Oh, Lithium.

My physiatrist had been trying for years to get me to give Lithium a chance because one of my bipolar symptoms is rapid cycling. That’s when I change from depressed to manic to depressed to manic to depressed and back to manic all in the span of thirty seconds. It’s not fun when my brain is behaving that way. After experiencing an episode where rapid cycling had been happening for over a week, I decided to follow my doctor’s advice. I now know Lithium is not a drug for me.

The first side effect I experienced was mass confusion. Much to my annoyance, my psychiatrist insisted it wasn’t the Lithium. The thing though is I’ve a stroke. Mass confusion was a symptom of my carotid arteries tearing. I sat there in my neurologist’s office crying. I thought my stents were failing me and I was going to have to have more stents placed in my arteries. She ordered an MRI, which ending up showing that there was some sort of occlusion in my right carotid artery. I was immediately sent to the hospital for a contrast CT scan. The one where they inject radiation into your blood stream. Radiation that illuminates the blood vessels so doctor’s can get a clear view of what’s going on. Well, the MRI was wrong. My carotid artery was fine. My neurologist told me my confusion was most likely caused by the Lithium. Confusion is one of Lithium’s main side effects.

All while this was going on, the weight number on my scale kept creeping up. I was starting to panic. I had my stomach stapled two and a half years ago and had lost over seventy pounds. Seventy pounds that I have successfully kept off for over two years. Weight gain is also common on Lithium and my body likes to gain weight.

At my last appointment, I started crying in front of my physiatrist and he told me to stop the Lithium at once. That was a month ago. I haven’t gained a pound since going off of it and I am now deciding the best way to lose the twenty pounds I packed on. My clearheadedness has come back. Well, as clearheaded as a bipolar schizophrenic can get.

I’m only slightly annoyed by my experience with Lithium. I never know how my body’s going to react to a medication until I try it. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s just something that comes with the territory of taking medication to treat my illness.