Does anyone take lithium for there depression?

June 23, 2007 6:18am CST
Im very concerened about the side effects of the drug lithium, my mum has been taking it for years but only recently she seams to have put weight on and wondered if there is something she can do about this, she east very healthily all the timej and exercises every day, some people say it might be a reaction the the thyroid gland? which is slowing her matabolism down, but she is 50 years old now so could be a mixture of what comes naturally to you?? The doctor says shes fine which is the main thing but im wondering if anyone has gone through anything similar to my mum and perhaps offer any advice? xx
1 response
@Ravenladyj (22904)
• United States
24 Jun 07
Hhhmm I always thought Lithium was for severe Manic episodes in a Manic Depressive....but I've never heard of it being used for just "depression"....I did (sort of) know one person who was prescribed it (for severe M.D actually) but all I really know it that when he DIDN'T take it as he was supposed to things got REALLY BAD..... If your mum has been on it for yrs but only recently put on wt etc I would say its NOT from the meds but something else instead...With her age, of course naturally her metabolism is slowing down (they say that starts in your 30s) but has she changed anything about her lifestyle, new meds, new herbal treatments, trying new foods etc etc that conicide with when she started to gain wt? It could be any number of things causing it I would think
24 Jun 07
she took lithium because it was something she diddnt have enough of in her blood, she had a hard time when she was about my age because the hospital tried her on all sorts of anti depresents including electric shock treatment (which upsets me to think about) but apparantly your not aware of it whilst its happening, you just have a bit of a headache when you come back round until eventually all of a sudden they tried lithium and all of a sudden all the doom and gloom went and shes been normal ever since.....thank god!! keeping my fingers crossed! my whole family were really concerned about me when i went through a depression stage when i was 19 because they thought history was repeating with me, but mine was a different sort of depression, my mum couldnt help hers it was like her mind took over her body because all her chemicals in her bllod and mind were all over the place, mine was because too much crap built up in my mind that i thought i would never get rid off and just had to get rid of my problems one by one and start a fresh, it took me months and months to get rid of the feelings i had but once i was happy i was fine again