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"1038 medications are known to interact with Lithium" (from Drugs dot com)
I'm scared to death of taking anything and everything now because of the Lithium I'm on...
For one (TMI and grossness ahead) the hospital's 'food' if you wanna call it that MESSED me UP, and Colace which I've taken, takes its time to do its thing. I called and asked a Pharmacist if taking Magnesium Citrate while on lithium would be ok, and he said he looked it up and did not see any interactions, but I'm paranoid because I know you have to sort of try to keep a stable sodium level (dietarily) on it because lithium is a salt...
However I know Mag Citrate to be a saline laxative and so it works by changing the water/salt ratio of your innards. I'm not sure if this is relevant to your blood sodium levels, but its enough to make me wary.
Also I spoke too soon, I've got the lithium tremor. Ah well. It was worse earlier because it was so cold. I feel like I'm vibrating at all times now, anywhere from a slight feeling of body restlessness to 'nervous chihuahua'. Lol.
Benefits are still outweighing the cons, I haven't had any suicidal thoughts, cutting urges, morbid thoughts. I think I've found a miracle.
But the whole 'over 1,000 medication interactions' thing skeeves me out really bad because I take this-and-that sporadically and sometimes when I'm not supposed to (although I'm being a little better about it), but the sort-of stigma and illegality of taking meds you weren't told to take discourages me from discussing all my meds with doctors.
It's also hard because I'm not sure how to explain my complicated relationship with pain medicine because doctors will all ask, "Well ARE you or AREN'T you (an addict)?" and I'm not quite sure, myself.
Aside from that, you know how all medicines say "Tell your doctor about any medications, vitamins, and herbal supplements you are currently taking before going on ____"? And how we just kind of take vitamins and herbs without thinking twice? Well, with lithium in particular I feel it's more vital to be sure. But I'm not really seeing a doctor, and with being denied for SSI, it will increase the difficulty of me getting proper, routine medical care even further.
And the little pamphlet makes it sound so easy to accidentally OD unintentionally, and a lithium OD is some really nasty business. Dx Anywho I don't know why I'm ranting, I guess I'm just nervous about it now.
As usual I've found the advice on the bluelight.org forum to be most helpful and it's a very good tool to use for nitty-gritty specific drug questions. I'm too tired to read up the ins-and-outs of taking other stuff while on lithium, but I will do so tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for the welcome back wishes. Love you all.
I'm scared to death of taking anything and everything now because of the Lithium I'm on...
For one (TMI and grossness ahead) the hospital's 'food' if you wanna call it that MESSED me UP, and Colace which I've taken, takes its time to do its thing. I called and asked a Pharmacist if taking Magnesium Citrate while on lithium would be ok, and he said he looked it up and did not see any interactions, but I'm paranoid because I know you have to sort of try to keep a stable sodium level (dietarily) on it because lithium is a salt...
However I know Mag Citrate to be a saline laxative and so it works by changing the water/salt ratio of your innards. I'm not sure if this is relevant to your blood sodium levels, but its enough to make me wary.
Also I spoke too soon, I've got the lithium tremor. Ah well. It was worse earlier because it was so cold. I feel like I'm vibrating at all times now, anywhere from a slight feeling of body restlessness to 'nervous chihuahua'. Lol.
Benefits are still outweighing the cons, I haven't had any suicidal thoughts, cutting urges, morbid thoughts. I think I've found a miracle.
But the whole 'over 1,000 medication interactions' thing skeeves me out really bad because I take this-and-that sporadically and sometimes when I'm not supposed to (although I'm being a little better about it), but the sort-of stigma and illegality of taking meds you weren't told to take discourages me from discussing all my meds with doctors.
It's also hard because I'm not sure how to explain my complicated relationship with pain medicine because doctors will all ask, "Well ARE you or AREN'T you (an addict)?" and I'm not quite sure, myself.
Aside from that, you know how all medicines say "Tell your doctor about any medications, vitamins, and herbal supplements you are currently taking before going on ____"? And how we just kind of take vitamins and herbs without thinking twice? Well, with lithium in particular I feel it's more vital to be sure. But I'm not really seeing a doctor, and with being denied for SSI, it will increase the difficulty of me getting proper, routine medical care even further.
And the little pamphlet makes it sound so easy to accidentally OD unintentionally, and a lithium OD is some really nasty business. Dx Anywho I don't know why I'm ranting, I guess I'm just nervous about it now.
As usual I've found the advice on the bluelight.org forum to be most helpful and it's a very good tool to use for nitty-gritty specific drug questions. I'm too tired to read up the ins-and-outs of taking other stuff while on lithium, but I will do so tomorrow.
Thank you everyone for the welcome back wishes. Love you all.
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Mom and I have errands to run this morning. She said we can get sushi for lunch though. I go back to work today. What are you looking forward to this weekend?
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Quick, before the evil MONday gets here! Let's climb those mountains, dance in the meadows, dip our feet in the ocean....Okay, so most of us won't be doing any of That. Sadly. But today can still be a great day!The area behind our back fence is on an incline, with less than two feet on even ground at the top. I don't balance well enough for the incline, but our mower guy mows that...
I'm really glad to see you back.
I do the same thing with a new med. Of course it is going to make us nervous because it is the unknown. However, you do know Lithium is making you stable.
Do you trust your doctor? Really, we have to trust them to a certain extent and we have to follow our care plan if we hope to ever feel well.
Good for you on being proactive in your treatment. The pharmacy is very knowledgeable about meds. Calling them is always the right thing to do.
You will get over the nervousness as you begin to stabilize - watchful is good but too much Googling is just too much information. They are required by law to list all of the interactions and side effects. It never does me any good to study on all of that too much.
As for the Colace, I'm sure it would be fine but if you are not sure about it try some of the Glycerin suppositories. Yeah, I said it. They are effective and no side effects.
Let us know how "everything comes out".
Is there a reason you aren't seeing a Dr? I would have thought you needed one for the lithium scripts.