Posted by SLS on January 22, 2004, at 7:11:22
In reply to Re: Lithium is making me feel WORSE! » SLS, posted by jay on January 21, 2004, at 20:10:51
I suffer a severe and chronic depression that has lasted for over 25 years with only one 9-month period of relief. I was diagnosed as bipolar NOS because medication has triggered serious manias on three occasions (a syndrome that was planned to be named bipolar 3 in the DSM 5). The major symptoms are anergia, anhedonia, psychomotor retardation, impaired concentration and memory, and slowing of cognition in general.
I skipped taking lithium on Tuesday. I need to be at my best on Friday because I have to help move my grandmother from a rehab center to her home. Since my head seemed clear enough after 24 hours after skipping the dose, I decided that I could try it for at least one more day and see if the worsening of depression recurred. After taking 300mg last night, I have yet to feel a negative effect today. Of course the day is still young at 8:00am.
The thing that gives me some hope is that I experienced a significant antidepressant effect from lithium the day after my first dose. This happened to me once before with me. On that occasion, I was unable to recapture the effect despite increasing the dosage and continuing to take it for over 6 months. It definitely made me feel moderately worse at dosages of 600-1200mg. If it is going to work as an augmentor, it should work at dosages of 300-600mg. I was hoping to avoid the negative effects in this range.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:303825
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040122/msgs/304063.html