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Lithium is a soft, silvery metal, so soft that it can be cut with a sharp knife. It is the lightest of all metals and has a density only half that of water. Lithium reacts easily with water and does not occur freely in nature. Lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) has been used since the 1960s for treatment of those who suffer from the psychological disorder of manic depression or bipolar affective disorder.
Lithium's effect on mood stabilization was first discovered by John Frederick Joseph Cade, and was published September 1949 in the Medical Journal of Australia. Cade was testing the effect of uric acid on mice. Because uric acid is insoluble, Cade chose the most soluble salt of it, lithium ureate. He discovered that this compound had a calming effect on mice. After extensive testing, he also discovered that while lithium had little effect on depressed patients, manic patients became much calmer after lithium use.
Reasons For Use
One of the main uses of lithium treatment is in the treatment of those at risk of suicide. There is a strong connection between between suicide risk and bipolar disorder. The suicide rate for those with bipolar disorder is approximately 20%. On average, lithium reduces suicide risk by at least sixfold.
"Discontinuation of lithium treatment should occur only if absolutely necessary and even then must be done gradually. All studies show that gradual reduction causes a much lower risk of relapse than abrupt discontinuation. After discontinuation, the risk of suicide jumps to the level it was before treatment began, and for the first six to twelve months, the risk is many times more - roughly twentyfold." [Larson, R. (1998) Lithium Prevents Sucides. Insights on the News, 14 (18), 39]
Side-Effects
The required dosage (15-20mg per kg of body weight) is slightly less than the toxic level, requiring blood levels of lithium to be monitored extremely closely during treatment. In order to prescribe the correct dosage, the patient's entire medical history, both physical and psychological, is taken into consideration. Blood tests should be carried out every 3 months to ensure the appropriate level of lithium and thus prevent toxicity, along with kidney and thyroid tests.
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Lithium can help with the following: | | | | | Mental |  Bipolar Disorder, Manic-Depressive | Lithium has been the first choice for years for the treatment of bipolar disorder, sold under the names Carbolith, Duralith, Eskalith, Lithane, Lithizine, and Lithobid. Effectiveness is maximized when serum concentrations are maintained at 1.0-1.2 mmol/L. Lithium has long been used to reduce suicide risks.
One of the main reasons that lithium is still used in treatment is its effectiveness in reducing symptoms and frequency of episodes. "The response rate is 70-80% for the initial and maintenance of mania, with a good response defined as fewer, less severe, and shorter manic or hypomanic episodes, although these episodes may continue to occur." [Larson, R. (1998) Lithium Prevents Sucides. Insights on the News, 14 (18), 39] |
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Metabolic |
 Cluster Headaches| | Lithium carbonate, orotate or aspartate has been found to be effective in treating chronic cluster headaches, possibly due to its ability to impact the electrical system within the brain. The usual dose for the carbonate form is 300mg 2-3 times daily. Lithium levels should be checked and kept within, or even slightly below, the therapeutic range for bipolar disorder, namely 0.5 to 1.5 milliequivalents per liter. |
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KEY | | Likely to help | | | Highly recommended |
GLOSSARY
Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression, Manic-Depression, Manic-Depressive)
A disorder is characterized by alternating periods of extreme moods, usually swinging from being overly elated or irritable (mania) to sad and hopeless (depression) and then back again, with periods of normal mood in between. The frequency of the swings between these two states, and the duration of the mood, varies from person to person.
Chronic (Chronicity)
Usually referring to chronic illness: Illness extending over a long period of time.
Cluster Headache (Cluster Headaches)
A headache in which pain originates behind or around one eye and generally awakens the individual from sleep; pain may radiate into the temple, jaw, nose, teeth, or chin; the eyelid droops, the eye tears, the face flushes, and the nose congests; causes excruciating pain. Individual headaches last 15 minutes to 3 hours but tend to "cluster", occurring up to several times per day for periods of about 1 to 16 weeks and then not again for months or years.
Kidneys (Kidney, Renal)
Bean-shaped organs, each about the size of a fist. They are located near the middle of the back, just below the rib cage. The kidneys are sophisticated reprocessing machines, each day handling about 50 gallons of blood to sift out about half a gallon of waste products and extra water. The waste and extra water become urine, which flows to the bladder through tubes called ureters. The actual filtering occurs in tiny units inside the kidneys called nephrons. Every kidney has about a million nephrons. In a nephron, a glomerulus -- which is a tiny blood vessel, or capillary -- intertwines with a tiny urine-collecting tube called a tubule. A complicated chemical exchange takes place, as waste materials and water leave your blood and enter your urinary system. The kidneys recycle chemicals such as sodium, phosphorus, and potassium and thus regulate their levels. Renal: Pertaining to the kidneys.
Kilogram (kg, kgs, Kilogramme, Kilogrammes, Kilograms)
1000 grams, 2.2lbs.
Liter (Liters, Litre, Litres)
A metric measure of volume equivalent to 1.057 liquid quarts or 0.2642 gallons.
Milligram (mg, Milligrams)
0.001 or a thousandth of a gram.
mol (mmol, nmol, pmol, umol)
Mole. The amount of a substance that contains as many atoms, molecules, ions, or other elementary units as the number of atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon 12. The number is 6.0225 × 10^23, or Avogadro's number. Also called gram molecule.
mmol: millimole: 0.001 or one thousandth of a mole.
umol: micromole: 0.000001 or one millionth of a mole.
nmol: nanomole: 0.000000001 or one billionth of a mole.
pmol: picomole: 0.000000000001 or one trillionth of a mole.
Orotate
An oratic acid salt (nucleic acid); an effective molecule for transporting minerals through cellular membranes. Functions as an essential part of every living cell.
Serum
The cell-free fluid of the bloodstream. It appears in a test tube after the blood clots and is often used in expressions relating to the levels of certain compounds in the blood stream.
Thyroid (Thyroid Gland)
The thyroid gland is an organ with many veins, anchored around the front of the throat near the voice box. It is essential to normal body growth in infancy and childhood. It absorbs iodine from the diet and releases thyroid hormones - iodine-containing compounds that help govern the rate of the body's metabolism (its total life processes), affecting body temperature, and regulating protein, fat and carbohydrate catabolism in all cells. They keep up growth hormone release, skeletal maturation, and heart rate, force, and output. They promote central nervous system growth, stimulate the making of many enzymes, and are necessary for muscle tone and vigor. To a high degree, metabolism is regulated by the hormone thyroxine, which can be made by the thyroid if enough organic iodine is available. An enlarged thyroid gland that is not cancer is sometimes called goitre.
Uric Acid (Hyperuricemia)
The final end product of certain native or dietary proteins, especially the nucleoproteins found in the nucleus of cells. Unlike the much smaller nitrogenous waste product urea, which is mostly recycled to form many amino acids, uric acid is an unrecycleable metabolite that must be excreted: nucleoprotein to purine to uric acid to the outside in the urine or the sweat. Hyperuricemia: Having elevated blood uric acid, either from a rapid rate of cell breakdown and synthesis (such as might occur from fasting, heavy training, trauma or any number of major diseases), a high consumption of organ meats, glandular supplements or spirulina, or the inability (usually hereditary) to excrete uric acid in the urine as fast as it is produced, even though production itself is not elevated.
Last updated: Apr 13, 2008
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