Posted by sac on May 1, 2006, at 5:51:27
In reply to Lithium - initial effects, posted by chiron on April 30, 2006, at 12:05:55
Yes, I can say from my own experience from starting lithium 2 years ago (after failed trials on Lamictal, Depakote, etc.) that initially I felt more restless/agitated and had to call my pdoc several times. He told me to hang in there and take my Serax in the meantime and give it a good week or two for the calming mechanism to kick in. I have to admit...after about a week this initial feeling of speediness went away ( I suppose that's why they often add a temporary antipsychotic when treating a severe manic episode for a few weeks until the lithium kicks in). From my experience, I did much better on the extended release version of lithium (used to be Eskalith CR but I can;t find that anymore so now I'm trying Lithobid)I've taken between 450 - 600 mgs /day to manage hypomania/depression. I've had the most success with lithium. Good luck to you.
> dx: chronic major depression w/ atypical bipolar
> my new dr added lithium to my current regime (zoloft & wellbutrin). i took 600mg for a few days, and then 900mg last night. is it possible that it can cause some initial anxiety/agitation stuff? does it go away?
>
poster:sac
thread:638382
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060429/msgs/638688.html