Sickness when starting Lithium

I started taking 300mg lithium a little bit ago. After 2 or 3 nights, I got wildly sick and was home all day throwing up. Under my psychiatrist’s guidance, I stopped taking it for a few days, and then resumed at 150mg for a week. Last night, I took my first dose of 300mg again. I woke up this morning & have been sick all day. I can’t keep anything down… not water, not my other meds (Lamictal), not saltines. Nothing.

I am confused by such a strong reaction to such a low dose. The first time it happened, I wasn’t sure if it was the lithium or some stomach bug. My psychiatrist said he thought it was unlikely to be the lithium because it was such a low dose, but that we couldn’t rule it out bc the timing was right.

Let me include this for context: After a long road of blood, sweat, and tears to get to here, I have finally surrendered & let go of whatever mental block was in my head that was preventing me from fully buying into medication and treatment. I do not want to die, and I do not want to live like this. I have come to whatever point you’d like to call it, rock bottom maybe, and I am so committed to getting myself on the right meds and on the right track. I know that, for people like us, our road will never be completely devoid of highs and lows, but I am so desperately clawing to get onto a road where the lows are slightly higher and the highs are slightly lower.

For the longest time, I was convinced that there was no way out & I just had to resign myself to living like this. I was convinced there was no world that would be better with me in it. And I didn’t think there was any chance for people like me (like us) to have any sort of control or happiness or whatever. I just thought I either had to surrender my sanity or surrender my life.

Here, where I stand today, there is not an ounce of quit in me. I’m so committed. I don’t want to leave my family, my beautiful life, my fulfilling career. I am at THE SPOT I have worked, prayed, fought my entire life for. The last domino to fall is me (I mean this as a positive metaphor).

All of that to say: I am so committed. After discussing all my options with my psychiatrist, I was feeling really confident about the Lamictal/Lithium lineup with Seroquel on the roster if needed. So I’m really bummed about these side effects, thus far. I would love to hear more of y’all’s insights.

Does anyone else have any similar experiences? Tips? Success stories? Anything?