Posted by SLS on August 30, 2022, at 8:01:17
In reply to Re: Lithium for depression, posted by undopaminergic on August 29, 2022, at 13:00:45
> > > I got a promising effect from lithium orotate once, but once only. I took some amount of powder and I did not weigh it. So, I think I should make an effort to try out lithium more systematically. But as of this time, it is not an easy drug for me to acquire.
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> > Why is it hard to acquire?
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> I'm hospitalised and otherwise live with my parents who have been known to go through my mail and steal my drugs, including "harmless" ones like guanfacine and piracetam. In hospital, especially a mental one, you'd think lithium would be easy to get hold of, and that is perhaps true if you are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but they insist I have schizophrenia (subtype unspecified) and they mostly ignore not only my depression but my manic episodes as well. I do get lamotrigine however. Different doctors have different favourites or "familiars" that they will prescribe without hesitation. So far I've not run into any lithium fans.
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> I might take up the idea again with my prescribers, who, for that matter, are subject to change with little or no notice. In the process I might have to convince them that lithium is useful in depression in amounts lesser than those needed for mania. Do you have references to some scientific articles or textbooks that I might show them?
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> -undopaminergic
Have you ever been on lithium before?Lithium oratate seems to be worthless from what I've observed here. Lithium carbonate is dirt-cheap.
Have you ever been on lithium before? If so, did it help? I am an advocate of low dosages of lithium for depression as long as there are no spontaneous manias. However, if I understand your words, you do have spontaneous manias. The minimum blood level of lithium to treat bipolar mania is 0.6 mEq/L.
Why do you think lithium is worth trying?
Why would any psychiatrist reject lithium as a treatment alternative for treatment-resistant bipolar mania? I consider your doctors' refusal to prescribe lithium to be tantamount to medical malpractice. Get assertive. Tell them that you would prefer not to leave the hospital against medical advice (AMA) just to try lithium. I think that would do the trick.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
poster:SLS
thread:1120378
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20220530/msgs/1120554.html