How long did it take for lithium to kick in?

Any psychotropic, or drugs used for this purpose, can take several weeks to kick in. Blood work is important because they check for therapeutic lithium levels in the blood. It is hard to know, at first, how much of a given drug will produce a therapeutic level and there may be some adjustment of this medication before that level is found.

If you go with him to the doctor, mention what you see as anxiety and ask if lithium will help to cover this. It may very well be that once more the BP is better treated, the anxiety will subside some. When one is in the "spin" that BP produces, it is pretty anxiety producing. If one is depressed and has been for a long time, it feels like it will never end. I have been there and done that, and it produced high flying anxiety to the point of panic attacks. Once the BP meds started to kick in, the anxiety was a lot better.

I really don't like medications, myself. I think it is too easy to over medicate a complex illness. Hang in there and see if things will improve. If they don't, see if it can be medically treated with meds. By being close to your fiance, you are going to be the best judge of improvement and of his moods. Try to help him view you as a partner in combating this illness. I see that you have some illness of your own. If you can build a partnership of mutual caring and looking after one another in times of need, you stand to do really well. Hopefully, this right now is temporary and things will improve here shortly. Hang in there, visit us and don't let yourself feel alone, you are not.

i know lithium helps control moods, to regulate or stabilize them.....what specific symptoms of bipolar can it help control?

donna,

asking how long a drug takes to have an effect is like asking how long is a piece of string.  lithium had an immediate effect on me.  my wife and i could tell a hugh difference in less than one day.  i'm unusual.  others may take several weeks to several months for lithium to have an effect.  and the optomim dose of lithium is also a bit of trial and error coupled with the pdoc's experience.

lithium is a "mood stabelizer."  is is not an anitdepressent.  it is used primarily to keep the highs from being too high, or to get a more "flat affect."  bp depression is another whole game and takes its own medication.  i have been chronically depressed for over 45 yrs and now take welbutrin for my depression as well as lithium for the bp.  the welbutrin is having a much better effect for the depression than any medication i have tried before.

but you have to rememebr that each individual is different and reates differently to different drugs.  what works very well for me may well kill someone else with the same illness.  it often takes a while for a pdoc to find the unique "cocktail" that will treat an individual's bp.

hope this helps.

warren

I'm going to push with our doctor to get my son on Welbutron too. Our Doctor wanted him to
stay on the Lithium alone even though I told him he was getting into the depressed mode. Why wouldn't the doc know that Lithium is not an antidepressant???

Wish me luck!

What are you taking now in addition to the Lithium? Any supplements? I really like the idea of taking supplements too. Yes, I know they're not like taking heavy duty meds, but it makes me "feel" like I'm doing all I can and not just giving my son whatever the doctor decides to toss our way. Know what I mean?