Lithium does what?

[Laume]

My pdoc upped my Li from 900 mg to 1200 mg last week.

I didn't eat at all yesterday until about 11:00 when I gagged down a salad.

Today same thing. Salad and a frozen lean cuisine. Yum-meeee

I just have no appetite whatsoever. I am an overeater (I eat my feelings) and this total disinterest in food is a bit odd.

Earlier today I thought I could really go for a Big Mac. The more I thought about it the less I wanted to eat that crap, so I ate my fancy dinner, mainly to stop the headache and dizziness.

So I am okay with the block put in my mind against obsessive overeating, I just hope this is a permanent thing becasue I feel more normal in some weird way.

Anyone else have this from Lithium? I am assuming that is what it is since it is the only thing that has changed.

[BPCharlotte]

HI

When I first took Lith, it killed my appetite too, and I was an emotional overeater. Problem was, if I didn't eat enough, I got more side effects like nausea etc.

It wore off, and I'm back to comfort eating now, but as long as you eat healthily and get some exercise the weight can be controlled for a lot of people. She says.... lol

My advice is to eat a solid meal immediately before taking the meds, even if it is not *healthy* or *balanced*, cos the upset stomach thing is not good for absorption of the Lith, if nothing else. If the lack of appetite persists once your blood serum levels have been stable for a while, talk to your doc.

All the best

[Laume]

Thanks Maz

I had nausea a few months back when I initially started Lithium, but none now.

I thought maybe this is because LI is stabilising my moods, and has stopped a lot of my obsessive thinking, so maybe that's why I seem to have a more normal attitude to food lately?

Whatever - I will take it as it comes and hope it lasts.

Losing weight will only make me happier in the long run.

[AirMarshall]

I try to take my lithium with supper, or at least with some sort of food. Otherwise it can give me just a little belly ache. When I first started it made me nauseous for about a month. I ate a lot of soda crackers, and anything else at hand to keep something in my stomach.

Like most meds the side effects wear off, and I think nothing of it now. Those first few months were a bit miserable. I'm sure that is part of why so many people drop so many meds. "If they could just have hung in there a little longer...."

a.m.