Mood stabilisers
 

Hi ladies,

I have just found out that my mum has Parkinson's disease and I believe its due to her 40 years of taking lithium for her mood disorder.

I am also taking lithium for a mood disorder and have been on it for over 10 years obviously with a break to have my baby.

I am interested to know if anyone has found lithium to be helpful to them or whether other meds like lamotrigine have helped? I take Prozac too.

Ideally I'd like to be off meds but I tried this year and became very ill with depression but I won't give up trying or looking for less toxic medication.

I'd be so grateful for anyone willing to share their experience with me.

Best,

Vee

Re: Mood stabilisers
 

My mom has Parkinson's, too. I don't have any info on lithium, I'm sorry, but I hope you find some answers.

Untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism has been linked to Pakinson's, too, and being hypothyroid can impact moods, too. It's probably been checked in you but it might be worth it to have another thyroid check.

Re: Mood stabilisers
 

Hi Soliloquy,

Thank you for responding. I am saddened to hear your mum has PD too. How long has she had it and is she showing many signs?

I have regular blood tests which monitors all the organs that lithium effects, the thyroid being one of them but thank you for your concern :)

Re: Mood stabilisers
 

My DH has taken lithium for 20 years. Of the possible long term effects of lithium, I've not heard of PD being one of them and it doesn't concern me at all. Googling brought this up; "In particular, lithium treatment has been associated with neuroprotection against neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's diseases as well as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). ... Like other neurodegenerative diseases, the etiology of PD is largely unknown".

My mother has suspected Parkinson's or more likely Lewy Body Dementia and she has never been on lithium.

DH tried switching to lamitrogine and it was not good for him. It made him deeply unhappy and somewhat zombie like. However people with mood disorders often respond quite differently to meds and what is awful for one can be amazing for another. I feel like it would have been a good thing to switch had it worked out due to long term effects of lithium. He hasn't had anything severe, just the usual hypothyroid that most long term users get and increased cavities due to low saliva production.

I may delete this later due to being in a public forum so please don't quote me.


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Re: Mood stabilisers
 

DH has early onset Parkinson's and has never been on lithium. There are some newer tests, I believe genesight is one, to help figure out what meds you best respond to and what won't work, to cut down on trial and error, that may be helpful to you. :hug


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Re: Mood stabilisers
 

My family has a lot of hypothyroidism. When I was put on Lithium my thyroid was checked regularly and I was found to have hypothyroid issues. I had to go off Lithium because it severely damaged my liver (for most people it affects the kidneys rather than the liver but my body does weird things sometimes). My psychiatrist has tried numerous things that haven't worked or made my manic swings more frequent/pronounced or damaged my liver. Right now I'm on Latuda and it is working great for me. It's a new drug and is supposed to have fewer side effects (which is true for me also). We are still trying to figure out the best dose for me.

I may be saying something you already know, but it's worth pointing out - the potential for serious repercussions from not taking anything to control the manic can also be very harmful. Your doctor really needs to be on the same page as you about your concerns about Lithium and what might be a better alternative for you. I'm sorry you are having this struggle :hugheart

Re: Mood stabilisers
 

She first started showing symptoms around 2004. For quite some time it was just a tremor in her arm, it didn't impact her life much at all. The last few years it's progressed quite a bit. Her neurologist has the symptoms mostly managed but sometimes her blood pressure drops dangerously low and they're not sure why. And they need to tweak her meds at every visit because the disease is never really the same two days in a row.

One thing that's really impacting her that could've been prevented is that she almost no muscle mass. She wasn't overweight when she developed PD but the only exercise she did was walking. She did nothing to develop her muscles. The result is that she's getting weaker and weaker. :( She goes to the Y and they have free training at certain times and I've begged her to ask them to show her how to use the weight machines, even 2 lbs of resistance. But she doesn't. :sigh. Her posture is really bad now, too, to the point that her neurologist is really concerned. She needs to strengthen the muscles in her back and her legs. I live far away so all I can do is encourage her to try.