lithium shakes

[A.E.V.]

grumble, growl...
just spoke to my pharmacist, who told me that the pdoc lowered some of my meds, but nobody thought of telling me... so I've been going with the old prescription!
I can't deal with the shakes anymore. when I sit or stand, my entire back starts to move.
don't mind me, I'm grumpy today...

[AJ]

the pdoc lowered some of my meds

Was lithium one of them?

[astronaut]

I'd be grumpy if someone lowered my meds without telling me too. I hope you can get it sorted out today.

astronaut

[A.E.V.]

actually, the lithium was completely removed as of today. pdoc said it was lithium toxicity. he added that it should take a couple of days to be fully out of my body.
two other were lowered because of a serious interaction between the two at high doses... pdoc said I was lucky not to get sick from it!

[astronaut]

What!!? Why the heck did your pdoc prescribe those two meds at such high doses if they are dangerous to take together on high
doses??

Are you going to start the lithium again at a lower dose once it is lower in your system?

I hope you don't get sick from all these changes at once.
astronaut

[A.E.V.]

no, the lithium will not be started again. pdoc said he was putting a note in my file not to give it to me.
it had all been prescribed at my last hospital stay...

I'm feeling a little hyper today, but that's probably from having slept all week, and now having only slept five hours throughout my whole night. wheeeeee!!!

[A.E.V.]

geez, this shake is going to drive me nuts!
my spine stopped shaking thankfully, but now every once in a while my hand will break out into a violent shake. you should have seen the look of the cashier when she saw the wallet being shaken around like that
it's a little embarrassing.......

[Sweetest1]

Yeah I had really bad shakes on lithium too. They went away about a week or so after I stopped taking it.

[astronaut]

Oh Anne, that does sound very irritating and cumbersome. I hope that the shakes go away within a week like Rebecca's did.

astronaut

[A.E.V.]

really dumb question here...
how does one know when something is related to side effects or the beginning of depression?

I've been sleeping at least 18 to 20 hours a day this week... yesterday being the worst!

thanks astronaut, I too hope the shaking ends soon!

[astronaut]

That's what sucks about our illness and our meds: sometimes the side effects mimic symptoms of our illness. If you can see a
direct change in sleeping pattern around the time you changed a med, then it could be side effects. Whether it is a side effect or
a symptom, if it doesn't go away over a week or so, or if it gets worse, then get it checked out. If it is a side effect, you might
sleep it off over a few days and get used to the change. Do you have any other worsening depression symptoms? --Try keeping
a record of how your moods and sleeping patterns change every day and what kinds of meds you are on, then over time you
can look and see if there is a correlation between the meds and the sleep change.

I've usually been able to tell if my tiredness is drug related because I will get sleepy within an hour of taking the drug and will
have a great deal of trouble staying awake or functioning for about 10-12 hours after I have taken the drug. I become more
wakeful as the drug wears off. See if you can tell whether you tend to get sleepy after taking your meds and that may also be a
good indicator that it is the meds making you sleep.

I hope you get over this soon!
astronaut

[A.E.V.]

went back to the pdoc today... between two patients. couldn't stand the shakes and the sleeping.
well, the sleeping seems to be slowly getting back to some kind of normal, I sleep twelve hours plus a nap instead of just sleeping between sixteen and twenty hours a day.
shakes are still a problem (makes typing difficult!), so the pdoc reduced my epival again. I went from 750mg to 500mg to 350mg in a week and a half.
he also said that if the shakes are still not lessened by monday, I can reduce my abilify. now that scares me cuz I'm already hearing voices at night.
my appointment is on tuesday...
here's to hoping!!

[Sweetest1]

I hope the Epival reduction does the trick for you, Anne!

[AJ]

Hang in there Anne and keep us posted.

[astronaut]

oh Anne, this is quite the battle that you are going through. I hope something works soon.
thanks for checking in,
astronaut