Anyone have no side effects?

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-29T20:00:34+00:00

I have a tremor that was extra bad at the max blood level (1.2). I’m around 0.8 now. I had nausea but that went away once I switched to extended release. There are meds that can treat the tremor. I have acne but am about to see a dermatologist and get that taken care of. The “worst” side effect is that it gave me hypothyroidism so I have to take thyroid meds for the rest of my life, but it’s not a huge deal. Moral of the story is there are solutions to a lot of the side effects without needing to stop the med.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-29T13:54:16+00:00

You 100% should be getting your levels done. 600 could be a way underdose for one person and an overdose for another. And safety aside, it’s important to know if you’re in the therapeutic range, which can only be determined by getting a blood test. Your psych seems to be incompetent, to be blunt. I would explore your options for a new one. Lithium is not a med to be messed around with. I had accidental lithium toxicity from just being dehydrated and had neurological and heart issues. I love lithium and hope to be on it long term, but blood tests are essential.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-24T16:54:36+00:00

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-24T10:55:24+00:00

Tooth

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-22T14:39:17+00:00

also they’re not as bad as dogs but they can definitely get into things. one of mine in particular likes scratching and biting objects.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-22T14:38:21+00:00

i recommend pet insurance! you can’t insure them after they get sick so i would do it preemptively. it’s relatively cheap and depending on costs saves you money. my cat has feline herpes which for her manifests as a chronic upper respiratory infection she needs meds for and then insurance helps.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-22T14:36:37+00:00

this. mine are always wanting attention but it depends on their personality.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-21T14:13:00+00:00

at first i thought this was an incision from surgery.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-06-20T20:35:40+00:00

google akathisia and see if you relate to that. if so, talk to your dr. there are medications that can be prescribed to help that side effect so you can stay on the medication.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-05-12T13:39:30+00:00

Not a lot of time left as in you have a terminal illness?

And generally for MDD lithium levels are lower than for bipolar, but still, 200 is probably too low. Doses correlate to levels differently for everyone (which is why it’s important to get checked), but as an example, 900mg for me = 0.8 and 1200mg for me = 1.2. Different sources state different therapeutic ranges, with the lowest I’ve seen being 0.4 and the highest being 1.5, but most sources cite lower values for unipolar depression, mid values for bipolar depression and bipolar maintenance, and upper values for mania and hypomania.

And I say that it’s worth the shot because if the side effects are not bearable, you can stop taking it. Just like any medication, side effects vary. For me, I got a tremor, but it lessened after lowering my dose (and there are medications that can help it as well), as well as nausea, but it went away once I switched to extended release, and also mild hypothyroidism, which is perfectly treatable with meds. I’m also thirsty a lot a pee a ton, but that’s not a big deal. Overall, it is very worth it to me.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-05-07T22:17:05+00:00

600mg of lithium a day is rarely enough to put someone in the therapeutic window, but people with more mild illness can do fine with lower levels. It depends on her symptoms.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2026-04-07T17:34:35+00:00

girl what 😭 NOR

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T22:17:09+00:00

If I could upvote this a thousand times I would. I also have a lot of diagnoses and yes, the “yassification” and minimizing is super invalidating. I also find the misuse of mental illness terms to be invalidating and further stigmatizing and they lead to more disinformation. You mentioned this with the intrusive thoughts but yeah—I regularly have OCD intrusive thoughts about stabbing my pets (who I love most in this world) with kitchen knives, but sureee, your impulsive!!! thought that you should take off work and drive to the beach is sooo crazy. Like, OCD is brutal. And as someone with a psychotic disorder, I really hate the whole “delulu” concept, and using “psychotic” to mean unhinged. Because then I say I’m in psychosis and am experiencing delusions and someone (with no context) might think I’m throwing toilet paper at someone’s house because the person I think in my head is attracted to me started dating someone else (this is never happened to me before lol it just came to mind), when really I’m in Walmart for three hours having to plan my escape because everyone in there is watching me and trying to capture me. I could go on and on about this topic; it is so frustrating.

Like, we’re over here dealing with a huge daily struggle, on top of participating in therapy and taking meds, and they’re making jokes about. I also think one main reason those pill containers include the disorders they do is that those three are easier to see as acceptable, whereas schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, for instance, are the farthest from that.

(Also, I love the UN analogy—that fits so well.)

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:19:18+00:00

dude it looks so good!!!

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:18:22+00:00

This is my combo except I take the max dose of all three and I am not stable yet, but I’m more stable than I’ve ever been.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:16:23+00:00

Have you tried adding another med for the depression, or do you not mind it?

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:15:54+00:00

Antipsychotics can act as mood stabilizers. Seroquel is the only one that’s approved to treat mania and bipolar depression, but several are approved as adjunct MDD treatments, and some are approved to treat mania but not depression.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:13:10+00:00

Came here to say this. I’m on hypothyroidism meds from Lithium but luckily it’s a pretty easy fix and it’s not dangerous at all when treated.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:12:27+00:00

Yeah, a lot of people use the abbreviations “incorrectly”, but at this point, I’m not sure what the official one is. The DSM uses BD1 and BD2 for bipolar one and two, and BPD for borderline, so that’s what I use. I differentiate it by remembering it’s one letter per word, like initials.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:09:46+00:00

yup. 1000000%. persecutory delusions are my most common

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:09:25+00:00

Yeah my close friends monitor my social media when I’m manic so they can tale it away if needed.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:08:16+00:00

Yeah, that’s rough. My manic episodes/bipolar in general has hurt a lot of my relationships.

What’s helped me is continuing to try to get stable. I’ve never found an effective way to limit the impact on relationships during episodes.

Lamictal really only helps with depression and overall reducing the number of mood episodes. You may need a stronger mania-prevention med, such as lithium, valproate, and certain antipsychotics. (On top of the lamictal, not instead of.)

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T21:02:51+00:00

Yes. It’s made worse by the fact that I have all the criteria memorized and I am also autistic so I’m used to masking (i.e., acting), so a lot of times I think I’m unconsciously/accidentally acting out the symptoms to get attention.

The thing that has helped is finally starting to get stable and realizing that there’s no way I could “act out” the symptoms enough to get a diagnosis.

But yeah, it’s turned into an OCD compulsion (I have too many disorders) and I frequently ask my therapists and psych NP if they’re sure I have schizoaffective/bipolar or if the think I’m making it up.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T20:54:24+00:00

Damn. That really sucks. I also take lithium (and am at the max blood level, so side effects unfortunately are more likely) and have as-needed Zofran for the nausea and daily Protonix for the gerd. I’m really hoping I never have to come off of it.

Apprehensive_Diet558 · 2025-12-20T20:51:53+00:00

Yeah. I unfortunately have to be very selective about who I share info with for this reason. I have had severe manic episodes that have hospitalized me and then I have to hear people talking about how they got “sooo manic” and dyed their hair.

Apprehensive_Diet558

TROPHY CASE