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 ~

Hi,
I had very mixed results. Actually, lithium major stunk and I was depressed for 4 years while on it and an anti-depressant.
In comparison to those 4 years, my life has been good since I stopped taking it and found other things.
M.

Lithium has been found not to be very sucessful in treating mixed states, so i'm not surprised by your experience.

A few ppl with mixed states respond to it but most do not. For those who respond, it apparently is superior to divalproex, but statistically it is more useful to treat pure mania.

~ 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.

Thanks, I had read these before I ordered it. My Psyc doc said that because it is bound to orotate and more easily absorbed you can take less and not have the kidney damage. It is not controled by the fda...he told me to look for some between 4-6 units, after reading reviews I chose one by advanced research with Dr Napiers name on it.It has 4.9, so if it does vary a bit I am still in the ok range. I do believe it is making me sleepy though. I have ok Insurance, my drug of choice from internet searching is lanotrigine. @nd choices zydis or oxcabazepine....I will not take one that has weight gain as a side effect. I had gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago and I will not go there again.
Thank everyone for the input, My dr did say we may have to add an antidepressant when I see him on the 30th. My biggest concern right now.....being sleepy, I want to try to go back to work next Monday.