question about lithium *poss trigg*

[dragonflygurl90]

hi i was put on lithium around two months ago. before i was on it i was not sleeping well at night, very agitated,anxious, sad,suicidal. basically felt crazy. attempted twice and they put me on lithium and uped my lamictal to 250 and xanex to .5 am and 1 mg hs. i was doing awesome but about a month ago i started getting anxious. there was alot of tension going on and too much stress. i also started losing intrest and not wanting to do anything. i told my therapist,counsler and psychiatrist.two people i was close to passed away in the past month. ive been extremly anxious and not sleeping well again. i have very impulsive thoughts. i just want to know if its normal for the lithium to stop just like that? could my levels be messed up because i dont eat and drink right? i have irregular eating patterns and may not drink enough. but its only started up again recently. if anyone expirienced simmular symptoms please share.

[lostandalone3]

Generally if you are not drinking and eating enough it will cause your lithium levels to become higher. This is why they recommend you drink a certain amount each day, and decrease the dosage if you are becoming sick with fever, vomiting etc because it will upset the levels.

The best way to check the dosage is right is to go and get a blood test. Have they tested your thyroid function aswell? It can cause these sorts of probs and also Lithium can make your thyroid underactive.

Do you maybe just think that your feelings are a reaction to losing two people you loved and not your illness getting worse?
My friend passed away not long ago and the same thing happened to me, its was just grief and a very valid and expected response. Some of my friends were having the same problems and they dont have a diagnosable mental illness.
It might be that because you have a pre exisitng mental illness that your reaction to grief is much more enhanced then it would be in others, or your much more aware of it. What did you psych say?

[Merc]

Generally if you are not drinking and eating enough it will cause your lithium levels to become higher. This is why they recommend you drink a certain amount each day, and decrease the dosage if you are becoming sick with fever, vomiting etc because it will upset the levels.

The best way to check the dosage is right is to go and get a blood test. Have they tested your thyroid function aswell? It can cause these sorts of probs and also Lithium can make your thyroid underactive.

Do you maybe just think that your feelings are a reaction to losing two people you loved and not your illness getting worse?
My friend passed away not long ago and the same thing happened to me, its was just grief and a very valid and expected response. Some of my friends were having the same problems and they dont have a diagnosable mental illness.
It might be that because you have a pre exisitng mental illness that your reaction to grief is much more enhanced then it would be in others, or your much more aware of it. What did you psych say?