The internet was out most of today, which is why I haven't put a blog post up until now in the late afternoon.
My mood is better, though I'm still not up to full speed. After my psychiatrist appointment yesterday afternoon, it was decided to place me on lithium as a mood stabilizer. Lithium has been around since forever and no one is still quite sure why it works. The drawback is that one has to drink lots of water and have blood levels drawn frequently. Lithium has a narrow range of efficacy, meaning that the concentration in one's bloodstream is a relatively small window. Too much and it can be toxic. Too little and it does nothing at all.
That being said, I won't notice any substantial change until the levels get in balance, which won't be for at least another four to six days. I'm easing into more substantive, lengthy posts for the remainder of the week, though I am feeling much better than I was at this point last week, for sure.
I have a friend who went on lithium some months ago after battling depression for years. He was born in a DP camp after WWII, so it's been an intense ride for him. Talk about intimacy problems . . .
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the lithium really helped him. He talks more slowly now, but given he often had that Compressed Speech associated with mania, it's not a bad thing.
Wow! I had no idea lithium was still around and kicking.
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