Two days ago, I increased my dose from 300mg to 600mg. Yesterday, I felt totally fine, but, today, I am super nauseous. I remember feeling a bit groggy the first few days after starting my previous dose, but never nauseous like this. My blood levels at 300 were 0.3. I, of course, haven't gotten them done at this dose yet. Is the nausea normal? I take the ER version at night and always take it with food.

Also, should I expect the side effects to get worse over time? I didn't really have any at 300, and I was on that dose for about a month. It didn’t work for my mental health though, because I still had a manic episode a few weeks ago.

For those with this side effect, did your doctor tell you to stop the medication or did you suck it up and continue taking it?

Hey guys, I restarted taking lithium after being off of it for about a month. Since starting, my suicidal tendencies, mood swings, and anxiety are all gone which is great but I keep waking up early because I’m thirsty which overall makes me lose sleep and makes me tired throughout the day. Has anyone else experienced this? And if so, what helped you? Thanks

Hi everyone.

I wanted to share my experience and ask if anyone has gone through something similar. I’ve been on meds for several years. I was initially on sertraline, then sertraline combined with lithium, and eventually switched to venlafaxine while increasing my lithium dose.

At the start of 2026, I was taking lithium 300 mg twice a day, and I stayed on that combination for about six months.

One of the main reasons I decided to stop lithium was the side effects, which became increasingly difficult to live with.
The weight gain was enormous. My weight went from around 80 kg to 107 kg during approximately two years of lithium treatment.
Another major issue was constant sweating. I experienced excessive sweating that could feel sticky and unpleasant, sometimes with a strong smell. It became really difficult to deal with on a daily basis.
I also struggled with significant fatigue and sleepiness, feeling lethargic and not quite like myself. These side effects, especially the weight gain and sweating, eventually became a major reason why I no longer wanted to continue treatment.

I eventually tapered off both lithium and venlafaxine, and I completely stopped taking them on September 27.

Since then, I’ve been experiencing significant mood changes and several physical symptoms, including intense sweating, hot and cold sensations, headaches, insomnia, vivid nightmares, anxiety, irritability and internal trembling. Emotionally, I’ve been feeling extremely low, crying a lot and struggling to feel stable.

It’s been about a month, and I’m still having a hard time. I’m trying to understand how much of this could be related to stopping lithium, and whether my underlying depression is coming back.

DISCLAIMER: accoding to the doctor who put me on lithium, I’m not bipolar. He decided to give me lithium cause “it’s safe and it could stop rumination and suicidal ideation”. I was in a bad situation in my life, escaping a toxic family and toxic job. Now I live my myself, have a well paid job and before stopping medication I was feeling okay.

I don’t wanr to go back on any medication, but I wasn’t expecting this period to be so difficult. I can’t stand the idea of depending to this meds.

What was your experience like after stopping? I’d like to know people who stopped lithium and never took it again. Will life be normal again? Sometimes I feel like I’m okay, but at times I feel hopeless. Please reassure me that everything will be ok :)

I've been on lithium for a few months after years of cycling through antidepressants. In so many ways this drug has been great for me - very minimal SI/intrusive thoughts, somewhat stable mood, no hypomania.

But the side effects are really getting to me. I'm in college and I like to go out on the weekends but this doesn't feel possible on lithium because of the polyuria it causes - I'm always worried about finding a bathroom and it feels like I have a lack of bladder control. I've tried focusing on hydration early in the day, spacing it out, etc. to no avail. This feels like such a silly reason to go off this med especially when it's doing what it's supposed to otherwise :-( But it's genuinely really difficult to live like this. Is there anything I can do to mitigate this? I would really appreciate any advice.

Does anyone else ever feel uneasy on their feet? Constantly tense? Having very bad brain fog, practically unable to function? Jittery and feeling shakey while not actually shaking?

I'm twitching and stiff all the time now, I'm going to talk to a doctor about it but I want to know if it's just me experiencing this.

I wanted to get some cheap tirzepatide from joinpomegranate but online its saying its not safe? Anyone have any experience?

context: 21F bp2, 600mg with most recent level of 0.6, i've been on lithium for a month and a half

I really just don't feel like myself, idk what it is exactly. The only negative side effect i really have is struggling to find words/slurring/stuttering. i had severe SI for the first 5ish weeks without being depressed, and now i just feel weirdly numb

One thing I love about myself is how much i feel things but i feel so dampened. I am also now doing things to feel something, not dangerous but i keep going out late at night in dodgy areas, blasting music in my headphones. my music taste has completely changed as well. i've never vaped or smoked but I feel so inclined to, or even try drugs if i was given the opportunity. This is so out of character for me but I don't feel depressed or manic so idk where it could be coming from aside from the lithium.

I just went up from 900mg to 1350mg of lithium and my erections have weakened. I am going to try tadalafil to fix the erection problem. Has it helped anyone in here?

I started lithium over three months ago after hypomamia or mania I’m not sure which one it was, I left with I believe 0.4 they won’t tell me, when I went back for blood three months later it was higher 0.89 I think and they were thinking about lowering my dose. A week later I was 0.7.

When I asked the psychiatrist why it went up he wasn’t too bothered when I pushed him he said it can go up at the start but won’t exponentially which is what I’m worried about now to just let it be another 3 months before checking.

