Can Lithium and/or Abilify cause incontinence, stuffiness and excessive drooling?

My son was released from a psych hospital in the beginning of March. Since then he has been very stuffy. His nose is full of nasty bloody boogers... sorry to be so graphic but they seem stuck in there even with trying a saline nasal spray. Also he has been incontinent of urine in the daytime atleast 2-3 x a day sometimes more. He also has fecal incontinence atleast every other day, but often each day during the daytime as well. He is still young and never developed the ability to stay dry at night, but these are new symptoms for daytime. He does not seem to know he has to go until his pants get messy or drenched. He has been drooling alot as well. It seeps out the corner of his mouth without him realizing it. I was wondering if these are med related? I was wondering if I should call his pediatrician or his psychiatrist? When he was in the hospital they began Abilify and raised his Lithium considerably. They also began DDAVP to help with his night time wetting.

I think you definitely should contact your doctor. LIthium can be a pretty intense medication, especially for a child. If he's never been on this before then there may be some adverse effects. If this is a medication that needs to be continued, your physician may suggest decreasing the dose and/or waiting longer to see if the symptoms abate. Lithium is not the only medication of its kind out there. There are plenty of other meds to be tried as well. There could be any number of reasons why your child is now losing continence. Either from the stress of the recent situation and a regression response or the fact that maybe the medication is in a sense numbing him. In any case, the medication is not working the way it should. Never settle for something just because a hospital sends you out the door with it. People with psychiatric illness should find a trustworthy psychiatrist to monitor them and their medications regularly to provide the most beneficial care. There are always other options, just find someone who will help you explore them safely.

YES -

DO NOT re-dose until you have spoken with his psychiatrist.

The drooling could well be in indication of tardive dyskinesia.

~Dr. B.~