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Home > Health Conditions > Schizophrenia > Antidepressants & Psychotropics > Lithium

Lithium

Related Topics:

• Abilify (aripiprazole) / Clozaril (clozapine) / Geodon®/Zeldox (ziprasidone) / Haldol (haloperidol) / Invega (paliperidone) / lithium / Risperdal (risperidone) / Saphris (asenapine) / Seroquel® (quetiapine) / Zyprexa® (olanzapine)

Where to purchase:

• OffshoreRx.com - 300 mg lithium carbonate
• Lithium products at iHerb- 120 to 125 mg lithium orotate or lithium aspartate equal to 4.8 to 5 mg elemental lithium.
• Nutrient Carriers Incorporated, Advanced Research, Lithium Orotate, 120 mg, 200 Tablets

News & Research:

• Lithium - rxlist.com
• Lithium restores cognitive function in Down syndrome mice - Science Daily, 12/3/12
• Lithium's Safety Examined - Medscape, 1/19/12 - "Lithium is linked to thyroid and parathyroid abnormalities, weight gain, and an increased risk for reduced urinary concentrating ability ... lithium is the most effective long-term therapy for bipolar disorder, protecting against both depression and mania and reducing the risk of suicide and short-term mortality ... lithium has always been an unpatented, cheap drug, it is not commercially promoted ... lithium reduced glomerular filtration rate by an average of −6.22 mL/min (95% confidence interval [CI], −14.65 to 2.20, P = 0.148) and urinary concentrating ability by 15% of normal maximum (weighted mean difference ... There was an increase in the prevalence of clinical hypothyroidism in patients taking lithium ... lithium increased thyroid stimulating hormone by an average of 4.00 iU/mL"
• Lithium Trumps Valproate for Bipolar Disorder - Medscape, 7/25/11
• Lithium profoundly prevents brain damage associated with Parkinson's disease, mouse study suggests - Science Daily, 6/24/11 - "lithium has recently been suggested to be neuroprotective in relation to several neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and has been touted for its anti-aging properties in simple animals"
• Controversial call to add lithium to drinking water for mental health - The Daily, 5/22/11 - "It's a provocative prospect that research suggests might reduce rates of suicide, violent crime and hard drug use ... The idea gained widespread traction in 2009, when researchers studying 18 communities in Japan concluded that areas whose water supplies contained higher natural levels of lithium were significantly less vulnerable to suicide ... A subsequent study published this month in the British Journal of Psychiatry, surveying all 99 counties in Austria over five years, replicated the findings and concluded that - conservatively - 4 to 15 percent of the country's geographic variations in suicides was due to lithium content in regional water supplies"
• More Lithium in Drinking Water Equals Lower Suicide Rates - Medscape, 5/12/11 - "The finding, similar to that from 3 different countries on different continents, adds to the evidence that lithium in the drinking water may have beneficial effects for mental health ... examined a nationwide sample of 6460 lithium measurements and then compared suicide rates across 99 districts in Austria ... the overall suicide rate and the suicide mortality ratio were inversely associated with lithium levels in drinking water ... In the 10 most lithium-depleted regions in Austria, the suicide rate was 16 per 100,000, whereas in the 10 most lithium-rich regions; the suicide rate was just 11 per 100,000"
• Lithium in drinking water in Andean villages could affect thyroid function, research suggests - Science Daily, 4/5/11
• Fountain of youth from the tap? Environmental lithium uptake promotes longevity, scientists demonstrate in worms - Science Daily, 2/18/11 - "A regular uptake of the trace element lithium can considerably promote longevity ... even a low concentration of lithium leads to an increased life expectancy in humans as well as in a model organism, the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans ... the Jena scientists analyzed the mortality rate in 18 adjacent Japanese municipalities in relation to the amount of lithium contained in tap water from the respective regions. "We found that the mortality rate was considerably lower in those municipalities with more lithium in the drinking water," Ristow explains the key finding. In a second experiment, the Jena scientists examined exactly this range of concentration in the model organism C. elegans. The result was confirmed: "The average longevity of the worms is higher after they have been treated with lithium at this dosage," ... we know already that a higher uptake of lithium through drinking water is associated with an improvement of psychological well-being and with decreased suicide rates" - See lithium products at iHerb.
• Treatment for manic-depressive illness restores brain volume deficits - Science Daily, 2/16/10 - "bipolar patients taking lithium displayed significantly increased hippocampal and amygdala volume compared with patients not treated with lithium and healthy comparison subjects. Cerebral volume reduction was also significantly associated with illness duration in bipolar individuals" - See lithium products at iHerb.
• Possible mechanism identified for how lithium treats bipolar disorder - Science Daily, 6/17/10
• Lithium May Help Radiation Target Cancer, Spare Healthy Tissue - Science Daily, 5/4/09
• Lithium And The Brain: New Light On Bipolar Treatment Drugs - Science Daily, 4/21/09
• Lithium Protects Brain Cells During Cranial Radiation - Science Daily, 4/1/09
• Drug Commonly Used To Treat Bipolar Disorder Dramatically Increases Lifespan In Worms - Science Daily, 10/30/07 - "Nematode worms treated with lithium show a 46 percent increase in lifespan, raising the tantalizing question of whether humans taking the mood affecting drug are also taking an anti-aging medication"
• Lithium And Bone Healing - WebMD, 7/30/07
• Lithium and Hair Loss - Medscape, 7/30/07
• Lithium Builds Gray Matter in Bipolar Brains - Doctor's Guide, 4/11/07
• A Comparison of Lithium and T3 Augmentation Following Two Failed Medication Treatments for Depression: A STAR*D Report - Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Sep;163(9):1519-30 - "After a mean of 9.6 weeks (SD=5.2) of treatment, remission rates were 15.9% with lithium augmentation and 24.7% with T(3) augmentation" - See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems.
• Lithium, Olanzapine Affect Different Domains in Bipolar - Clinical Psychiatry News, 11/05
• Olanzapine May Be Better Than Lithium in Bipolar Disorder - Medscape, 7/8/05
• Bipolar Relapse on Monotherapy Can Be Stabilized by Restarting Combination Lithium, Divalproex - Doctor's Guide, 10/25/04
• Lithium and Venlafaxine Both Helpful Adjuncts in Depressed Patients Unresponsive to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors - Doctor's Guide, 10/19/04
• Lithium May Protect Neurons From Radiation Therapy - Science Daily, 10/15/04
• Lithium Augmentation of Venlafaxine - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/04
• Lamotrigine/Lithium Combination Shows Potential for Bipolar I Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 6/22/04
• Lithium Raises Older Patients' Car Crash Risk - Clinical Psychiatry News, 4/04
• Lithium May Be an Effective Treatment for the Prevention of Relapses in Bipolar Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 2/9/04
• Lithium Use Associated with Injurious Motor Vehicle Accidents Among Older Drivers, But No Similar Association Seen with Carbamazepine Use - Doctor's Guide, 1/20/04
• Lamotrigine and Lithium Appear Effective as Maintenance Therapy for Early Bipolar Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 12/3/03
• Lithium Prophylaxis Appears Safe, Effective For Unipolar Major Depressive Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 12/3/03
• Lithium, Divalproex Similarly Efficacious in Paediatric Bipolar Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 10/27/03
• Risk Of Suicide Attempt and Death Higher With Divalproex Than With Lithium In Patients With Bipolar Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 10/13/03
• Suicide Risk Lower Among Bipolar Disorder Patients Using Lithium Compared with Divalproex - Doctor's Guide, 9/17/03
• Quetiapine Rivals Lithium, Haloperidol - Clinical Psychiatry News, 7/03
• Switching Elderly Bipolar Patients From Lithium To Valproic Acid Questioned - Doctor's Guide, 5/1/03
• Lithium Lessons Learned - Psychiatric News, 4/18/03
• Lithium Remains Key in Bipolar Treatment - Clinical Psychiatry News, 1/03
• Lithium May Address Aggression in Children with Conduct Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 10/29/02
• Both Lamotrigine, Lithium Delay Relapse of Bipolar Disorder - Clinical Psychiatry News, 10/02
• Expert: Lithium Favored for Bipolar Suicide Risk - Clinical Psychiatry News, 9/02
• New Data Suggest Zyprexa (Olanzapine) Superior To Standard Of Care (Lithium) For Preventing Mania Relapse In Bipolar Disorder - Doctor's Guide, 9/16/02
• Boosting Fluoxetine As Effective As Adding Lithium Or Desipramine For Unresponsive Depression - Doctor's Guide, 8/30/02
• Lamotrigine and Lithium Effective for Complementary Maintenance Therapy of Bipolar Symptoms - Doctor's Guide, 6/26/02
• Olanzapine Plus Lithium or Valproate Effective for Bipolar Relapse Prevention - Doctor's Guide, 5/22/02
• Monitor Kidney Function With Long-Term Lithium - Clinical Psychiatry News, 4/02
• The Complex Interrelationship of Lithium and the Thyroid - Psychiatric Times, 1/02

