Subject; Lithium induced (NDI) (Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus)I am writing this from firsthand experience, and on behalf of a member here named “dragonfly” who does have this condition. I am still at this point undecided as to whether or not I am writing a book entitled; “My Lithium Journey”. If so I likely won’t start it for some time as I have one book on the go that’s a happy book about my childhood growing up fly fishing.
Before we start this topic; Most Antipsychotics and mood stabilizing medications come with a warning that they can (cause or worse) Diabetes. I have not yet seen this warning in RRSI’s / Antidepressants.
Also Lithium is a class (B) controlled substance that by law requires side effect intervention, and blood level monitoring. If your psychiatrist is not intervening side effect wise he or she is criminally liable under assault and battery in Ontario.
This year I almost died 3 times from Lithium induced (NDI) (Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus) and that is not the typical type II diabetes that you get tested for. In the type II diabetes complex there are reported to be more than 40 strains most medically induced. I cannot speak to all the drugs but I can for the case of Lithium (NDI). I will also make a list of other medications I have taken that can do this as well.
Genetics; Whether diabetes is in your family line or not, if you get diabetes (insipidus) it is from taking lithium. In your DNA genetic makeup some of us have a predisposition weakness that allows this to happen. Since going to a geneticist is usually not an option till it is too late, I will post all the symptoms I had while developing this condition. I was able to stop it just in time with allot of heavy duty research.
Scientific published literature indicates in many crossover studies that 15-20% of Lithium users will develop (NDI). Some of these studies indicated less than 2000 bipolar participants. That means that up to 400 people in a study were capable of developing (NDI) and more than 200 would for sure. The longer you use lithium the more like it becomes a reality, and a high dose over 900 mg exacerbates the problem and can quickly give it to you.
Once you have become Lithium (NDI) it can be reversed if it is caught in time. Getting a regular bi-monthly diabetes blood test through your GP is highly advised as well as your regular 12 hour lithium level testing. Common Diabetes tests will not indicate (NDI) cause that is a special test and it is a set of tests. Just keep an eye on your numbers. Lifelabs now allows you to see your tests results online and often before your doctors see them. If your numbers are constantly changing for the worse and you are taking Lithium you should very much consider getting off of it ASAP.
In some cases like mine my body was acting (Pseudo-diabetic) without actually being diabetic. It was horrible but it was the best thing that ever happened because it clearly pointed all my doctors in the right direction after my extensive research to prove this. I had been researching this and writing my psychiatrist to get me off it ASAP, and he finally agreed before I became (NDI). What happened to me is my stomach acid levels slowly increased while I got sicker so we were unable to indicate it was my stomach that was causing a daily diabetic blood sugar crash.
High levels of acid stopped me from being able to eat properly from end of July till mid-November. I was severely protein and nutritionally deficient. I was averaging 40-60 grams of protein a day the whole time. Recommended grams for a sedimentary male like me is 136 per day. I would shake and tremble all day long by 3 o’clock in the afternoon till bed time I would be convulsively shaking from my lower hips so bad I have two small hernias one on each side that are too small to fix from the convulsive shaking.
My throat was raw burning and I couldn’t swallow after 3 pm. I had to crush all my meds from mid-July till the last dose of Lithium ending in October because stuff got stuck and I would throw it back up. I also had 4 infections in the same month at the same basic time frame. I was also looking like I might have been getting Lupus, so until I got to my Rheumatologist I could rule it out.
Rheumatologist comments; The reason I had 4 infections at the same time was lithium had compromised the biochemistry of my autoimmune system making me very vulnerable or susceptible to infections and diabetes. Even after being off lithium for a month I got 2 more infections at the same time in October. Dr Hart my Rheumatologist said without a doubt I would have become Lithium induced Diabetes Insipidus and soon.
First early warning sign is called;Decreased urinary concentration; meaning less urine in the bladder than normal in the morning. Plus more frequent urge to go with little urine present all day long.
Symptoms of potential (NDI);
• Chronic unexplainable thirst
• Urgency to frequently urinate
• Little coming out of bladder low pressure
• Susceptible to infections
• Chronic dry eyes
• Chronic dry mouth daily
• High blood pressure over 140/97
• Unable to get or maintain an erection
• Swelling in the limbs mine was my ankles
• Pain in the arches of your feet feels like the skin is cracking.
• Toes and parts of feet feeling tingling like Styrofoam
• Severe difficulties breathing
• Convulsive trembling and shaking like seizures
• Chronic hunger pains
• Hunger pains right after eating [that is caused by your stomach acids levels increasing]
• Daily chest tension anxiety
• Daily panic attacks.
• Difficulty self-regulating body temperature
• Rings and lines in your fingers and toe nail from protein deficiencies
• Difficult walking
• Difficulty talking
• Difficulty swallowing pills and food
• Hypersensitive hearing and eyesight to bright lights
• Periodic vertigo and balance issues
• Very blurred vision
• Periods of extreme lethargy
Medications that can cause or worsen diabetes; (Clozapine)(Olanzapine)(Quetiapine)(Risperidone)(Aripiprazole) (Ziprasidone)(Lithium)(Divalproex)(Valproic acid)(Chlorpromazine) there probably many more.
If you have concerns about any medication and the potential to cause diabetes. Simply open Google type in your medication name / diabetes. Example; lithium/diabetes and information will come up if there is a problem. If you are more like me and want hardcore scientific data you must search things this way. All Government agencies like the FDA, CDC, and most Hospital archives, and all science laboratories by law produce all documents on PDF files by Adobe Acrobat PDF Creator. So to search for medical science data you must first install PDF reader.
Then in a Google search type in, PDF file lithium / diabetes and all relevant documents will come up on the subject. Do not use site like Web-meds the information is not always correct. You can also use the Mayo clinic they have a very large medical database with free open access. Here are some links to Lithium (NDI) one is a website article, the other 3 are PDF science publication files.
http://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/76062/somatic-disorders/lithium-induced-diabetes-insipidus-prevention-andPDF files;
http://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/76062/somatic-disorders/lithium-induced-diabetes-insipidus-prevention-andhttp://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMc1609483http://physiomics.eu/media/14260/jasn17_1063.pdfI don't know why the first two links come out the same. The last one I didn't read before. in the opening paragraph it states 30-40% of lithium user will be (NDI).
All the best to all of you. Being bipolar is hard enough you don’t need diabetes to add to it ask Dragonfly.
Buddy Mack.