Comments | poodah: medicated

poodah

medicated

Apr 10, 2008 14:05

I've officially given up on lithium. Last night was my last taper dose. I'd been struggling with the stuff for a month and a half and the side effects were just too intense. Being foggy-headed and cognitively impaired has created a number of problems at work--mostly from me screwing stuff up when the dose was too high a few weeks back. The loss ( Read more... )

state of mind

Comments 26

pasquin April 10 2008, 22:39:53 UTC

I know lithium is effective, but, agh, the side effects. Though I do caution you: being between meds can be an unstable time for someone with bipolar.

I don't know if it was that effective for me, on balance poodah April 10 2008, 23:37:36 UTC

Having spent most of my life un-medicated, I can say with certainty I'm not looking forward to that in-between stage. Already I'm taking silly things too 'hard.' But, I do enjoy feeling energetic again and thinking straight.

It was really terrible before. I was so fatigued and exhausted most of the time; I was easily annoyed/angered and took it out on people; I couldn't process any mathematical or graphical problems--couldn't follow my microeconomics class and couldn't use excel (bad for a finance manager); I felt like there was a 'gap' between me and others which left me reluctant to talk to people (bad, as I deal with people all day and normally enjoy my friendships); and I was gaining weight and couldn't have pleasurable sex.

Yeah, um, being a little unstable seems preferable. For the short-term.

I think I'm almost envious ... whippetmom April 10 2008, 23:38:05 UTC

Hi hon ... its been a while, (Linda S. from Stargaze ) I went through (actually I'm still experiencing) the curse of Lithium (BPII, diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago). I'd say that if you had stayed on it that it would get better but I don't think it ever did I just adjusted (I write notes for everything) and my IQ is still down at least 50 points.

If you need someone to bitch about how much this really sucks (being on meds, not being on meds, etc) we should do lunch or something.

BTW : I managed to read one bipolar reference book and got generally annoyed. *But* I do have a website that I really like for med advice (it tells you all the weird side effects they don't warn you about, many of which I get)... crazymeds.us

Re: I think I'm almost envious ... poodah April 11 2008, 18:45:17 UTC

Thank you for reaching out. It's nice to have someone else to talk to about this--yes I'd love to get together for a catch up/bitch session. my email is nik pai at gee mail dot com.

bizetsy April 11 2008, 01:13:10 UTC

Definitely thinking about you.

poodah April 11 2008, 18:45:33 UTC

And my CRAZY! thanks.

bellacrow April 11 2008, 06:46:26 UTC

hey, I saw you on Gucky's LJ.

My ex-husband is Bi-polar and I've been on the Meds rollercoaster with him for 5 years.

He's on a combo of Effexor and Abilify. But I hesitate to reccomend Effexor, the side-effects are really rough.

Is Lexapro or Celexa an option? I like my Lexapro quite a lot.

scentedwoods April 11 2008, 13:40:08 UTC

Does your ex take the Abilify all the time? My Bi-polar husband has it, but he only takes it occasionally. To me, it seems to be the medication that makes him the least fuzzy of all the ones he tries.

Poodah, I'm sorry the Lithium didn't work out for you. I wish the Lamictal hadn't given you a rash. Can you try it again with closer supervision?

bellacrow April 11 2008, 18:19:24 UTC

he takes it daily, without insurance it costs 2k a month since it's a new drug. Geodon was also great but caused a physical side reaction.

The Lamictal rash is a Bad Thing and written about on Crazymeds.org, I dont think she should try it again.

I did Lamictal and it was ok, but I got hella cranky at times.

scentedwoods April 11 2008, 18:23:23 UTC

Yeah, I've heard about the rash, but I also thought that Poodah's wasn't determined for sure whether it was Stevens-Johnson or not.

Thread 11

ok way too much information but ... whippetmom April 11 2008, 23:38:00 UTC

I'm on a combination ... (but we've been messing around with them for 2 1/2 years ( ... )

Re: ok way too much information but ... poodah April 11 2008, 23:46:29 UTC

Hey! My post was public, but I figured I'd screen your comment because of your subject heading.

Thanks so much for sharing. I sort of feared this would be the case with medicating myself. My RA medication story sounds very similar and at one point I was on 10 different meds at once--all super toxic. And, none of them worked. I'd love to chat about symptoms and side effects and coping some time. My cell is 650-279-6229

Re: ok way too much information but ... whippetmom April 14 2008, 04:29:41 UTC

Ok ... I'm actually going to call (it was one of those weekends) but since its getting late not tonight. I'll email you my cell too (btw .. last name is changing to wells)

Re: ok way too much information but ... poodah April 11 2008, 23:47:15 UTC

Apparently screening didn't work.