Posted by jsarirose on August 19, 2002, at 12:52:50
In reply to Re: Lithium added to AD (Nardil), posted by cybercafe on August 19, 2002, at 5:47:12
> hey jess, what other, non-acne side effects did you get from lithium? ...
>
When I was using it to augment I didn't have any other side effects because I was at a low dose. When I took it years ago alone I did start getting a slight tremor because I was at a higher dose. Other than that I don't recall any other side effects (other than minor increased acne).> ... i wonder if the mechanism is not hormonal, causing perhaps more free testosterone (that's how parnate increases libido??) .. though i guess that would lead to acne, possible body hair and head-hair loss? .... uh... and crazy female reproduction dysfunction, ovulatory dysfunction and polycystic ovaries .. stuff i am happy knowing nothing about :)
>
> ... and there are tons of treatments for hyperandrogenism ... www.aace.com/clin/guidelines/hyperandrogenism2001.pdf
>
> ... hmm... do you know what causes acne ? ... and how parnate would effect it? could it be a non-hormonal mechanism ?
> ....anyways.... would be nice if i could do something to help you out ...
>Well, I do have PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) which causes excess small cysts on the ovaries. This in turn makes me produce excess androgens and testosterone. I take meds for it which help with the acne and facial hair, and help regulate my period (another symptom is lack of or infrequent periods). When I started Parnate my acne got seriously worse. And the more I took the worse it got. As I've been tapering down slowly my acne has been improving. It makes sense that the increased testosterone which has caused my increase in libido is also causing the increased acne. I never thought about that. I've found only rare examples of acne occuring in others - most don't mention it as a side effect.
Thanks for drawing the parallel. I guess I didn't think about the fact that it must act on testosterone since it's effecting the libido but would also cause other testosterone related side effects.
-Jessica
poster:jsarirose
thread:116459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020814/msgs/116950.html