Happy 50^th Anniversary, Lithium Clinics: The Perspective of a Long-Time User

A meteorite exploded in my safe and comfortable world when I was 32 years old. It was the summer of 1976, the bi-centennial of the USA, and an extremely busy, and stressful, summer for people in the travel business like myself. I was on the road with three colleagues, all in all 4 busloads of German tourists. I lost a night’s sleep in Las Vegas because I had to sit with one of the tourists in the emergency room of a hospital as she had a terrible tooth-ache. This was pretty low on the scale of the triage nurse. I worked the following day, and then tried to have a nap before dinner. I was wide awake, could not stay in my hotel room, and went for a walk. I was incredibly thirsty, but not hungry.

Suddenly all sorts of paranoid thoughts shot through my head; I could not stop them. I called my colleagues in the middle of the night, warning them of the horrific things that were going to happen to our busses the next day. With the help of my colleagues, and a quite experienced bus driver, I was able to bring the tour to an end without the passengers noticing how sick I was.

Once back home in New York, things went from bad to worse. My parents summoned a psychiatrist who made home visits. His diagnosis: “nervous breakdown.” He was an analytical psychiatrist, but said that he had to prescribe medication because I was unable to make sense. I was drugged with Thorazine until I was a Zombie, and then given several antidepressants. Unfortunately, I only experienced the side-effects. I was severely depressed.

My husband was beyond himself as he could neither understand what happened to his wife, nor could he find any books on manic depressive illness. The talk therapy did not provide any insights to anyone. After 3 years I quit the medications, and returned to work. I felt fine, and very soon too fine. In the summer of 1980, while on tour with a German group in Miami, I became delightfully hypomanic and collected the greatest tips ever. I was in love with stars above while walking on cloud 9. Oh, if only I could feel like that forever!

It did not last. Full-blown mania set in, and I was taken to the hospital in handcuffs by the New York Police Department. When I came down, I was suicidal and depressed. After 4 weeks of hell, I was assigned a new resident psychiatrist. It turned out I was her first patient. It was she who told me about lithium, and persuaded me to give it a chance. I had to sign a contract with her promising to take Lithium as prescribed, and go for the blood tests without fail. I had nothing to lose, and since she seemed to care about me, I started on my life-long journey with lithium.

I have now been taking Lithium for just about half of my life: 37 years. A new world, free of meteorites, welcomed me: I could order my thoughts, plan my life, live my life. I never had a manic episode again. I have experienced some exuberance at times, two severe depressions, and several manageable depressions without suicidal thoughts.

I am certain that my Father, a migraineur and permanently hypomanic man would have benefitted from lithium. Alas, he remained undiagnosed all his life, and eventually committed suicide.

There is no doubt in my mind that Lithium has saved my life. I will give up everything I own, and my favorite foods, but I will never ever allow any doctor to take me off Lithium again. Lithium is like Aspirin: good for so many things: suicide-preventive, neuro-protective, possibly good against cluster headaches. It appears that lithium may help with cognitive problems people experience. There are also some reports that lithium may postpone the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia, not only in the bipolar population but also in the general population. Who knows what else the wonderful researchers in the International Group for the Study of Lithium-treated patients (IGSLI) will find out!

Happy Anniversary, Lithium Clinics! May many doctors rediscover you, may you live forever and help many patients!