Klonopin, Lithium, and memory loss?!
Question: I take 900mgs of Lithium a day, and 1 mg of Klonopin at night for sleep. I stopped taking the prozac I was prescribed because it was giving me vivid nightmares and rapid mood swings. The next day, after taking my night time medication, I can't remember anything about the night before. There was even an incident where my bf and I were intimate that I don't remember. I used to take 6mgs of Klonopin a day, I'm wondering why this time it's doing a lot more than it did before. Can anyone relate?
Answers: I take 900mgs of Lithium a day, and 1 mg of Klonopin at night for sleep. I stopped taking the prozac I was prescribed because it was giving me vivid nightmares and rapid mood swings. The next day, after taking my night time medication, I can't remember anything about the night before. There was even an incident where my bf and I were intimate that I don't remember. I used to take 6mgs of Klonopin a day, I'm wondering why this time it's doing a lot more than it did before. Can anyone relate?
I have a friend who is bipolar who has taken lithium for years, and it has saved her life. Her memory is fine, and she has finished grad school on it. That being said, I have spent my career as an ER worker wondering why most psychiatrists overmedicate their patients to the point where they can no longer function. I suspect it is largely due to the influence of the pharmacy companies in their training establishments.
Prozac, for example, is evil ****. So is Paxil. I wouldn't give it to a lab rat. Seroquel is another drug that many of the peole I see are given, and it turns most into outright zombies.
This is, in my opinion, due to overprescription. While his work is attacked by the drug companies and their adherents in the medical industry I cannot recommend the work of Dr. Abram Hoffer, whose work with vitamins in conjunction with reduced medications have worked apparent miracles with many patients I have seen.
Dr. Hoffer is retired in Victoria, Canada, but has a web site. Google him. I know two serious schizophrenics who went from overmedicated paranoids to functioning adults under his care after years of so called conventional treatment.
As I said, his work is attacked by the pharmacy companies, but Linus Pauling thought he was a genius. The key factor in his approach as I understand it is to use the vitamins in order to reduce the amounts of psychotropic drugs required. This would of course concern a company more concerned with market share than actual results.
Dr. Hoffer may be ninety, but he still practices as a nutritionist. He is approachable, and knows who in your area can be trusted to use his approach. Like I said, I have seen his patients improve amazingly after years of overmedication.
Good luck, and never give up on yourself.