YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

She seemed off base about lithium and pregnancy. It poses a slight risk to the fetus in the first trimester. I found no research that suggested there was a risk to the fetus if the woman is not taking the meds. I know lithium lingers in the system for a while, but the suggestion that she can't ever get pregnant even after being off of lithium for a while does not seem supported by research and I don't know where she got this info. Obviously, I could have this wrong and would love to read more if someone has information that I could not fine.

Here's a link to the Bipolar Foundation. According to this, Lithium can create fertility issues.
http://www.bipolar-foundation.org/bipol ... th-issues/

Very interesting link, thank you. But Lillith said something about never being able to have children because remnants of the lithium are still in her body that would cause heart valve malformations in a fetus. I cannot find anything to support this and I'd hate for someone suffering from bipolar disorder to rule out this possibly helpful treatment option because she worries about having children in the future. Obviously Lillith probably knows more about this than me, but I also worry that she was misinformed.

I thought she said she had to give it more time to have a child because of the lithium in her system, not that she couldn't ever have kids. I listened to it at work so perhaps I misheard.

What she said was different from what I was told, as well. Of course, I have not discussed the topic with a doctor for over ten years. Something might have changed. I know that when I was 19 or 20 (the early 1990s) the doctors told me I would have to stop taking Lithium for six months before trying to conceive.

I talked to my shrink and he said she was not correct. There is no risk of birth defects from having previously taken Lithium and there is only a minor (1/5000) chance of heart defects in the unborn child. Hope that clears it up.

Paul

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