It seemed weird, but my pdoc recommended Lithium today to help me sleep… It just seems like a weird choice, kind of out of the blue. He didn’t say anything about me being manic. I’m already taking Lamictal, Abilify, and Wellbutrin, as well as Xanax for sleep. He was also very vague about side effects and what to expect… I searched here on SZ.com for info but what was already said wasn’t what I was looking for. Maybe @Wave or @MeghillaGorilla1 can help?
Hey @Skims
I was on lithium for years but it didn’t help stabilize my moods so much.
Are you feeling down? Besides being a common anti Manic medication, lithium is sometimes prescribed to those people that are depressed or feeling suicidal as Augmentation.
I don’t think that it’s that common as a sleep aide but maybe he’s adding it for depression as well.
Best of luck with it!
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Thanks @Wave. Yes I am depressed but feeling better since I started the Abilify. I told the pdoc no, I didn’t want to try it yet, need to do my research first. We ended up deciding to increase the Abilify to 15mg and switch my birth control pill
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I’ve been on Lithium for 3 or 4 years and never heard of it being used for sleep problems. But I can tell you that, as with every other medication, side effects vary from person to person. Personally I haven’t had any major side effects; when I first began taking Lithium I did get pretty thirsty and I peed a lot but that went away after a few weeks. Some people get hand tremors “The Lithium Shakes” and it does make some people drowsy.
The biggest thing isn’t so much a side effect, but rather it’s the Lithium working TOO well… Some people say it restricts their emotions. They can’t feel sad, they can’t feel happy, they’re just kind of emotionally blank all the time. That’s why many people don’t want to take Lithium. But that’s just evidence that it works VERY well as a mood stabilizer.
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Interesting info @Sooner88. He said he would start and probably keep me at 600mg which i guess is a low dose.
I honestly have no idea @Skims. I’ve been on lithium before but not for sleep. People say it’s a great medication though. 600 mg is a low dose too.
I would ask him next time what the reason is.
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I take 600 MGS a day and I take it for mania. I’ve been on it for over two years. I got tremors but that could also be from the haldol
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600 is a low dose. I take 1200, which is pretty common. You should have very minimal side effects with a low dose like that.
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All I know is it’s a pretty intense med used to treat bipolar. Can have very bad effects on health and is one of those ones that needs regular blood monitoring. Maybe at lower doses it’s different and just acts as a sleep aid, I don’t know. I’ve never heard of it being used as an aid before. Maybe ask your doctor why they’d recommend that first over other options.
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Honestly @Skims, your doctor may have added low dose lithium for Augmentation purposes (making your other meds including APs work better.
He also probably added it to help you relax better at night and to help ease depressive episodes.
Low dose lithium has a calming and well being effect on many people.
600 mg is considered low dose.
Monitor your thyroid and kidney functioning periodically.
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I got it prescribed to me today! I’d like to hear more about Lithium too 
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I took lithium for a very short while. I did a couple of the things I’d been told not to do on it, and then I entered a tough man contest. I won my first fight by a knockout, but that guy could have hit me quite a bit less than half as much and won the fight. My next fight I got out pointed by an experienced boxer. That experience made me shy away from lithium.
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I took lithium for a few years back in the 90s and for me it was a pretty mild med. I recall it causing intestinal gas and weight gain and I switched meds to depakote and carbamazepine to control my bipolar. It seems to have regained popularity as a mood stabilizer
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That’s because nothing else works as well as Lithium. It’s a magic pill.
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made my hair fall out
didn’t work
Don’t make things up just to scare people!!!
not making it up
didn’t for me
period
No I meant the hair. Lithium doesn’t do that.
my doctors said it was the lithium that made my hair fall out
i was on other stuff
and they said it was lithium
that did it
so i stopped
and it regrew
over a period of time
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i have adverse reactions to medication
period
why i dont take it
and why i have solutions that dont work