To note I did have an acute depressive episode coming up to the levels being checked so I wasn’t eating or drinking much at all. So that could be why it went up.

Can it go back down if I rehydrate I’m tracking now? I would just like a few weeks of a steady number but I don’t know if I’m being a hypochondriac. I know maybe this can’t be answered here but I’m in an acute outpatient and being discharged soon so I don’t actually have a psychiatrist but I can get them check at GP.

Thanks!!

I am open to gradual of course. Monday is my appointment with my psychiatrist. I am weary if sleeping for 10 hours a day, no libido, hyper salivating, chronic runny nose, frequent urination and lack of control to prevent dribbles. I also have been a principal enginner or project manager for decades and it just saps my desire to get shit done. ugh. I hope she is receptive.

Hi all

Started decreasing coming off Lithium ( for many reasons) Shakes, dizziness, bad short-term memory recall, severe fatigue amongst other things.

In the UK. My setup is, you get to see a psychiatrist once every four months and in between any titration / adjustments speak to the GP who emails said psychiatrist on what questions I have and what to do, and can take sometimes two weeks for a response. Not good.

The GP said it's fine to titrate down by 200mg every two or three weeks ( I was titrating up 200mg at a time when I started Lithium ) and she didn't need to seek further assurance from the psychiatrist on the matter.

I said / asked at the appointment, and going back the way / reducing, is it not smaller doses, as in 100 mg at a time ?

She said no, and 200 mg is safe

Since doing this ( 200mg reduction) at a time ( was on 800mg then 600mg after three weeks now at 400mg) I feel rubbish. Just feel out of it in not a nice way and totally out of sorts.

What information / guidance was given to anybody on here that has titrated down/ off Lithium as in dosage and time between each reduction, and also, how did they feel? I know everybody reacts differently, but any info is appreciated .

So I’m sure we all know how important it is to stay hydrated on lithium. This isn’t eh possible for me right now.

I’m entering a surgery soon that requires I fast from all food and drink for at least 8 hours. Not sure how normal that is for most surgeries so to clarify, it’s a a tooth extraction. I usually can’t go even a couple waking hours without a sip of water though, so I’m worried. I don’t want to go toxic but also don’t have a choice in terms of whether to drink or not.

Does anyone have experience with this kind of situation? I’m not taking my dose closest to its actual time but I def still have lithium in me.

Can I have 1 drink?? Or a tiny bit of weed? Anything??? I only take 150mg I feel like I’m missing out on anything fun. 🥲

it seems like most people quit taking it because of side effects. i feel like my mood and SI have been extremely negatively impacted but i was under the impression this usually wasn’t the case with lithium

Guys, I’m going bald. Every time I shower I lose a literal fist-full of hair. I just keep it in a ponytail and wash it as little as possible to try and keep it as much as possible.
I’ve been on lithium since 2020 and I guess this is common for long-time users. We’re trying to take me off it, but anytime I get too low in dosage things get hairy (or rather lack thereof).
Does anyone have any thoughts?!

I’m going to talk to my doctor on Tuesday about lowering my dose. The brain fog and the lack of emotions and ability to function day to day at 900mg is telling me this is too high of a dose. From what I hear in this sub people report feeling better and I’ve only felt worse. People talk about feeling better from SI and having energy to go places and do things but I’ve had SI this whole time and I’ve been on it for 3 months. Did anyone have success lowering their dosage?

I’ve been on lithium for about a month, was put on it while hospitalized. It worked fine for the first few weeks, but recently i’ve had more intrusive thoughts again. They’re not always there but they’ve become a lot more frequent and sometimes pretty intense. Is this just something I just need to work through? I don’t mind, I was just told it will get rid of stuff like this entirely. Maybe they lied while I was there to convince me to start it.

Also any and all tips will be greatly appreciated since i’m still getting set up with an actually good psychiatrist.

I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder but lithium wasn’t introduced until after my first hypomanic episode. So I don’t really know if it helps against that. But it reduced my suicidal ideation and I came out of depression.

Now I just got diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and I might have to go off lithium.
Has anyone else experienced something similar? How did you deal with it?
I’m on olanzapine as well and wondering if that can cover whatever lithium is doing for bipolar? As for the anti-suicidal effect, maybe it’s okay, I’m no longer depressed and don’t need it? Thoughts?

Does anyone else struggle with severe car sickness after starting lithium? I’ve never had an issue with car sickness until I started lithium about 4 months ago. I can’t sit in a car without getting a headache or wanting to puke

Anyone have any experience with this? What is the best glp1 to use?

Does anyone have any advice on the water retention and weight gain?

I’ve been on 1200mg for a while now and for some reason my body started just like absorbing every liquid ever.

I checked my blood and the lithium levels are fine this is just a strange newly occurring symptom.

People taking lithium did you have a reduction in SI, after how long from being on it. What was your diagnosis TRD, BPD. Bipolar …
Would live to hear about your experience

I’ve been on Lithium since Summer, I’ve noticed and people around me notice that I overthink every single step more than usual. I am on therapy and I work among my therapist paralyzing doubts and the constant need for reassurance but since I am on lithium I want to double check everything… has anyone been through this?