Lithium facts

[uni]

Have a great time camping Atlantis!

Paul, you understand so well about the anxieties. The idea of anxiety driven depression is something new to me and I want to learn all I can. It all seems so obvious and yet I don't seem to have a handle on it. Yet.

I'm going to start a new thread on the subject, but not right now because I must leave for work. Au Reservoir

[AJ]

Have fun camping Karen.

Do you work shift work Uni?

[paul m]

Hello Uni. I did start another thread under depression, just to give you something to read on this holiday weekend. Take Care. paul m

Hello Karen I hope the weather is could for you. Take Care. paul m

Hello All. Please enjoy your long weekend and I will see you all (hopefully ) on Tuesday or Wednesday(my wife works Saturdays , so she get Tuesday off) when we get back from camping. Take Care paul m

[AJ]

I will see you all (hopefully )

Are you worried about bears or something?

[uni]

Hello Paul. I hope you and your wife have a nice time camping.

Hello AJ. I have worked all sorts of shifts over the years. Now I'm on permanent evenings, which is ok but cuts into joining clubs, etc. during the evenings. I no longer work Saturdays or Sundays, for which I am eternally grateful. Anybody else here work odd hours?

[gtchamp]

Have fun camping Karen and Paul. Boy, I wish I was doing that. Can't wait to hear all about it.

Uni - I used to work full time during the day but every 3rd week or so was oncall all night. That really messed up my sleeping and as you know, not good for someone with this disorder.

Just a bit of an update, I met with my pdoc's nurse yesterday. She told me to take 600mg of Lithium at bedtime to have the nausea while sleeping and then 300mg for breakfast. It is helping. Last night I stopped taking my sleeping pill. I was nervous, but I slept. YEAH!! One more week and they say that the Lithium will be in my system and working. I have also been decreasing my Epival (almost half). I guess only time will tell how things will truly be.

Hope everyone is having a great long weekend.
Tracey

[AJ]

I did work days, evenings and weekends. Now I just work days and every 7th weekend. Shift work is hard on anyone, never mind if you've got a mental illness. Even a change from an 8:30 AM shift to a 10 AM shift is hard for me. Adjusting med times is an added challenge, especially if I forget to take them earlier when the next day is an 8:30 AM shift. I know I could never do a night shift.

[gtchamp]

Ok..so I am liking Lithium so far. I am feeling great. Really good. However....this morning I woke up with a fever. It took me a while to clue in but I think it is heat exhaustion. I've had it all day. I called the pharamacist (6pm) and he said that I should drink 3 containers of poweraid before bed!! I knew you had to drink alot on Lithium but perhaps I was under estimating how much that is. I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing problem this summer so I guess I just need to keep the fridge stocked with poweraid. My question is though...how much water should I be drinking? I drank 7 glasses yesterday and still woke up with this problem. Anyone know?

[Woody]

I am not taking Lithium, but I have a 1 Lt water bottle next to my bed at night and there is not much left in the morning to take my pills with.

I usually stock up on Freezie's in the sumer time.

[AJ]

Do you pay per flush?

[paul m]

Hello Tracey. The problem with drinking 7 glasses of water is: How much is in a glass? Ask your pharamacist how much water you should drink and he may reply 8-10 glasses, but he means about 2-2.5 litres, perhaps even more.

Also people who drink a lot of water or sweat a lot also tend to deplete the electrolytes sodium and potassium . This will also leave you feeling poorly. Powerade and gatorade both contain sodium and potassium .

A 710 ml bottle of gatorade has 300 mg of sodium and 80mg of potasium and 710 ml of powerade has 90 mg of sodium and 100mg of potassium, both are high on sugar( about 50grams or just under 2 ounzes).

I do keep powerade in my fridge and I drink it if I have been sweating a lot or eating a lot of low salt foods. I find one bottle really helps during extreme times. Three bottles every day would be a huge amount simply because of the amount of sugar these drinks contain. Low salt diets can also be a no-no for people taking lithium. Take Care. paul m

Hello AJ. No bears in general don't bother me, but holiday weekend drivers do. Take Care. paul m

[gtchamp]

Thanks Paul for the information about Powerade and Gaterade. Holy cow! Who knew about all that sugar! I must admit that since Tuesday I have been very sick. I finally woke up with a rash this morning. Turns out I am having a reaction to an antibiotic. I never did drink all those Powerade's but I have been getting at least one down a day since I am basically not eating.

Woody...I can't even begin to imagine drinking that much water during the night but then again, new habits can always be formed.

I think I will give my pharmacist a call tomorrow and ask how much water I am to drink. Thanks for the suggestion Paul.

[Atlantis]

Hi Everybody,
Since starting topiramate a few months ago, I stopped drinking carbonated beverages as they no longer taste the same, they taste flat and not sweet....Yuk.

So i had already been drinking only water and milk prior to taking lithium...I never was much of a fruit juice drinker, I always eat fruit instead...
One of the side effects I find the worst with lithium is the metallic/salty taste in my mouth and it may go away for a day but it seems to be lingering for me and it makes all my food and drinks taste slightly different...

So, now I am drinking water only from morning to night, all day everyday, it took some getting use to but it doesn't bother me now...
It is not a struggle to drink the water because with the salty taste in my mouth I am always thirsty so I am always reminded to drink something, I never forget.

I haven't had any issues with needing to take gatorade yet, I excersie on a regular basis, but we have not had any warm temperatures in NL yet, unless you count 12 degress with a strong north easterly wind blowing, Brrrrrr And it may be I get more salt in my diet than you Tracey, although I am eating very bland foods lately with the taste of salt in my mouth even plain toast tastes salty some days

I don't keep track of the amounts of water i drink, maybe I should, i just drink when I am thirsty, the main difference is I only drink water...o.k., i have one coffee in the morning, i have gotten use to salty coffee, nothing comes between me and my morning coffee

I think I will have to pick up some calcium vitamins now that I am not drinking milk...Salty tasting milk...YUKKY!!!!

[Woody]

I think its from the Divalproex, but my my nose is always blocked so most time I will breath from the mouth instead of the nose so my mouth.

[paul m]

Hello Woody. That would certainaly dry your mouth out. Take Care. paul m

Hello Karen. I have an interesting observation about the salty taste in my mouth. I started to get a salty taste in my mouth long before I ever even heard of lithium and/or psych drugs.

This would be intermintent taste lasting for 2-3 wks. I eventually traced the cause. It usually happened when I was working a lot of hours and drinking tons of coffee. Working in a dry office for 70+ hrs a wk drinking lots of coffee and not drinking enough water causes mild dehydration, which is considered the #1 cause of unwanted salty tastes. ( dental problems and/or sinus infections are close behind).

I still get the salty taste in my mouth from time to time and most of the time I can trace it to excess coffee drinking and taking lithium without drinking enough water. Even if you don't drink coffee, try upping your fluid intake even more and the salt taste may disappear. Take Care. paul m

Hello All. Here in central Ontario we are in the midst of a heat wave. I started to experience severe legs cramps on the weekend, which I put down to a lot of walking etc that we did while camping. They were painfull enough that I had to take asprin to sleep(normally I don't take pain killers). They continued and it wasn't until last night that I smartened up and increased my fluid intake. Almost instant relief. Whether I took lithium or not, insufficent fluid intake will cause muscle cramps, especially when exercising in hot weather, even mild exercise.

I already knew all of this, so that was my really dumb move for the week. Take Care. paul m