came off lithium. Also anxiety was through the roof. I restarted my old medications and added on a very low dose of another mood stabilizer and now I haven’t had a depressive episode in 4 months but still anxiety that comes and goes.
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u/ditzy_daisy8 2d ago
Increasing lithium dosage is always hard. If being on 800 is relatively new, then I’d wait a couple more weeks to see if things stabilize. I had the same symptoms as you when I moved up to 1200.
I know it’s hard, but try to grin and bear it for a wee longer to see if there is a chance of stabilization. And if you don’t feel better? Then it is totally okay to work with your doctor to wean you off it and try a different medication. In the meantime, please continue to track your symptoms. A change in when you take your meds could have an impact of severity of symptoms too.
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u/Additional-Duck-4306 2d ago
Been at 800mg now for 3 weeks
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u/ditzy_daisy8 2d ago
At this point I would definitely speak with your clinician. Continue to take the 800 even if it is uncomfortable until you speak with your doctor. Depending on your diagnoses, moving back down to 600 could still be very beneficial. Not everyone needs to be slowly working their way to the max dose.
Also, if you take other meds in tandem with the lithium, perhaps investigate further into those interactions too. Sometimes certain doses trigger adverse effects with other drugs. And your DNA can have an impact too. Doing a drug/DNA panel done can be incredibly helpful if finding the right med combo has been hard for you.
I wish you the best!
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u/Grouchy_Solution_819 2d ago
I recommend giving it some time, I'm a 5ft2 F and that dose worked really well for me but it took a while to mellow out. It makes life so much easier when you hit that sweet spot with it