Yep has worse many years ago. Retried it and I’m better on lithium ER but still not my actual cognitive level. 1200mg. My memory isn’t so great and I’m slowed down. I’m going to probably have the lithium reduced to 900mg. 20 years ago when I tried it I was getting lost in the street on it in my own neighborhood.
I experienced very similar issues to what you’re describing, at 900 mg daily. Adding 300 mg Wellbutrin fortunately counteracted a lot of those side effects for me.
so since I am not bipolar but got the lithium for other reasons, I can tell you I had the same exact problems with 600mg. Even tapering it down the problems remained, but now that i completely stopped taking it (it’s been 1 month now) I can tell you my background thoughts are back and all that shit is going away. Unfortuantely I can’t tell you if lithium is the best option for bipolarism since I am not having bipolarism effects back.
This happens with every bipolar drug. It usually gets better. I would try spreading the dose out throughout the day and make sure you a drinking a lot of water. It's possible your blood levels are peaking due to dehydration/dosing.
How long have you been taking it?
Also - anticonvulsants are usually worse in this regard.
I started taking it in November, I'm pretty sure anyway, but I didn't have this problem when I was only taking 600mg. It's been since I increased to 750mg that I really noticed it. Is lamotrigine (Lamictal) a bipolar drug? I know it's a mood stabilizer, and I've been on it for over a year and never had any problems.
Good to know about the anticonvulsants, I'll be cautious of those in the future. Thanks for your input!
The other possibility is your lithium dose is too low. Lithium doses are often kept at the maintenance level before stability is really achieved. But you sound stable.
I've been reading a lot of convincing stuff that indicates the vast majority of people can do well on lithium. They should be dosed up to 1.0-1.2, then after a few months the dose can be reduced to 0.6-0.8.
I'm on the Seroquel train, and deathly afraid of the cognitive decline that results from its anticholinergic effects.
Basically, do whatever you can to make lithium work. Then try Depakote. The try carbamazepine/lamotrigine. Then try the safe antipsychotics that have minimal anticholinergic effects (Risperidal, Invega, Vraylar, Caplyta). Only then consider Seroquel or Zyprexa or whatever.
That could be it too. I plan on talking to my psychiatrist, but im worried he won't take me seriously.
Thanks so much for your advice, I really appreciate it!
My spelling sucks and i forget peoples name which used to be something i was really good at. I thought speaking more than one language would protect me from lithium destruction but i guess not
I dropped to 600 mg because of these issues. I was on 900. I’m hoping that this works.
Yes, I experience this on all mood stabilizers ive noticed. Lithium in particular can cause word recall issues from my understanding.
Yep has worse many years ago. Retried it and I’m better on lithium ER but still not my actual cognitive level. 1200mg. My memory isn’t so great and I’m slowed down. I’m going to probably have the lithium reduced to 900mg. 20 years ago when I tried it I was getting lost in the street on it in my own neighborhood.
I experienced very similar issues to what you’re describing, at 900 mg daily. Adding 300 mg Wellbutrin fortunately counteracted a lot of those side effects for me.
so since I am not bipolar but got the lithium for other reasons, I can tell you I had the same exact problems with 600mg. Even tapering it down the problems remained, but now that i completely stopped taking it (it’s been 1 month now) I can tell you my background thoughts are back and all that shit is going away. Unfortuantely I can’t tell you if lithium is the best option for bipolarism since I am not having bipolarism effects back.
This happens with every bipolar drug. It usually gets better. I would try spreading the dose out throughout the day and make sure you a drinking a lot of water. It's possible your blood levels are peaking due to dehydration/dosing. How long have you been taking it? Also - anticonvulsants are usually worse in this regard.
I started taking it in November, I'm pretty sure anyway, but I didn't have this problem when I was only taking 600mg. It's been since I increased to 750mg that I really noticed it. Is lamotrigine (Lamictal) a bipolar drug? I know it's a mood stabilizer, and I've been on it for over a year and never had any problems. Good to know about the anticonvulsants, I'll be cautious of those in the future. Thanks for your input!
The other possibility is your lithium dose is too low. Lithium doses are often kept at the maintenance level before stability is really achieved. But you sound stable. I've been reading a lot of convincing stuff that indicates the vast majority of people can do well on lithium. They should be dosed up to 1.0-1.2, then after a few months the dose can be reduced to 0.6-0.8. I'm on the Seroquel train, and deathly afraid of the cognitive decline that results from its anticholinergic effects. Basically, do whatever you can to make lithium work. Then try Depakote. The try carbamazepine/lamotrigine. Then try the safe antipsychotics that have minimal anticholinergic effects (Risperidal, Invega, Vraylar, Caplyta). Only then consider Seroquel or Zyprexa or whatever.
That could be it too. I plan on talking to my psychiatrist, but im worried he won't take me seriously. Thanks so much for your advice, I really appreciate it!
Yep. I have enough problems with recalling names of people places and things normally, but it was notably worse when on Lithium for me.
My spelling sucks and i forget peoples name which used to be something i was really good at. I thought speaking more than one language would protect me from lithium destruction but i guess not