Swapping meds from Risperidone to Lithium

[manicmonday]

Has anyone done this?

I miss my dopamine and have asked my care co-ordinator about swapping onto Lithium but I'm getting cold feet now. I may lack motivation on Risperidone but at least I'm not psychotic.

I've got a teams meeting on Monday where I can discuss it further so if anyone has any advice I'd love to hear it.

 

[Fairy Lucretia]

i hope the swap helps x Lu x

 

[HLon99]

Dear manicmonday,

I'm currently considering doing the same thing. I have bipolar disorder, but I also struggled with paranoia/hyperarousal. I was prescribed aripiprazole (abilify) which helped massively, but has caused me problems with motivation and also interferes with my ADHD meds.

I have an appointment in less than 2 weeks and I'm debating whether I should play it safe and stick to aripiprazole or switch to Depakote (Sodium Valproate). On one hand psychosis is horrible on the other hand, I feel like an unmotivated slug on APs. I think what I'll do is ask for the Depakote but also tell her to keep the Aripiprazole on the repeat prescription so that I can request it any time I feel that things aren't going well.

Let me know how the meeting goes.

-H

 

[manicmonday]

Well my meeting is done and I'm going to try lithium. The doctor said it's a better drug for bipolar 1 than risperidone and we talked about the side effects which don't seem too bad. They monitor your blood every three months and take lithium toxicity very seriously so I'm less concerned than I was about the long term effects and dangers.

My only concern now is that it works and I don't become psychotic again but I guess it's just waiting and seeing what happens.

 

[HLon99]

Well my meeting is done and I'm going to try lithium. The doctor said it's a better drug for bipolar 1 than risperidone and we talked about the side effects which don't seem too bad. They monitor your blood every three months and take lithium toxicity very seriously so I'm less concerned than I was about the long term effects and dangers.

My only concern now is that it works and I don't become psychotic again but I guess it's just waiting and seeing what happens.

Dear Manicmonday,

I hope it works out for you and you find the right drug regiment. Keep us posted on how it goes.

regards,
-H

 

[Opalescence]

Hi Manicmonday,

Lithium is definitely a better bipolar drug than risperidone (alone). It does have an effect on dopamine, but it is still not clear how. For as a far as I understand it you will need a relatively high blood level for it to have an antimanic effect (0,8-1,2).If your psychoses are part of your mania, lithium should help with that.
I really like lithium even though I am a bit scared of thyroid and kidney damage. It helps me sleep, helps my depression and I feel much calmer. My irritability got a lot better and I feel I can handle stress more easily.
Hope it helps you, good luck with it.