My IBS is back. So far it is not quite as bad as before I went down on the Effexor, but it it pretty bad. It started a little on Friday, but was mild enough that I hoped it didn't mean anything. Then this weekend it has gotten bad- which interestingly corresponds with me going down on the Zyprexa. Zyprexa is a serotonin antagonist. But I really don't know what is going on. Only that I am not going walking by the river today.
I think I will call my psychiatrist tomorrow about getting a lithium level. My level is low enough that is could double and I wouldn't be toxic, but just to be sure. And if that is fine, I will just invest in some stockpiles of Imodium. I hate the idea of taking yet another drug to regulate yet another part of me that my body apparently can't manage. But I don't know what else to do.
Maybe my PCP can refer me to a dietician. Maybe my insurance company will pay for that. Maybe I can figure out what to eat on a FODMAPS diet. Maybe that will help me. But it is such a limited diet. Maybe that is what my body is trying to tell me: don't eat.
my lithium level was .4 absolutely consistently for I think 16 months with checks every 4-6 months (usually 4) and 3 checks at least done in the hospital in the last week of Sept. 2011. About Nov. 18th I started hallucinating and when I went to the ER a few days later it was 1.99 22 hours after my last dose (ie it had been scary high at peak). In the ER they kept asking me about toxicity sx and I kept saying "no, just the hallucinations" and then when the attending came in to demonstrate something to the intern I suddenly remembered the random headache, lack of constipation even if I didn't have diarrhea, the increased thirst that was so hard to pick up on. I was sure that my level could never go THAT high without my knowledge after a prior serious toxicity but I missed it totally because it happened really quickly and I'd been absolutely level (and we'd kept .4 as a target on purpose to ALLOW doubling since I had a history of heading to toxic easily on higher doses/every other forumation of lithium but eskalith). Only my psychiatist wasn't shocked. Well, her and the attending once I started failing a neuro exam...
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