Is Litium Safe?

My doctor has suggested lithium to treat my bipolar disorder but I am hesitant to take it. I have heard that it is very bad for you.

[Xila31]

I am on lithium 600 mg daily and the important thing is to drink tons of water. I always carry water with me. Your body responds to lithium the same as it responds to salt, which means too much is hard on your kidney function. So, drinking lots of water helps flush it through your system safely.

Also, I seem to have to pee all the time now. I even have to wake up in the middle of the night, and I've never had to do that before.

Just keep up on your blood tests and water and you should be okay.

[adel_ezz]

Hi

I don't take lithium, and i doubt if someone can answer your question even a pdoc. If you ask whether aspirin is safe, i know a person who had bleading from exceeding dose and died from it.

Lithium is the 1st line mood stabilizer and the only one to have proven its efficacy for over a century. True it has its drawbacks, but it usually takes decades to know any med's side effects. The other MS are more recent and not everything is known about them completely, whereas everything is well understood about lithium, this is why i read that 2009 conferences agree that lithium is safest, my pdoc told me with anticonvulsants it isn't known whether it's safe to be pregnant while since with lithium they allow it, it means it's safer.

Why you don't see pharm comp promoting it, simply there is money in it, neither for them nor for their pdocs.

i agree just watch for blood tests (incidentally tegretol needs it too) be hydrated. And good luck

[netta46]

Hello

I have been taking lithium for about four years now and it has made a huge difference to me. I take 600mg but I am quite sensitive to it and have to be careful if physically unwell as my levels seem to increase. just drink plenty and have regular blood tests.

[scochran]

I currently am taking 1500mg of extended-release Lithium and 5mg of Abilify.  My meds were recently changed due to my increased manic symptoms.

My psychiatrist says that alot of doctors out there won't put people on Lithium because they don't know how to use it or it's too old and there are other, newer things to use.  Lithium seems like it is the only thing I have responded to, and I have tried a bunch of different stuff.  My suggestion is that it's worth a try, if your doctor is willing to monitor it closely until you are stable with it.  The therapuetic range is 0.7-1.2, and the toxic level is about 1.5.  You can do a search on the internet of the theraputic range of lithium, and find about the same.