Lithium shakes?

Turquoise · June 14, 2017, 8:38pm

I called my GP (family doctor) today because I’m getting the shakes, it’s been happening for a several days now and getting worse. It’s a mild all over tremor, but occasionally my arms shake really violently for 10-15 mins at a time, I can’t hold a cup of tea without spilling it.

Apparently my lithium levels are fine and not too high, but she didn’t want to mess with the dose so I have to wait till my appt with my psychiatrist in 2 weeks time. I’m confused because I’m taking procyclidine for antipsychotic side effects (akathisia), I thought that would stop the shakes but no such luck.

Does anyone else get the shakes from lithium and do you have any advice on what I should do? Thanks.

everhopeful · June 14, 2017, 9:55pm

You might be interested in this. It might work.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Lithium-induced tremor treated with vitamin B6: a preliminary case series.

C Miodownik, E Witztum and V Lerner, International journal of psychiatry in medicine, 2002

The occurrence of tremor in patients receiving lithium is well known, but the management of this side effect is a significant problem both for patients and physicians. Although some reports have suggested that beta-blockers may be useful in treating lithium-induced tremor (LT), these agents have different side effects which limit the possibility of their use. Vitamin B6 has been reported to be effective in treatment of patients suffering from different kinds of neuroleptic-induced movement disorders including parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia.This report presents the results of a preliminary four-week open-label clinical trial of five patients who suffered from LT and who were treated with vitamin B6 (900-1200 mg/d). The severity of tremor was assessed using the tremor subscale from the Simpson-Angus Scale (SAS) and Subjective Clinical Improvement Impression scale (SCII).After the addition of vitamin B6 to their treatment, according to the SAS scores four patients showed an impressive improvement until total disappearance of tremor. The subjective scale, on which the patients' scored their impression of clinical improvement, showed similar results. None of the patients suffered from any side effects attributable to vitamin B6.The results suggest that vitamin B6 may alleviate LT, double-blind controlled trials are needed to establish this effect.

anon88813813 · June 14, 2017, 10:11pm

When I was on lithium I took the beta blocker propranolol for the tremor. Worked pretty well.

Turquoise · June 14, 2017, 10:25pm

Great info, thanks.

Turquoise · June 14, 2017, 10:26pm

Thanks Jimbob,

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