Lithium Insomnia

[bpchrisb]

I have been on Lamictal for 8 months and evened out very well. However, over the last few weeks, I started to cycle again, my doctor put me on Lithium. It seems to be helping; I'm not really cycling and it's kind of pulled me out of the depressive funk I've been in for awhile.

However, I am having a hard time sleeping since starting the Lithium. I've read that many of the side effects from the medication dissipate after awhile; will the insomnia go away as well?

[bpchrisb]

We increased the Lamictal a few days ago and that is probably a big part of it. She also gave me Seroquel to take as needed for sleep, but I don't want to take it if I don't have to. It knocks me out, but sometimes it disrupts my sleep cycle and it makes me very groggy the next day. I also take Neurontin, so I am thinking about saving a half of my doses of that to take at night. I also take Melatonin, which works well.

Also, Seroquel is so sedating because it's an anti-histamine, so I might as well just grab some benadryl and take it along with melatonin.

[Vikkttoorr99]

Hi, lithium didn't make me sleepy but it did make me slow on the uptake and forgetful. Lamictal kept from sleeping well but I think it's the combo of the both of them since my doc and I talked about it. I've been on both for about 2 years. It was the only thing that worked. Everything evened out after I got the doses right. What helped right away was taking both of them at night the entire dose of each. Don't take some in the morning and some at night. That didn't work like that until a couple months after I started. She said for some people it takes several months before things will "even out" if they are going to. That's just my 2 cents though.

[ILADVOCATE]

That's a very unusual side effect as although Lamictal disrupted my sleep which is not uncommon lithium was actually sedating for me. See if that improves with time and keep track of it on a daily basis as well.