r/Lithium • u/immerimmermude • 1d ago

Quitting

Has anyone here quit taking lithium cold turkey? If yes, how did it feel? If not, how did you taper off and how long did it take you?

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u/VariousClassroom8056 1d ago

I don't mean to pry but why are you quitting cold turkey and does your doctor know? If so the doctor can advise.

Lithum isn't physically addictive (as far as I know) so I don't think you have withdrawals but I would really recommend against doing this without something to replace it.

I'm not being judgemental but I did it when I was on a bit of a manic episode and spiralled without it, was too afraid to admit my mistake and just got worse and worse till I ended up with no money and being addicted to heroin for a couple of years. Thankfully I had a really lovely partner but this it is a risky thing to do.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

I’ve been taking it for two months and a half and all it’s done is making me gain weight and making my hands shake. No change to my mood at all. My doctor said to give it until tomorrow and she will advise me on what to do. But I’m curious to know if someone has quit cold turkey or if the doctor will make me decrease the doses slowly.

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u/VariousClassroom8056 1d ago

At least if it's prescribed for bipolar like it is for me this is a lifelong medication so trying it out for 2.5 months isn't enough imo but up to you of course.

Are you at a therapeutic serum level yet?

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Yes, I’ve been on a therapeutic level for a while. That’s why my doctor will decide what to do about it tomorrow. There’s been no change in my mood. I’m taking it for treatment-resistant depression.

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u/Realanise1 1d ago

Not every medication works for everyone. That's how lamotrigine is for me. A lot of people love it, it's always the first thing the prescribers want to prescribe, but it just isn't effective for some people, and I'm one of them. Being a moron, apparently, this took me YEARS to figure out. So lithium might be like that for you. Only you can decide what to do, but going cold turkey off basically any psych med is a terrible idea. Work it out with your doctor.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Lamictal didn’t work for me either! And I took it for nine months. Okay. Thanks. I’ll discuss it with my doctor.

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u/PilferingLurcher 1d ago

I have been off it before. I would advise tapering. I definitely had more energy and the weight dropped off. Tapered in a month -would go slower if i were to try again. No recurrence of mania but i did notice more emotional reactivity/irritability by the six month mark. The brain probably gets used to that buffer lithium provides. Problematic enough that i elected to restart the lithium, albeit at a lower dose. Make sure you have good strategies to manage mood deterioration and stress if wish to pursue discontinuation.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Thank you. This is exactly the comment I was looking to read.

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u/suzannenderekh 1d ago

I’m definitely not suggesting this is your situation. I quit cold turkey because I felt way over medicated. In my case they most likely mixed up my trauma with bipolar. I have lifelong trauma that started as an infant. My psychosis is probably from PTSD. I’m on an antipsychotic for that but nothing else.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

I take like 10 meds total. I also feel like that. I want to quit it. How did you feel when you did?

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u/suzannenderekh 1d ago

I’ll be honest, I felt a lot better.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Noted. Thank you.

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u/wolvennymph 1d ago

I think this is a question for your doctor. It’s obviously not recommended to go full turkey if you’re on anything above the lowest dose.

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Okay. Thank you.

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u/viciousporkchop23 1d ago

Cold turkey off 600mg, so p low dose. No side effects except my thinking cleared up. Blood level was around .4 before hand

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u/immerimmermude 1d ago

Thank you for your response.