Lithium and Reading

[6un6silent6]

I've been hearing about how Lithium gives you neuron/neural protection and can actually heal your brain but I'm noticing that when I read a book or an article online the words sort of jump around (no, not a hallucination) and it's hard for me to focus on what I'm reading and I tend to have to go back and re-read it several times.

Am I the only who experiences this? I love to read but it's a daunting task to say the least and I'd like to find some relief.

[gizmo]

I don't know which of my meds cause it, but I went from reading 5-6 books a week to not reading for about 6-8 months. I have completely lost the ability to focus on reading. And I really miss it. But I'm not sure if it's the lithium, because my issue only started about 2 years ago, and I've been taking lithium for 4 years or so.

But you are not alone.

[AirMarshall]

Yes, Lithium is associated with cognitive problems. In my opinion, some of the difficulty reading can be related to difficulty tracking the text with the eyes. Similar to hand tremors. I'm having trouble tracking myself this afternoon. I look at the words and my eyes jump away.

My suggestions include: drinking some water; you might be dehydrated; have a salty snack along with the water, finally a beta blocker may help in relaxing the muscles.

a.m.

[6un6silent6]

Yes, Lithium is associated with cognitive problems. In my opinion, some of the difficulty reading can be related to difficulty tracking the text with the eyes. Similar to hand tremors. I'm having trouble tracking myself this afternoon. I look at the words and my eyes jump away.

My suggestions include: drinking some water; you might be dehydrated; have a salty snack along with the water, finally a beta blocker may help in relaxing the muscles.

a.m.

Good tips, I drink a lot of water (2-3L/day min) and I've been keeping my salt stable (I salt the shit out of everything). As far as cognition, I don't have many problems remembering and if anything I seem to think more clearly and am able to solve problems at work/home better now that I'm on Lithium. The main problem seems to be tracking the words. All it takes is a split-second and I lost an entire paragraph and can't find where I left off without heavy effort.

Good to know I'm not the only one with the issue. I tend to stick to short tech-docs for work and blogs as I can usually keep focus long enough to finish before I get frustrated.

[Guest]

I think it go better for me, now I read voraciously like I used to. The side effects took a while to wear off.

[bobber]

lamictal does this too, still waiting for it to wear off, but it has become better. After a year on it I couldn't read a fairly basic book without frequently losing track of characters & events. That still happens but to a lesser extent. I'm reading War & Peace, and while a dense book it would not have been a problem a few years ago. Since I haven't had any tbi, it shouldn't be so difficult. Boris is Anna Mihaelovna's son? Or Pavlovna's? Ok, no it's Anna Mihaelovna Karagin (I think?) whose is best friends with the Rostov wife (Illya is husbind), and she asked Vassily Kuragin, who is son of count Bezuhov, who is also the father of illegitimate Pierre, to place Boris in the army via petition, which he did, etc. I'll try to pick it up after not reading it for a week, and have to flip through the character list about a million times. Even with easy books, like Neuromancer I have concentration difficulties. It's like my eyes like to "jump" and I lose concentration when that happens. Dunno, fack it's the pits.

[Guest]

I havn't found lithium to give many problems once I got used to it, The big problem I found was the AP.

I used to love reading at night before sleep, but if I take the AP then try and read its really hard. Reading during the day is fine though, so I still get through a few books every so often.