Historical Lithium Overdose...

[weerosie]

I took a large lithium and valium (not my own medication) overdose about 30 years ago, I suffer from various mental and physical conditions and wondered if any of them could be attributed to that? Any insight greatly appreciated.

[Paxiled]

There's really no way to know for sure.  Could have been lead paint, who knows?  Better to deal with where you are now because something that happened that long ago is beyond answering unless your problems started soon after it happened.  I'm also assuming you didn't take that overdose because you were feeling all that wonderful before you did it.

[weerosie]

Thanks for your reply, Paxiled. You're right, my mental health wasn't good before the overdose, or since and thirty years on and not only has it not improved, it's got a lot worse. Over the years I have tried several anti depression medications from all of the groups and various conventional and complementary therapies without any success and I wondered if nothing works because part of my brain has been damaged by the lithium. If so, perhaps something can be done about it, or I can at least reach some kind of understanding and acceptance.
I only found out by chance recently that not everyone hears voices in their head and that the dissociation I have isn't 'normal'. I was 13 when I took that overdose and I wasn't given any kind of help, or information afterwards, so I'm not sure if these issues were present before, or manifested after.