Does anyone have experience with useing this form of lithium?

no but I was looking for it the other day at our local drug emporium ...I read about it being available at health food stores. Call your pharmacies and see if they carry it over the counter. YOu can probably google it and find whole salers of the supplement...have you tried that?
and welcome to the forums!

beth

I found it online, you have to check,,differences in price and shipping charges. I was told by my Dr to look for 4-6. mg of lithium and that it would not hurt my kindneys as you can take much less because it has a loose chemical bond to hte orotate, unlike the citrate or carbonate. my concern is weight gain, I will stop any me that starts that... I have found mixed lithium results.

I take lamictal for a mood stabilizer and have had no weight gain as it is a weight neutral med and very good for bp2 folks....it has antidepressant qualities.
ask your pdoc about this.
jsut a suggestion
beth

Lamictal (lamotrigine) has been shown to be effective, in clinical trials, in two ways:

1. seems to delay time of onset between episodes
2. has antidepressant qualities, as Bizi says.

It is often used in conjunction with an AD or for bipolars who cannot take an AD. BUT:

Clinical trials have shown Lamictal is not superior to placebo for mania.

As such, it is not an alternative to stabilizers with anti-manic effects such as indeed lithium, but also divalproex, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine... and the new generation neuroleptics.

So why do we call it a stabilizer at all, and not an anti-depressant? Well... partly history, partly chemistry. Neither term is really accurate.

Originally, Lamictal was thought to have both anti-manic and anti-depressant action, so historically it was termed a stabilizer, even thought used only off label at the time. Also, Lamictal is an anti-epileptic drug (AED); this class of drugs when used to treat bipolar generally serve as "mood-stabilizers," and are called thus. Lastly, most antidepressant (AD) drug classes have very different types of action than AEDs so lumping Lamictal under the AD umbrella would be more misleading than calling it a stabilizer, especially as pretty much all ADs carry a risk of manic reaction in bipolars, especially if the patient is not covered by an anti-manic agent.

Until Lamictal came along, saying "mood-stabilizer" was almost synonymous with "anti-manic." Now, not so but the name has stuck so we do sometimes say mood-stabilizer when we really intend something which will prevent/treat mania.

once one is stable, anti-manics are sometimes suspended (varying philosophies or whether a bipolar patient should or should not take them all the time). if the main problem is depression, Lamictal can be maintained to help with that.

Bizi, just a note... I do believe Geodon is serving as your anti-manic mood stabilizer, not Lamictal.

~ waves ~

Dogodlvr,

i am relieved to know you do have doc's indications with regard to dosages. do be cautious however, especially at first, and buy a good brand...

I am not sure if this has now changed, but last i knew the FDA did not require/enforce standardization of content for supplements which means each pill and certainly each "lot" could contain slightly varying amounts of lithium orotate to what is declared on the label.

~ waves ~

Dear Waves, I think we are right about the geodon helping me the most to stabilize me. lamictal has proven to have antidepresant results thus the suppression of rebound depression following a manic attack. and this is why I take it. My pdoc wanted to increase the dose when I was having some suicidal thoughts but I didn't do this because I was so unstable and didnot want to push me into more of a mixed mood. So I have stayed at the 200mg dose.. I have not been sleeping well this past few days, I think it is my hormones acting up.It is hard knowing what to do when I am perimenopausal. Increasing my klonipin helps with the insomnia but I hate thinking that I am building up a torlerence. But I have to sleep that is what got me into trouble last summer.
My moods have stabilized thanks be to geodon.
I suggested the lamictal because she is suffering mostly with depression and lithium doesn't really address the depression if I remember correctly.
beth

Well... lithium has a mixed bag of studies at its back.

In general it is more of an antimanic. it tends to flatten mood altogether if too much is taken... however it has been shown in some studies to decrease the risk of suicide... even though it is not particularly successful for mixed moods (statistically) compared to divalproex.

i have not seen data of it specifically being used for an antidepressant effect however, and it is definitely used along with ADs as necessary.

Certainly Lamictal would be appropriate for that. However if one is bipolar and not stable, it is important to realize that Lamictal alone will not protect against mania, and since it is called a "mood stabilizer" in the literature even ... it is easy for one to think it covers both bases, when that is not the case.

---------------

Bizi, I'm not sure i can offer any advice about sleep. do you take supplements? Magnesium - usually taken with calcium and vitamin D for proper balance assimilation can help with sleep. a simple way to get it is by having a glass of hot or warm (but not boiled!) milk before bed.

another thing, if you can, is to keep a check on your alcohol intake especially in the evening. whereas alcohol does make one sleepy, it gives rise to poor quality sleep, and often also reduces the amount of sleep one is able to get. hormonal changes can also affect the way alcohol affects you, btw.

i do not wish to advise one way or the other on hormonal therapy to help with perimenopausal symptoms, since such therapy could possibly interfere with your meds. but some women do find it helpful during perimenopause.

you might want to speak to both your gyn (first) and your pdoc (once you know what you could be given) about this avenue. This is a tricky juncture for bipolars. i am not there yet but not far and i don't look forward to it.

~ waves ~

dear dogodlvr, please read this article - it is from the bipolar beat blogs here at PsychCentral... talks about the studies - and lack of studies, the claims/advantages/risks of lithium orotate:

Bipolar Disorder Medication Spotlight: Lithium Orotate | Bipolar Beat

i also found lithium orotate on wikipedia which basically says the same thing and cites the studies:

Lithium orotate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

take care...

and please check in!!!

~ waves ~

Hi, Dogodlvr.

Did your psychiatrist really suggest this????
It sounds strange to me and I am confused by the question.

I wouldn't take it.
There is no way to know what is in any given pill.
The stuff you buy via prescription has pretty close to what it is supposed to have.

Also, does one still take blood tests while on this?

Do you have good medical insurance?
If not, there are some mood stabilzers that are generic and cheap.

List of mood stabilzers:
http://www.psycheducation.org/depres...tabilizers.htm

http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig/BP_pharm.html



M.