bipolar disorder

# I’m Taking Lithium Now: My Bipolar Medication Has A Song Named After It

by Beverly Blaine
April 26, 2017
Comments 8

Even though my personal life is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health, breaking the stigma, and erasing shame, I still feed into a lot of the misconceptions and stereotypes around mental illness. Today’s blog post attempt to explore one of my problematic views, which is my unease around taking the bipolar medication called lithium.

I’m so happy because today
I’ve found my friends
They’re in my head
I’m so ugly, but that’s okay, ’cause so are you

“Lithium” is so common that there is even a Nirvana song named after it. The song’s writer, the late Kurt Cobain, was never confirmed to have bipolar disorder, but his depression was well-documented.

Lithium is still one of the first lines of treatment for bipolar disorder, but ever since my diagnosis, I have lived in fear of being prescribed the drug. Why? I don’t know exactly except that I feel like it would confirm that I am truly crazy. I worry that people will be scared of me if they know that I am taking it. (Yet I still feel it is important to tell the world through this blog in order to do my part to raise awareness). I’ve also heard that it can be dangerous and that there are huge potential side effects, from everything like weight gain, memory problems, hallucinations and more. It has also been said that lithium dulls the senses and can affect your personality.

I don’t know why I am so scared of lithium. It’s just a natural salt. In fact, some studies have shown that small traces of lithium naturally found in water can possibly lead to less suicides in a given area. However, lithium does require frequent blood tests in order to ensure the levels in your blood are not toxic. I also need to be sure to stay hydrated, something I am certainly not great at. However, I need to embrace H2O quickly if I want to stay healthy.

This all sounds a little negative - but most people who take the medication, if they follow their doctor’s instructions, are just fine. In fact, it works really well to stabilize moods. Lithium can lessen the severity and frequency of mania and depression, and as I said earlier, significantly diminish the risk of suicide.

This is going to be a short and sweet blog post because today I am just all out of spoons. (What does that mean? Visit this link to find out.) I told myself that I would publish something on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays no matter what, so here we are.

Why do I have no energy? I spent the entire day lying in bed, not asleep, just lying there. Depression does that to you. I really hope that I can reduce the frequency of these bad days with the lithium. I will update you guys in a month or two on my progress.

I’m going to end this post with a question, as I usually do. Do you take medication for your mental illness? Tell me about it in the comments below! And if you take lithium specifically, I would definitely love to hear your thoughts.

### Share this:

- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)

### Like this:

Like Loading...

## 8 comments on “I’m Taking Lithium Now: My Bipolar Medication Has A Song Named After It”

1. theobserver112
   April 26, 2017

   Like you, I’m scared of lithium. I’ve discussed it with my psych a few times but he’s as reluctant as I am. What seems to work for me is a combination of quetiapine and semisodium valporate. My brother has been on lithium though and it sadly wasn’t for him. I hope you have better success!

   Like Like

   Reply
2. disclaimeronmyexperience
   April 26, 2017

   I take a combination of Latuda and Lithium Orotate. My psychiatrist recommended taking the lithium orotate since I have the very same reservations about taking prescription lithium. Seems to be working, which is nice since it’s sold as an over the counter supplement.

   Like Like

   Reply
3. CherMarie
   April 26, 2017

   I had started to suspect that perhaps the depression that had plagued me for years & years was actually one of the illnesses in the bipolar spectrum. And, I hoped that if that turned out to be the case, Lithium wouldn’t be part of the treatment plan. It’s funny: I don’t have an issue with taking medication for mental illness — I’d been taking anti-depressants for a few years. I think my bias against Lithium was two-fold: First, it’s been around a long time, since the days when bipolar was mostly seen by the world as simply being crazy, unable to function in society, and so it reminds me of that mindset. Second, the side-effects & need to monitor blood levels sounded daunting. But it also has a long track record of working, so I held on to that thought. I saw a psychiatrist a few months ago, who diagnosed me with with Bipolar II. He prescribed Lamictal as a mood stabilizer, which I take in addition to the Cymbalta (anti-depressant) I was already taking. I do feel a bit more level, but also in a bit of depression dip at the moment, so not sure if that is the meds or just a “normal” part of the BPII cycle. I am experiencing side effects but luckily they aren’t too severe. I hope Lithium works for you.

   Like Like

   Reply
4. PurpleOwl
   April 26, 2017

   I don’t take Lithium but I do take Olanzapine for my Bipolar. I find it stabilises me but the first few days on it were quite tough, I’ve just had it increased and again I am struggling the first few days. I hope you settle on Lithium quickly.

   Like Like

   Reply
5. R. A. Currier
   April 26, 2017

   I took it: shakes, blurred vision, acne, hair loss, …and I liked “pop” music.
   It wasn’t for me.
   I take over 4K of meds. Monthly. I think it may have dropped to about 2k because the Pharma company didn’t have to be sued for a generic of one of mine.
   I hate meds.
   Unfortunately, I am often quite “sick” and can’t function (I wish I were born into a shamanistic society) and CBD and weed is illegal here.
   So heavy metals. ^_^
   Lithium: it works: it doesn’t: DRINK SO MUCH WATER, IF YOU CHANGE YOUR EXERCISE HABITS AT ALL.
   Love you, lady.
   Thanks for the blog.

   Like Like

   Reply
6. comfortdeliveredhome
   April 26, 2017

   Marijuana.
   Do some research on the availability of medical marijuana, and the treatments for depression and mental disorders.
   You are in a predicament. I can fully understand your trepidation. There are still side effects even if you do follow your doctors instructions to the T. there will be side effects if you decide to start treatment, then change your mind.
   Hugs.

   Like Like

   Reply
7. Cassandra Stout
   April 26, 2017

   I took lithium for years after breastfeeding, along with Depakote, and gained a ton of weight on it. But I do have to say that the medication saved my life, and made life worth living.

   Like Like

   Reply
8. dyane
   April 27, 2017

   Lithium in combination with a MAOI works extremely well for me, a woman with treatment-resistant bipolar depression.

   I take 900 mg a night. Unlike my friend Cassandra, I haven’t gained any weight with lithium. (Now when I took Seroquel that was a different story…)

   This is an excellent book about lithium and its history; the co-author Dr. Gregory de Moore is a lithium expert:

   Like with any medication or other treatment, there are the positive experiences and horror stories - we’re brave to try anything when you think about it!

   ***Good luck*** I hope it helps you a lot and that you get more energy in the days to come.
   Hang in there.

   Like Like

   Reply

### Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)
Name (required)
Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Google+ account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

%d bloggers like this: