o/t (kind of) Isabelle, or any of our other health pros, do you know what mental/physical damage, if any, to a person who is not bi-polar who takes those medications long term there could/would be?
I can speak from my experience of my Partner being on Lithium for 14 years. 800mgs a day. He started to experience toxicity, and it was hellish, and pretty terrifying. When he was toxic, he did not know who I was at times, and among other strange behaviors, he would wake me up in the middle of the night to ask me questions.
*bare in mind, this is an extremely 'sane' human being*
For e.g:
(In 2011...4am) He woke me to ask:
"Do you think Michael Jackson will ever play tennis again?" To which I replied:,
(after many similar nights of being woken with strange questions),
"I don't think so hun."
"Why not?" he said.
"Well.....for starters....he's dead. And secondly....I'm not sure he was ever known for his tennis playing."
Within seconds.....he'd be out for the count for an hour, before waking me again with an equally bizarre question.
:giggle:I know that's a giggle now
(and we do giggle about it now), but at the time, this stuff would scare the s*** out of me!
And then there were more serious aspects to his toxicity, and long-term taking of a cocktail of meds
(including Lamotrigine & an antipsychotic called Quetiapine - still on them).....for e,g. 'being paranoid' (
which he is the opposite of!).
He once accused me of vomiting in the bathroom sink in response to making love with him!?!? In reality.....the sink was full of dishwater with the plug in, and I had emptied our tea-pot in the bathroom sink to preserve the dishwater, before doing the dishes. This one he remembered, and acknowledged that he didn't know where that came from.
I must explain! My partner is a self-assured, confident person, with very normal self-esteem. There is nothing in his background that could explain the onset of his illness. He is an evolved, and evolving, human being, because of his many life experiences
(like most of us). He does not have a history of childhood abuse that could have led him to this place. He was diagnosed with MDD
(Major Depressive Disorder) at the age of 47.....never having experienced a day, or a moment, of what is commonly understood as
'depression', in his entire life. When he was diagnosed......he had no idea what was wrong with him. He actually thought it was physical, and that he may be dying! It was as if the 'Hand of God' had struck him down. His condition is described by psychiatrists as 'treatment resistant'.
I never believed in a 'Mental Illness' that didn't have a
'cause and effect' element to it before this happened to him. It was my absolute conviction that there had to be 'something behind it'. Something repressed from childhood etc. But for witnessing a confident, evolved, self-assured, self aware, human being struck down by MI......I would have argued differently, until I was blue in the face. Perhaps
(and this is just a guess), because it is a legitimate case of
'brain chemistry gone wrong'.....the fact that he possesses such self-esteem.....keeps him alive!?!? And more importantly.....from ever harming others! Who knows?
FYI.....he came off Lithium last year, and OMG....what a difference!!! He still suffers from his illness, but he has never, ever been
'out of it', or had a moment of confusion since!
*Apologies for the monologue. Just thought his story may be of interest to some folks.....in relative terms to this case.*