Hi Olivia and welcome! I don't have any relevant experience to share with you and offhand I don't remember this concern coming up before on the board; I hope someone will be able to give you some insights. But in the meantime, I just wanted to welcome you and wish you the best.

Thanks Katie hopefully someone may have the same issues that I'm having.

I was diagnosed bipolar at one time, and was on lithium for quite a while with mthx. I don't think there were any interactions. I did have lithium psychosis, though, because I was taking a lot of Naproxen, which is an NSAID contraindicated for for combining lithium with aspirin based drugs. Do, stay away from those aspirin based drugs, as long as you are on lithium.

In the end, prednisone was fingered for my mood swings, after many years. The mood swings started when I was put on high doses of prednisone for asthma, and continued right into RA prednisone. Every time I got off prednisone, I become perfectly normal. In fact, at this point, I really don't have mood swings anymore, even on low dose prednisone.

Are you on any other meds? We used to have 3 people in the bipolar forum that had both RA and bipolar. Not sure where they others have gone. Some were quite severe, with their bipolar, whereas my RA was so much more severe than the bipolar. (with a wrong diagnosis!) Please feel free to pm me, if you want to talk more about it. I have gained a lot of insight in the last 30 years regarding both diseases, although I am not a professional.

Hi Olivia : ) I'm a newbie too, as of today. I also have RA and Bipolar disorder. I am taking Lamictal and Mtx. I have been reading that Lamictal can cause autoimmune problems. I'm thinking of asking my psych dr about switching to lithium. Does it work well for you?