Posted by Zo on April 2, 2002, at 23:54:11
In reply to Goodbye lithium, back to more familiar meds, posted by Peter on April 1, 2002, at 2:08:27
Hi Peter!
Myexperience is that lithium is blunting and unhelpful, hard on the body--and I think of Lamictal as a much more versatile replacement. Think about kindling, and the ways in which conditions overlap, I would suggest, not getting ultra-specific on individual meds which simply do not bear that much scientific scrutiny. As a woman--and as someone *extremely* right-brain dominant, who cannot add two and two (five?) --I 've relied on intution--about meds, about doses, and for an overall sense of what these interrelated conditons mean.
My pdoc gives me a gentle shove, and then we both defer to that felt sense, for that kind of knowledge is the broadest of all. Drawing, as it does, upon a far larger body of knowledge than we are aware of.I think about Lamictal, for example, as having much broader application than strict mood stabilizing. In fact, for many years, lacking solid diagnosis, I medicated backwards, using the smartest things we could come up with to address my symptoms. It has only been in the past four years that my ADD "settled out," then TLE, and finally, umistakably, Bipolar ii. It's one thing to have suspicions, quite anotther to *know.* In this seemingly backwards way, once the pieces fell into place, it's been a fairly rapid resolve.
I hope you find any of this useful; it's about all I can some up with tonight. Just shifting the light around--see what catches your eye.
Warmly,
Zo
poster:Zo
thread:101225
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020402/msgs/101597.html