What is Lithium Used For?
Lithium is a state of mind stabilizer and can assist to deal with or prevent mania. It can additionally be made use of to reduce the frequency of clinical depression episodes.


Take this medicine as directed by your medical professional. It is very important to drink plenty of fluids while taking this medicine. Lithium might interact with particular medicines that influence serotonin (such as antidepressants, SSRIs, MAO inhibitors). Inform your physician about every one of your medications.

State of mind Disorders
Lithium is frequently utilized to deal with bipolar affective disorder, a mental illness that creates extremely rapid shifts in between the extreme state of minds of clinical depression and mania. Bipolar affective disorder can make it hard to live a typical life and can cause severe troubles in relationships, job or school. Lithium assists to stop these extreme state of mind changes and reduces the severity of clinical depression and mania.

The early research studies of lithium at Glostrup Psychiatric Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s given convincing proof that it can reduce the regularity of hospital stays for depression (38 ). Baastrup and Schou's placebo-controlled discontinuance research was especially crucial because it revealed that patients fell back on sugar pill but not on lithium (39 ).

Your medical professional will inspect your blood degrees routinely to make certain you are taking the proper amount of lithium. It is very important to drink lots of liquids while taking this medication. Your doctor may advise a low-sodium diet while you are taking this medicine.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Lithium is a mineral so soft you can cut it with a blade and so light it floats on water. It is discovered normally in the setting, with studies linking reduced degrees of it to emotional and mental health issue and violent criminal offense. The mineral was contributed to soft drinks in the 1960s, where it lightened up state of minds and helped people concentrate and focus-- therefore the name, 7-Up.

Lithium reduces mania by boosting the activity of an enzyme that manages neurotransmitters, decreasing glutamate levels, and assisting to stabilize various other chemicals in the mind. It has also been shown to have antidepressant impacts and enhance sleep, irritation, aggressiveness, and anxiousness in ADHD patients.

Individuals taking lithium needs to have routine blood examinations to check degrees-- expensive can be toxic. It is essential to let physicians understand about various other drugs and supplements taken, as some can connect with it. Inform your medical professional if you have looseness of the bowels, throwing up, sleepiness, tremors, weakness, unsteady walking, or fainting (especially after exercise). Use efficient contraception to prevent pregnancy while taking this medicine.

Hyperthyroidism.
Lithium may be made use of as a short-term treatment for over active thyroid glands (hyperthyroidism). This is particularly crucial if the patient has Graves disease or other autoimmune problems like thyroiditis or Hashimoto's illness. Lithium hinders the launch of thyroid hormone by blocking iodine uptake at the thyroid gland with the sodium-iodide symporter and by hindering tyrosine iodination. [9] Lithium additionally inhibits thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) excitement and lowers the production of thyroxine from tyrosine in the thyroid gland. [10] Nonetheless, lithium usage might lead to hypothyroidism and a goiter in some people. [11] Therefore, regular assessment of thyroid function tests and dimension is suggested in patients on lithium treatment.

It is essential to go over the benefits and threats of this drug with your physician prior to starting it. It is also important to prevent products low in residential mental health treatment sodium (salt) while taking this medication and drink enough liquids. If you have any type of troubles, call your physician or the emergency division today.

Epilepsy.
The anticonvulsant results of lithium are well established from both scientific and experimental studies. It is necessary to keep in mind that unlike a few primitive professional records and the lithium-pilocarpine animal model, a variety of current researches demonstrate that lithium in therapeutic degrees does not lower the seizure threshold however actually decreases the limit for seizure occurrence.

This is believed to be because of the truth that lithium enhances cholinergic activity, prevents phosphoinositide metabolism and GSK-3b signalling. It likewise reduces glutamate excitotoxicity by boosting NMDA receptor agonist-evoked apoptotic currents and enhances the endogenous nitric oxide synthase task in neurons [36]

Lithium is well tolerated by many people with bipolar illness, however it has a few adverse effects that must be considered. These include a minimized ability to focus pee (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus) and a boost in the concentration of lithium in the blood (lithium toxicity). It is consequently very crucial to follow your doctor's directions concerning having regular blood tests.