General information, not an individual diagnosis. Ask a healthcare professional if you are unsure about your situation.
If you take lithium, tell the doctor about fever, vomiting or diarrhoea, particularly when fluid intake or losses change. The concern is the safety of this treatment as well as assessment of the illness causing the symptoms.
Lithium product information identifies loss of water and salts among factors that can cause excessive lithium exposure. It calls for appropriate medical monitoring with digestive illness or a febrile episode affecting intake. Fever alone cannot predict your lithium concentration.
The information discourages combination with systemic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines, except salicylates: these can reduce renal lithium elimination and raise concentrations to toxic values. The exception is not a recommendation to choose a different medicine yourself.
A discouraged combination and a contraindication have different meanings. If the doctor considers a combination necessary, it requires medical assessment and monitoring. An over-the-counter pack or a previously tolerated dose does not replace that decision.
Before adding a pain or fever medicine, give the name and formulation of your lithium and all other treatments. Describe symptom onset and difficulties drinking or eating. Ask the prescriber for instructions adapted to this new episode.
The product information calls for medical advice at the first signs of toxicity. Nausea, tremor or balance problems can require this assessment; they do not establish an overdose by themselves. A marked deterioration in your condition needs medical care without waiting for a prevention appointment.
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