Abstracts:

• Does Lithium Prevent Alzheimer's Disease? - Drugs Aging. 2012 Apr 14 - "Lithium salts have a well-established role in the treatment of major affective disorders. More recently, experimental and clinical studies have provided evidence that lithium may also exert neuroprotective effects. In animal and cell culture models, lithium has been shown to increase neuronal viability through a combination of mechanisms that includes the inhibition of apoptosis, regulation of autophagy, increased mitochondrial function, and synthesis of neurotrophic factors. In humans, lithium treatment has been associated with humoral and structural evidence of neuroprotection, such as increased expression of anti-apoptotic genes, inhibition of cellular oxidative stress, synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cortical thickening, increased grey matter density, and hippocampal enlargement ... A recent placebo-controlled clinical trial in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) showed that long-term lithium treatment may actually slow the progression of cognitive and functional deficits, and also attenuate Tau hyperphosphorylation in the MCI-AD continuum"
• A Comparison of Lithium and T3 Augmentation Following Two Failed Medication Treatments for Depression: A STAR*D Report - Am J Psychiatry. 2006 Sep;163(9):1519-30 - "After a mean of 9.6 weeks (SD=5.2) of treatment, remission rates were 15.9% with lithium augmentation and 24.7% with T(3) augmentation" - See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems.