Reply To: alcohol and lithium

[Harvinder]

Educate patient to limit to 1-2 drinks and maintain the hydration status. Educate them that no specific guidelines exist for the lowest safe alcohol dose with lithium, educate about signs of lithium toxicity and document this in your notes.

Which symptom(s) are you treating with lithium for this patient?

The other options you can consider for bipolar 2 disorder depression management are:

1. Quetiapine
2. Lamotrigine
3. Sertraline
4. Venlafaxine

These are first and second line recommendations per recent CANMAT guidelines for bipolar 2 disorder.

REFERENCES:

• Bipolar Disord. 2018 Mar; 20(2): 97–170. (pdf)