Lithium can make you drowsy so it's best to stop drinking alcohol during the first few days of taking lithium, or if your dose is increased. If you feel OK after this, you can drink alcohol but it's best not to drink too much it's likely to make you dehydrated.
Combining alcohol with lithium intensifies the medication's sedating side effects and may lessen the medication's benefits. In severe cases, combining lithium and alcohol can lead to dehydration and lithium toxicity — a potentially life-threatening complication.
Heavy caffeine consumption can affect the blood levels of lithium, a mood stabilizer that doctors commonly use to treat bipolar disorder. The body excretes lithium in the urine. As caffeine is a diuretic, it may lower the levels of lithium in the body by increasing the urine output.
Too little water (dehydration) can lead to high, or even toxic lithium levels So it's important to drink plenty of water while taking lithium. Diarrhea, vomiting, and excessive exercise or sweating can also dehydrate you. Let your healthcare provider know if you experience any of these events.
Avoid excessive intake of caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, tea, cola or energy drinks, since these may decrease levels of lithium and decrease effectiveness of the medication.
Combining lithium and alcohol can worsen bipolar symptoms and increase the likelihood of side effects. For this reason, doctors advise people not to consume alcohol while taking the medication.
A drop in caffeine levels might lead to a corresponding increase in lithium levels. Conversely, a sudden increase in caffeine consumption may decrease your lithium levels. Drink plenty of fluids, particularly during periods of prolonged or intense exercise.
“Based on the research conducted on this issue, the average weight gain that people who take lithium experience is usually between 10 and 26 pounds,” says Faisal Tai, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and CEO of PsychPlus, a mental health services provider in Houston.
It has long been known that lithium has toxic effects on the thyroid gland and the kidneys. The thyroid toxicity, caused primarily by lithium's interference with thyroid hormones' release from the gland (19) affects up to 19% of treated patients (20).
One of the side effects of lithium maintenance therapy is weight gain. Scientists believe that lithium-associated weight gain occurs due to various reasons, such as increased thirst, increased appetite, alterations in metabolism, sodium retention, hormonal fluctuations, constipation, and fatigue.
Like many other antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs, lithium may also cause sexual and erectile dysfunction [20,21]. About one-third of bipolar or schizoaffective patients receiving lithium report sexual dysfunction [20,21].
Short-term side effects can include nausea and diarrhoea, muscle weakness or a dazed feeling. A long-term side effect can be weight gain. Your lithium dose needs to be adjusted to suit you. Go for your blood tests to make sure you have the right amount in your system.
When combined with lithium, NSAIDs can increase lithium levels in the blood resulting in an increased risk for serious adverse effects like confusion, tremor, slurred speech, and vomiting. Examples of non-prescription NSAIDs include: Ibuprofen (Advil® or Motrin®) Naproxen (Naprosyn®, Aleve®)
Lethargy, dysphoria, a loss of interest in interacting with others and the environment, and a state of increased mental confusion were reported. No generalized effects were found in the responses to ther personality inventories.
In more severe cases, you may experience neurological or cardiovascular problems. In early lithium toxicity, you may have mild confusion. As the toxicity worsens, you may feel delirious or even have seizures or go into a coma. In very rare cases, lithium toxicity may cause diabetes insipidus.
Lithium is used to treat mania that is part of bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness). It is also used on a daily basis to reduce the frequency and severity of manic episodes.
Although lithium has been used in significantly longer-term treatment than any other mood stabilizer, long-term therapy is not devoid of adverse effects, the most important of which is kidney damage.
The reputation that lithium got for being "toxic," "mind numbing," and so forth, certainly those things have an element of truth to them. But they come from earlier studies where people were kept at a much higher doses and blood levels of lithium.
Although it has been argued that lithium has a superior efficacy over antidepressants in the long‐term treatment of unipolar disorder (Greil 1996), in a previous meta‐analysis the comparison of lithium with other antidepressants in prophylaxis showed no conclusive advantage for lithium in unipolar illness (Souza 1991).
Hormonal changes. Hormonal changes caused by the medication may affect metabolism, resulting in slower fat burning and, ultimately, more stored energy as body fat. “Approximately 20% of users gain weight with Lithium due to the adverse effects causing increased appetite, thirst, and constipation.
Lithium therapy modifies gut bacteria, which leads to constipation, water retention, and fat accumulation in the body. Any of these factors leads to weight gain in lithium-treated people.
Hair loss may occur in 10% of patients treated with lithium. Reducing lithium levels to 0.75 mEq/L and correcting thyroid disfunction may help to prevent hair loss. Consider supplementing with zinc and selenium to treat hair loss.
The most commonly prescribed drugs that have the potential to interact with lithium are ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists (sartans), diuretics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
In humans, lithium alters sleep-wake rhythms, REM sleep latency, and temperature (89,90). It has been hypothesized that the phase-delaying effects of lithium synchronize sleep-wake rhythms to sustain SDT response (91).