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| *Women health>>>Bipolar Disorder |
What are the short term and long term effects of taking the drug Lithium for Bipolar Disorder? |
What are the short term and long term effects of taking the drug Lithium for Bipolar Disorder? I only took lithium for 3 weeks, as in that time, i gained about 30 pounds, with no changes in diet and excercise. I was lethargic, forgetful, and felt just S-L-O-W mentally and physically. I HATED it. Depakote did about the same thing to me. Recently, I began taking Lamictal. It's been about a month and a half, and so far, it seems great. It seems to mellow me out without removing my naturally "spunky" personality, like all the rest have. I am using it in conjunction with Zoloft and welbutrin, which I have been taking for a couple years now. The three together are pretty good, so far, and I am REALLY picky about what my meds do to me. Most of them I feel seem to just "remove" my natural personality, if you know what I mean. ;) hope this was a little useful, and good luck! Personally the only thing I know about lithium is that it needs to leave your system easily through your kidneys or you can quickly become toxic from it. The site below may offer more of a professional type thought though. Good luck http://mayoclinic.com/health/drug-inform... as a nurse i can say just what i know about it: as long as you take it as prescribed it works, dont stop taking it cold turkey it can kill you, you have to be moniterd closly with this RX. the olny side effect is water retention. please use caution and let your doc know if you have problems with it. I was on lithium for a couple of years. Some of the side effects for me were constant dry mouth. I was constantly going to the bathroom and drinking lots of water. But as the dosage that my Dr. put me on got higher I began to go toxic. That for me, was extremely high fevers, hot/cold flashes, night sweats.....if they hadn't taken me off of it when they did, I wouldn't be here. If you're looking into something safer.....ask your Dr. about Lamictal. It has done a better job on me than Lithium and has not really had any side effects on me. Trouble is bi-polar disorder is a blanket term for various degrees of said disorder, and infact oft times drugs like lithium merely mask the issues though being infact helpful is not a cure. Therefore, individual response will vary. Having dealt with many different people with the disorder and taking said medication. |
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