The Great Experiment Ends

I’m sharing this story because it is funny, but also because, well, I was hoping so much that things would work out, that lithium and I would be a love affair that would last a decade. Guess not.
I quit taking it med altogether. I had a series of poor coordination accidents over the last [...]

Lithium freak out

Last night I woke up in a strange, activated state. The lights had a halo around them, my ears were ringing, and my coordination was shot – tremor, and not just my hands.
I felt like I was going to die, like my brain was on fire.  Nothing was coherent but all was going too fast. [...]

The psychiatrist, round 2

Today was the big day, put off a week due to a ridiculous conference at work. I got in this morning to him, and it was the usual ambivalence.
He doesn’t know what the problem is, thinks it’s some kind of depression, not a side effect. But whether this “depression” (I’m not totally convinced) is [...]

Zero-point-five

That was my lithium level last week. Not quite enough to count, but enough if you are of the “low-dose” school of thought, which, of course, my doc is not.
From my point of view, I may as well have had a lobotomy. My personality is gone. And wherever it went, it took my brain and [...]

The lithium gods

I had a morning that was either ridiculous or a sign – quite blog-worthy. I went to try to get a lithium level taken.
But…as soon as I got to the address of the lab, I realized that it was inside a building where I know all the employees, and where I hope to work [...]

Fatter and slower, but nicer

I have gained 3 kg from the lithium. It is getting to bug me, because it is on top of the 8 from the last drug. I think it is because I am just lying around a lot, not exercising, as well as the eating and water gain.
My moods have settled – into a low-level [...]

Going on two weeks of lithium

It’s definitely better than it was. The pills aren’t hitting me as hard, though I’m still having a hard time taking even 600 a day. I have slowly been able to do a little bit more. Nothing academic, nothing that requires my brain, but I’m not as paralyzed as I was.
The one thing I am [...]