Posted by JahL on July 28, 2006, at 19:49:35
In reply to can lithium CAUSE hallucinations?, posted by parasolips on July 28, 2006, at 18:15:55
> also, this "weird" feeling is kind-of triggering me toward self-injury...and i cut myself last night for the first time in a while and i'm not even sure why.
>
> i guess my main question is just whether anyone has heard of hallucinations/illusions being caused by lithium? maybe it's just me being crazy or having too much in my system? should i be concerned?Hi.
I can only speak from personal experience, but I too had a very unpleasant time on Lithium. It started with the 'weird' sensation you speak of, progressed into deep paranoia and ended with mild psychosis (I was being stalked by a 6ft swan. Seriously).
I have never, ever experienced psychosis before or since and my pdoc was at a loss as to how to explain this apparently unusual reaction. His only guess was that the other meds I was taking at the time (interestingly, an SRI and Klonopin) somehow raised Lithium blood serum levels beyond the safe limit. Personally, I just think Lithium didn't agree with me - I am prone to atypical responses to medications. After about a week I began to have trouble walking and so stopped immediately. Thankfully things rapidly returned to 'normal'.
You don't need me to tell you that the self-injury is a real concern. I hope that you can get the appropriate help quickly.
Cheers,
J.
poster:JahL
thread:671526
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060724/msgs/671557.html