Expert: Libby Bonner - 2/22/2009

Question
Dear Libby:
 My daughter has been diagnosed with bipolar disiorder at age 16 and was put on lithium. It seemed to help her.  She has become euthemic (mentally stable) but she gained weight and had frequent upset stomachs and some head aches.
  How common is it for people with this illness, even if they are compliant and faithfully take their lithium, to be
plagued with  nausea and vomiting on a regular basis maybe every 2 months give or take?  And would it be advisable to rule out some other condition that might be causing that problem.
  Besides the mental part of the disease(mood swings and depression) do many patients have frequent bouts of nausea and vomiting, on or off their meds?

Answer
Question is outside my real area.

Lithium might cause mild nausea for a few days in some patients, according to pkg insert.  I see nothing about headache.

You ask a good Q re their disorder and whether it might cause persons to have frequent bouts of nausea and vomiting.  I would say No, though intentional overdosing might cause it....though why a pt would overdose at regular intervals is another puzzle.  

NOTE that vomiting that is frequent or heavy could in fact cause alarming changes in the blood level of lithium and should be reported to the doc at once.

I would go ahead and report your own milder situation to the psychiatrist and ask if they think a visit to a general doc is in order.