lithium to augment other anti-depressants

my doctor is putting me on 900mg of lithium.  He says it will work well with my other anti-depressant, anafranil, which I take for depression and OCD.  is this a large dose?  Ive heard about lithium poisoning.  whats all that about?

[whodunnit]

Hi there,

Read here for doseage info etc :http://www.rxlist.com/eskalith-drug.htm.

It seems 900 isn't a huge dose but read through that page.

Yes lithium can build up in your system if not monitored with regular blood tests. I think about once a month from memory. It can become toxic but if you and the doc are doing the blood tests that will not be a problem.

Lithium works very well for many, including myself. It's a mood stabiliser and is usally prescribe for bi polar patients. I'm bp2.

It is also though prescribed for non bi polar, usually just to help settle the wild moods you can experience in deep depression, non bi polar. I'm unaware of how it works with the other med you mention.

If your doc hasn't mentioned blood tests, ask for them so you can relax about safety on lithium.

[taraak]

thanks.  Ill read up on that.

[Hensley258]

I take 900Mgs a day of Lithium with my antidepressant. It helps a lot.

No, 900Mgs a day is not an unusual dosage. Dosages range from 300Mgs a day to as high as 1500Mgs a day depending on your bodies ability to process Lithuim. (it's the Kidneys that do this filtering of Lithuim)

In my case my Kydneys happen to process Lithium very effectivly which is why I need 900Mgs a day. This factor is measured when your doctor orderes "blood Lithium Level tests" a couple weeks after each dosage increase to ensure that your organs are dealing with the Lithium effectivly.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Lithium has no antidepressive or stabilizing effect on the patient if the Blood Lithuim Level is below 0.8

If your blood level is below 0.8 then you need a higher dosage. Max blood level is 1.5 (anything above 1.5 can be deadly)

So the sweet spot is arount 0.9 to 1.0

The only way to find this "sweet spot" is to have your blood checked and it will tell the level. If your doctor does not know this or is not aware of how to find this sweet spot then he should not be treating you with Lithium and you need another Psychiatrist.

Often times I hear people say, "I took Lithium and it didn't work." Then I find out they were only taking 300Mgs a day and probably needed more to produce an effect.

Very few people with healthy kidneys can expect a theraputic effect from Lithium below 600Mgs a day and even then 900 is more common.

Some people don't process Lithium very well and they can reach a 0.8 blood level at just 300Mgs a day, but this is not common.

Get your blood levels checked after being at 900Mgs a day for about a week. I will assume that your taking your Lithium twice a day (450Mgs 2x a day?)

Take your morning dosage with some breakfast then around noon have your blood taken. This will give the most accurare level reading.

[Hensley258]

Also, you don't start at 900Mgs a day! Don't do that! You start at 300Mgs a day then level test - too low on test- then bump to 600Mgs a day then level test - still too low - then bump to 900Mgs a day. So on and so on. If readings at 900 are still too low then bump to 1200.

Only an insane doctor would start a patient at 900 right out of the gate. He needs to make sure your kidneys can handle that dosage first.