I am taking Lithium for a grief experience. My homeopathic physician is in Spain and I'm in Indiana and it is difficult to communicate with her. I've been taking Lithium under my doctor's direction for about 28 days. I'm doing better now. Is Lithium like a conventional anti-depressant in that it takes some time to build up in one's system before one experiences the benefit? Is there a downside to Lithium? How does it work? Thank you.

danmills@worldnet.att.net

Daniel, Lithium is bad news - it can cause a range of common side effects, notably dizziness and lack of coordination. It causes imbalance of sodium in the body which can affect kidney, thyroid and cardiac function. Your doctor should have told you to report excessive urination or thirst, nausea, vomiting or any other causes of dehydation while you are taking lithium.
Lithium used this way is not a cure - symptoms return four weeks after a reduction or discontinuation of lithium - indicating its pervasiveness in the body.
There are effective homoeopathic remedies to help with grief and I advise that you post your case here, or if too personal, email one of the practitioners on the bb for advice.

Dear Daniel,
Kindly throw more light on the medicine that you are taking. The Potency, repitation, and its associated radicle ( ie lithium- carb ) if its there.
As a rule homoeopathic medicines are not repeated frequently. And the potency prescribed will not have any material element in it unless its prescribed in very low potencies.
So till you clarify on potency and repitation its difficult to say about its affect.

Lithium (I am assuming allopathic medicine and not a homeopathic remedy) is NOT a quasi-antidepressant!(but yes it does take 2-3 weeks to exert its effects)
It is a miscellaneous psychotherapeutic...more on the line of an anti-psychotic. Typically used with Bi-polar diagnosis to control manic episodes.

note every thing Anna B said about it!! VEry important to monitor blood levels (can get toxic), salt intake, fluid intake, etc.
Frequent side effects are weight gain,and a whole bunch of other things.

Lithium is usually used for serious cases of psychiatric illness....not just a grief experience. You may be feeling better just because you are out of your usual environment (?)or are you from INdiana? Why Lithium?? Yikes!!!

Zmyst

[This message has been edited by Zmyst (edited 17 June 2000).]

Sounds to me like Danielmills is talking about taking the allopathic drug, Lithium - from the questions posted...

if this is the case....refer to Anna's post on it -

otherwise - specify if it is indeed the remedy and which potency....

RE: Lithium
Thank you for your interest. I'm taking Lithium (Oligosol), CuOrAr (Oligosol) and Natrum Murriaticum 5c(as needed but no more than 3 to 4 times a week).

On the side of the box containing the glass amouples of Lithium is the following:
Composition pour une ampoule de 2 ml
Gluconate De Lithium ..... 8,140 mg, soit 0,2796 mg de Lithium
Excipients: Glucose anhydre, eau purifiee

The grief relates to the loss of my spouse and family due to a divorce.

I am not experiencing any of the bad symptoms that have been listed. I am not having as many sad moments now as compared with the last 45 days. I am able to work better and to concentrate more now. I actually had to stop working for about 30 days, although I functioned normally otherwise and have exercised daily.

I trust my doctor as she has treated me effectively for several years and she is a well educated and experienced person, however, it is now difficult to talk to her since I live in Indiana and she is in Spain.

Having posted this additional information, does the circumstance appear to be less serious?

Sounds more like quacked homeopatic remedies, and its no homeopathy at all. Expect only troubles from it!

------------------
Homeopat MNNH Geir E.T. Marcussen
email: getm@eunet.no
http://www.homeopati.no

Dear Daniel

I am glad to hear you feel improved, but that may be more due to the NatMur than to the lithium. As stated by Zymyst, lithium is a very unusual prescription, conventionally, for depression - it's more usually prescribed in entrenched cases of bi-polar disorder (manic depression).
If you wish to continue to take lithium (much against what I would advise) then you need to have a doctor monitor your blood levels frequently - if your usual doctor is away, another should do so.
There are many drugs that would be normally be prescribed before lithium in a case of depression such as yours - where it has been triggered by external circumstances rather than by chemical imbalance.
The best thing to do would be to consult a homoeopath, but if you want to continue with lithium I would strongly advise that you take a second opinion of a conventional doctor.

Still u have to explian, wheter the stuff is homeopatic or allopahic prescribed, if lithium, its a shrink that has to prescibe it, and that i
doubt form your story, cauase lithium patients dont usually be so conscious that they cant tell that their given litiunm.....
Also i surmise they are somekind of French misunderstood allopathic homeopatic prescription, and that will no cure, but cure symptomatilogcically,,,,dvs give no real cure but startor give another, as cancer.....usually does...

[This message has been edited by GM (edited 17 June 2000).]