Power of a koala!!! (Form of a roly poly Bear, obviously)

Gah.

I've been taking Lithium to help get my internal chemical choo choo back on track. Lithium helped me many years before deal with this bipolar Illness and after trying about five other medications (all with varying degrees of suckage), I decided it might be wisest to go back to what worked before.

So far, so good. I think it's helping and I've had way lesser urges to hurt myself. Which is also good.

That plus I'm calmer.

Yet. With every drug, there's a reaction. Sometimes, it's relatively benign. Or for some people, it's a bonus. Lithium makes me thirsty but not as hungry. Seeing as I like to keep my weight at around an even 100 and it's been a tad over that, it makes me happy. I've been drinking my liquids like mad (and I have to as well) and eating smaller amounts.

Lithium, being a salt, needs to have plenty of liquids taken with it or it can build up to toxic levels in the bloodstream and that would Not Be Good. So Arizona's Green Tea with Honey has been my best friend. It's yummy and I drink TONS of it.

But sometimes, the side effects are not so awesome. In this case, it's what I call the Koala Bear effect. I get sleepy. Oh, gods, do I get sleepy. I wake up in the morning NOT feeling like P. Diddy. It takes me a good half an hour to really be aware and then I head to the shower and soak my head and start waking up. Then I kind of am mostly awake until around 2 when my body is ready for action. Two in the afternoon, that is.

If I'm doing stuff in the morning, then I need a nap. I'll lay down around 2 or 3 and sleep for a couple of hours. Then, I'll wake up and be able to do some more stuff before needing to go back to bed.

It's getting better. The need for a nap can be put off and if I get to bed at a semi decent time at night, I can be awake in the morning and do stuff.

It is, thankfully, the only side effect that I have to work around. I tell my boys and my Awesome Guy that I'm feeling like a Koala Bear and so they understand if I'm moving a little slower than usual.

I think, though, that I'd much rather be on Lithium than not. This Illness has to be controlled and has to be taken seriously. I'm finally coming around to the idea that it is like having cancer or diabetes and if I'm going to be foolish about it, I put my life in danger. And I have everyone around me sick with worry because I am suicidal or close to it.

So I'll take my Lithium. And do my best impersonation of a Koala Bear until my body adjusts to having it and uses it as it should.


K.