New Lifestyle change

[Re-O]

hey,

I don't know if it normal or even if you have that but while I'm on lithium, I am also on Doxapin to pull up my depression... then some Seroquil to keep the edge of the manic Oops, I began to digress...

What I'm wondering is are you also on an anti-depressant? Since people aren't the same we each get to search for or special chemical cocktails. Maybe someone else on lithium can throw in their thoughts on adding and anti-depressant to the lithium mix.

Re-O

[Atlantis]

Sometimes it feels like Lithium is zapping the life right out of me, it makes me feel very blah...Not crazy manic, which is good but i don't want to feel like this yukky gross blah, don't care for nothing feeling either...It's not that bad everday but it's not great either.
I am on 150 mg of wellbutrin, I'm not sure if the pdoc will let me try to get to 300 mg...I'll ask next week...
I'm on Lamictal also, which helps with depression, but not as good as the 300 mg wellbutrin, for me personally, I just am nervous about going manic...

[paul m]

Hello Karen. I know what you mean about blah, but try spreading your lithium out during the day a bit and giving it some time. You haven't been on it very long. Eventually you may be able to cut back on it some and you will get used to it some.

However if you are waiting for the sharpness of the hypomanic episodes to come back , well it took me a while to adjust too. It was tough at first , but eventually my brain cleared up a lot. (be fore warned, wise cracks about my clarity may be returned)

I know, I just nag, nag, nag. Take Care. paul m

[Atlantis]

However if you are waiting for the sharpness of the hypomanic episodes to come back , well it took me a while to adjust too.

Exactly waht i was thinking, well somewhat I don't want to be hypomanic just my usually chatty, friendly, happy self, not over the top or anything, but some days it's a struggle getting that smile to come on my face, which is not like me at all...
But I'll be a little more patient, like you said

Darn, stubborn brains take so long to fix...

[uni]

for Atlantis

[saweeet]

i want to talk to him about how the medications are working, and with the suggestion of my shrink probably adding more medication like anti-depression medication. And something for the anxiety attacks.

Guess i will see what happens, my shrink will be there with me when i see him.

[paul m]

Hello Karen. Believe it or not, there was a time when people discussed me the words, smart, friendly, happy, nice, easy going, good to be around and helpful, just didn't seem to come into the discussion .

They seemed to have no problem with morose, moody, sullen and irritable(or was that irritating) pain in the butt, loser etc.

Sometimes all of those words from both paragraphs were used in the same year. Sometimes several times in a year. Now that takes talent.

Give yourself some time, you still are HELPFULL, FUN and CHATTY, or at least I find you that way. Now the trick is trying to convince yourself that your still a great person, that's the really hard part. Take Care. paul m

Hello Saweet. I hope the combined skills of the docs can help you, I haven't heard much about that sort of treatment, so let us know how it goes. Take Care. paul m

[Atlantis]

Thanks Paul, we just got back from camping, the fresh air seems to be helping and the longer evenings are nice too

I don't know what it is about the camper, I always forget my nighttime meds , so then they become my morning meds, i have no trouble remembering them in the a.m. but i don't like doing that...

[gtchamp]

Hello Saweeet and Karen. I feel for you both. I hope you both start to feel better soon. It wasn't long ago that I felt the same way as the two of you and with a little bit of med changes and some work on some other things, I am feeling alot better. Good luck. I just wanted you both to know that I am thinking of you.
Tracey

[Atlantis]

Thanks Tracey.

I must be gettting somewhat better as I am REALLY starting to notice the cognitive side effects to my medications that I have been taking since March...Scary...

Hopefully I can decrease my meds soon, it is very difficult to work this way I find it hard to type, spell, converse with people and my memory is gone, it is very difficult to have a conversation I can't find my words, I never noticed how bad it was until the past couple of weeks.

I see my pdoc tommorow, he will know what is best...I'll let you know.

[sapphire921]

Awe...hugs saweet! I so totally understand what you're going through. My shrink and I are discussing a complete med change Saturday...UGH! I don't even know what to feel about that. Scared of the unknown...and even more afraid of the known! I am a mess right now. Yesterday I spent the first half of my day crying at my desk at work. Uncontrollable tears just kept streaming down my face...hard to explain to the people you work with without revealing things I just don't want them to know about me. I am so tired of this! I hate being me. Why can't life be more simple???

[sapphire921]

Hey Karen...I hope your doc works it out for you. I know the feeling of knowing what you want to say but the simple words just don't come. I feel like an idiot when I can't think of the answer when I know it's right there and I should know it. I don't much care for this lithium either. Besides that...it seems to be making me retain water and I feel like a blow fish...at least I think it's the Lithium that is doing that....UGH!

[Woody]

That or forgetting what you wanted to say in mid sentence. It is quiet embarrassing. I am not on Lithium. I take Divalproex but it started way before I was on this medication. It might be the Seroquel, but before I was on the Seroquel, I was so spazed out that it is hard to say if is from that medication or not. One day the clerk at the pharmacy asked to confirm my address. I had to look at my drivers licence. Talk about embarrassing!

[saweeet]

I`m not sure what to expect at this appointment. Hopefully things will be better after the medication change.

If the depression would go away, id be happy.

It doesn`t help that my dad is in the hospital and has to get a pacemaker put in. Doctor told him he was lucky he didn`t drop dead last week. So its been a crazy week of up and downs.

I managed to go 7 days without smoking any weed, but after i heard that, it was the only thing i could do that would calm me down enough to function.

And yesterday i was told i have to go in for testing, due to the fact, that my dad`s rare heart disease can be passed down to my sister and I. We were told years ago, that we could only be carriers to it, and that it could possibly be passed down to our children. So its been very stressful.

[Atlantis]

Hi Jackie,
I'm sorry to hear that you have had a stressful week, it can be very hard to deal with stress sometimes
My sister was sick a few weeks ago and I found the stress and worry very difficult while I was waiting for her to get better, we were very concerned for her.
Do you have any anxiety meds you can take, i found the clonazepam really helped me through that stressful couple of weeks.

Hi Woody,
I walked into Tims a few weeks ago, asked the lady for a large coffee with ah...ah...ah...ah...i said sorry i forgot what goes in it ,
she said ordering the coffee for someone else are ya, and being a blonde or maybe I am just too honest I said no,
I'm ordering the coffee for me (I mean what kind of person forgets how many sugar and milk they have in their own coffee)
She said you're having a rough morning, and we both just laughed, TOTALLY EMBARASSING...

Topiramate is the culprit, we increased a few weeks ago and since then my IQ has decreased significantly...Just kidding...But I am having a lot of trouble finding my words so under the advice of my pdoc we are going to decrease my dose...