Question about side effect of either Abilify increase or Lithium?

[Parents! Get help here!]

DD is in a WONDERFUL RTC (first time) and receiving great care!  The psychiatrist is amazing and pretty sure she is bipolar plus PTSD (abandoned baby, my being diagnosed with breast cancer and a rape last summer) rather than BPD traits.  He has her on Lithium and they are checking her levels about every 2 to 3 days. As of Thursday she was not quite yet up to the desired levels.  On Thursday they also doubled her Abilify from 7.5 mg. to 15 mg.  When we met her there on Friday for family therapy she had a mild hand tremor, which she reported to DH on the phone tonight was still present.  The therapist was going to tell the doctor about it as soon as the session was over yesterday afternoon.  Should we be concerned?  I hate to see this in her.  Could it be the Abilify increase rather than the Lithium?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

[BioAdoptMom3]

DD is in a WONDERFUL RTC (first time) and receiving great care!  The psychiatrist is amazing and pretty sure she is bipolar plus PTSD (abandoned baby, my being diagnosed with breast cancer and a rape last summer) rather than BPD traits.  He has her on Lithium and they are checking her levels about every 2 to 3 days. As of Thursday she was not quite yet up to the desired levels.  On Thursday they also doubled her Abilify from 7.5 mg. to 15 mg.  When we met her there on Friday for family therapy she had a mild hand tremor, which she reported to DH on the phone tonight was still present.  The therapist was going to tell the doctor about it as soon as the session was over yesterday afternoon.  Should we be concerned?  I hate to see this in her.  Could it be the Abilify increase rather than the Lithium?

Thanks for any guidance you can provide!

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[jellibeans]

I am sorry I don't have the answer for you but I did want to tell you how happy I was to read your post about the RTC your dd is in... . I hope they work our the meds as this is the best place to do that and hopefully you will see a real inprovement in her... . really happy things are going well

[LittleThings]

It's the Lithium and it is an unfortunate side effect of that medication. My DD has taken that for 9 months now, increasing dose incrementally. It doesn't mean she is on too high a dose, and it's a very common side effect as far as I know. My DD has trouble with some fine hand movements... . penmanship, and anything that requires a steady hand.

She also takes Abilify and Cymbalta. She did increase Abilify recently and the side effect was weight gain, so backed down on that.

Hope that helps.

[pessim-optimist]

I can only give you anecdotal information:

Our very good friend has been on Lithium for his bipolar for over 30 years, and starting about 10 years into it he started experiencing increasing tremors in both his hands to the point that 17 years into the treatment he had to quit his job as a plumber, and 30 years into it he could not write or hold a paper to be able to read from it. He ended up having a brain surgery (www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_brain_stimulation) to control the tremors, but it has its own side-effects... . I also read that the lithium slowly destroys the liver etc. and that people who are on it die 20 years earlier on average.

I also read that there are alternatives to lithium, though, so that may be some positive information to end this not so positive post... .