Expert: Ivan Goldberg, M.D. - 11/20/2008

Question
My son is 35 and after 15 years of treatment for depression, he has been diagnosed as Bipolar.  He just started taking lithium a month ago and it was a miracle drug for him until the side effects started.  He has bloating and stomach cramps, which make him miserable.  He took a powder used for cholesterol prescribed by his doctor for the problem and it did not work.  Yesterday, his doctor put him on lithabid, which produced the same side effects.  Could he just need to get the lithium out of his system, or is this medication going to do the same thing?

Answer
Hi Lyn,

Lithobid is lithium carbonate in a slow release form. Some people tolerate tu better than the regular tablets or capsules of lithium Others do not.

When one of my patients develops side-effects such as the ones you mention I usually stop the lithium for a few days and then restart it much more slowly than it was started th first time. This often allows people who previously were not able to tolerate lithium to be able to tolerate it.

Best regards . . .

Ivan
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