Lithium Question

I am very easily agitated to the point of rage sometimes over things that would not usually p*** me off so badly. I really need to be on an anxiety med. Xanex is the only one that I have found that works well but the only doctor's I've been to will not prescribe it because of my past drinking history. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

Post Edited By Moderator (smiler) : 2/8/2007 10:14:29 AM (GMT-7)

unless you are a "lurker" (someone who reads threads but does not enter posts), you don't know me.  if smiler is your mothe hen, then i am your great-grandfather.  believe me, i have your best interests in my heart.  i am jus too old and too tired to give a rat's a** about how people take what i have to say.  like the umpire says, "i calls them like i sees them."

you have a life-long illness.  it is a chemical imballance in the brain.  it is perhaps most easily likened to diabetis.  just as my wife cannot stop taking metformin for the rest of her life, you and i cannot stop taking meds for bp.  being "strong" about coping with this illness is another form of insanity.  strong has nothing to do with it.  did you know that a tornado can punch a blade of grass into an oak tree?  yes, grass is known for being giving and oak is known for bering hard.  but the power of the tornado (BP) overcomes everything.

you NEED meds to live, just like you need food and water and air.  get used to it.  i don't know how old you are, but i suspect that you will be on these meds for many, many yrs.  you have two choices.  you can curse it or you can welcome it for helping to keep you functional.  i hope that you welcome them.

warren

i pick up a lot of resentment/anger/rage in your posts.  these emotions are typical of bp.  i get them (mostly rage) frequently.  my psychiatrist (pdoc) says that it's from the depression; i thought it was from the mania.  what do i know?  i'm just living it the best wa i can - just like you.

as nyou know, bp is characterized by cycling from a state of "high" or euphoria to a state of depression.  mood stabelizers, such as lithium, which i have been on since 2001) do just that:  they stabelize your mood.  they do not make you hyper nor do they make you depressive.  the description that you have provided in your posts suggests that you are in a depressive episode and have been for some time.  the appropriate rx for depression is an antidepressent.  if your pdocs cannot see this and act appropriatly, fire their a**es!  i've done it with more than one dr (for chronic pain, not for bp).

blaiming the lithium is like - and i hope i don't step on too many toes here - blaiming the gun when someone has been shot.  the gun gunctioned perfectly. some gd idiot pulled the trigger inappropriatly.   PLEASE don't be like that fool who blaimes the gun.  the lithium is fundtioning perfectly.  you need another medication to work with the lithium.

find another pdoc who is compatable with you.  you must be able to trust this person totally - they have your psyche and you life in their hands.  and make finding this person your number one priotity.  more important than work.  more important than school.  more important than cleaning the house.  get the idea?

god bless you.  i know that you are having a very hard time riht now.  i've lived long enough to know "this, too, shall pass."

warren

i agree with you entirely.  lithium is not a silver bullet.  the problem with bp - and i believe most illnesses - is that there is no such thing as "one size fits all."  from what i have read in this forum, sometimes it takes a yr or more to find the right "cocktail" that will alleviate your symptoms with a minimum of side effects.

you say that the anti-depressents that you have tried didn't work for you.  let me tell you a story (i'm jewish and we love stories ).  i have chronic debilitating back pain.  several yrs ago my dr came into the examination room with a crap-eating grin on his face.  "warren," he said, "i think i have the perfect drug for your back pain."  it was ultram.  i took it and i vometed what looked like coffee groounds (don't mean to gross anybody out) for a week.  i stopped taking the med.  a  few months ago my wife went to see a dr about her neuralgia.  he rxed her ultram and the drug has helped her an aweful lot - with no side effects.

what works for me may well kill you and vice vera.  eaach person is unique and must find a unique set of drugs that works for them.

several yrs ago lithium was the only drug for bp and was effective fo the vast majority of cases.  unfortunately, there were some for whom lithium didn't work or who has unaccaptable side effects.  there are others, like you seem to be, who just don't like the drug.  fortunaately today there are several mood stabelizing drugs.  according to my pdoc, they all have side effects but it's a question of weighing the pros and cons.

get rid of those antique pdocs and place them in a musium somewhere (if any would have them).  do you have a new pdoc yet?  just pushing. 

warren