Lithium is a mood stabilizer and can help to treat or avoid mania. It can likewise be utilized to decrease the frequency of depression episodes.
Take this drug as directed by your physician. It is necessary to drink lots of liquids while taking this medication. Lithium may communicate with particular medicines that affect serotonin (such as antidepressants, SSRIs, MAO preventions). Tell your medical professional about every one of your medications.
Mood Disorders
Lithium is typically made use of to treat bipolar affective disorder, a mental illness that triggers extremely rapid changes between the extreme state of minds of depression and mania. Bipolar disorder can make it difficult to live a regular life and can cause major issues in partnerships, job or college. Lithium helps to prevent these severe state of mind adjustments and lowers the severity of anxiety and mania.
The early research studies of lithium at Glostrup Psychiatric Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s supplied persuading proof that it can reduce the frequency of hospitalizations for clinical depression (38 ). Baastrup and Schou's placebo-controlled discontinuance study was especially essential since it revealed that people relapsed on placebo however out lithium (39 ).
Your physician will certainly inspect your blood levels on a regular basis to make certain you are taking the right quantity of lithium. It is very important to consume lots of fluids while taking this medicine. Your doctor might advise a low-sodium diet regimen while you are taking this medication.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD).
Lithium is a mineral so soft you can suffice with a knife and so light it floats on water. It is located naturally in the environment, with studies connecting reduced degrees of it to psychological and psychological health issue and terrible criminal activity. The mineral was included in sodas in the 1960s, where it lightened up moods and helped individuals concentrate and concentrate-- thus the name, 7-Up.
Lithium reduces mania by raising the activity of an enzyme that controls neurotransmitters, decreasing glutamate degrees, and aiding to stabilize other chemicals in the brain. It has actually additionally been revealed to have antidepressant impacts and enhance sleep, impatience, hostility, and stress management stress and anxiety in ADHD patients.
Individuals taking lithium must have routine blood tests to monitor degrees-- expensive can be hazardous. It is essential to let medical professionals learn about other drugs and supplements taken, as some can communicate with it. Inform your physician if you have looseness of the bowels, vomiting, drowsiness, shakes, weakness, unstable walking, or fainting (especially after workout). Use reliable birth control to avoid maternity while taking this medicine.
Hyperthyroidism.
Lithium may be made use of as a short-term treatment for over active thyroid glands (hyperthyroidism). This is especially vital if the client has Graves illness or other autoimmune problems like thyroiditis or Hashimoto's illness. Lithium inhibits the launch of thyroid hormone by obstructing iodine uptake at the thyroid gland with the sodium-iodide symporter and by interfering with tyrosine iodination. [9] Lithium additionally inhibits thyrotropin-releasing hormonal agent (TRH) stimulation and lowers the manufacturing of thyroxine from tyrosine in the thyroid gland. [10] However, lithium usage may bring about hypothyroidism and a goiter in some individuals. [11] Hence, constant assessment of thyroid feature tests and dimension is recommended in patients on lithium treatment.
It is important to go over the benefits and threats of this medication with your medical professional before beginning it. It is also vital to prevent items low in sodium (salt) while taking this medication and drink sufficient fluids. If you have any type of problems, call your physician or the emergency division right away.
Epilepsy.
The anticonvulsant results of lithium are well established from both scientific and experimental research studies. It is important to note that in contrast to a few primitive professional reports and the lithium-pilocarpine pet model, a number of current studies demonstrate that lithium in therapeutic degrees does not lower the seizure limit but really decreases the threshold for seizure event.
This is thought to be because of the reality that lithium enhances cholinergic task, inhibits phosphoinositide metabolic process and GSK-3b signalling. It additionally reduces glutamate excitotoxicity by boosting NMDA receptor agonist-evoked apoptotic currents and boosts the endogenous nitric oxide synthase activity in nerve cells [36]
Lithium is well tolerated by the majority of people with bipolar illness, but it has a few negative effects that should be considered. These consist of a reduced capability to focus pee (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus) and an increase in the concentration of lithium in the blood (lithium poisoning). It is consequently very essential to follow your physician's guidelines about having routine blood examinations.
