Last week I went to Riddle Hospital, which is down the street from my boyfriend's house, to get blood work done. Dr. N wants to evaluate me to see if I'm suitable to take lithium. He finally got my test results back and they were normal so he said I could drop off my prescription at the pharmacy and start taking it right away. I had the prescription filled this afternoon and was shocked: $15 for an entire bottle! Dr. B wasn't kidding when she said lithium is the cheapest of all bipolar medications.
So now I'm at home with a huge bottle of 90 300 mg pills. Dr. N to start by taking just one in the mornings and see how I do, then if I feel okay, to add a second pill at mid-day, and if I still feel okay, to add the third and final pill in the evening. Matt was reading the bottle and said that it is going to make me tired and needs to be taken with food and water. All my other medication has always made me incredibly tired, especially the Geodon, and ESPECIALLY with alcohol. I've heard that lithium will make me fat but Dr. N says that's not always true. He had a patient who took it for twenty years and didn't gain a pound.
I'm looking at the bottle of "horse tranquilizers" (though Matt says they're the same size as Tylenol, I still think they're huge) and wondering, if my doctor was right about these pills being so cheap, could she also be right about their effectiveness? Anyone have any experience with lithium carbonate that they'd like to share?
