The Great Experiment

THIS should get me some awful searches (so far I've only had one porn search but it was pretty bad), but today I was bored and decided it was time to conduct some research.

I think it's fairly common knowledge that lithium makes you pee a lot, and certainly all psych patients know this well. I remember the day I started it telling someone it would change my life because I would have to learn to drink water (which I hated) and eat salty foods (which I normally avoided). Well, cravings quickly took over and I learned it wasn't hard. For a while I had to watch that I drank water instead of juice or things with calories, but mainly I took to water quickly. I was told to drink 80 oz daily; generally I drink at least twice that. I am on a high dose, so I think that is more expected (as in don't be scared if you're holding your first lithium in your hand and reading this), and I seem to have very active kidneys as they handled my recent toxicity with no signs of the expected distress.

So I pee a LOT. Everyone I know is used to it; I need a water and potty break about every hour, especially in the summer and I get grouchy without. I've paid $3 for bottled water at the fair 1/4 mile from the car so I wouldn't kill my mom. We're not talking quick trips either; my bladder is full and to prove it one summer I wet my pants driving home from work. Twice.

So, today I counted the trips. Ideally I'd say "the average woman urinates...." but OH MY. That's a nice way to learn about things you do not want to know, and I'm not referring to anatomy.

My total? And I'm pretty sure this is a good day: EIGHTEEN. That's right, every 1.33 hours. Around the clock. Actually it is more at night because of how I take my pills.

Stayed tuned for more chaos as I have a lot of time to fill in the next few days.