Lithium is a mood stabilizer and can help to deal with or stop mania. It can likewise be used to lower the regularity of anxiety episodes.
Take this medication as directed by your physician. It is necessary to drink plenty of fluids while taking this medicine. Lithium might engage with particular medications that influence serotonin (such as antidepressants, SSRIs, MAO preventions). Inform your medical professional concerning every one of your medications.
Mood Disorders
Lithium is frequently utilized to deal with bipolar illness, a mental disease that causes very fast shifts between the extreme moods of depression and mania. Bipolar disorder can make it hard to live a typical life and can trigger severe issues in partnerships, job or college. Lithium aids to avoid these severe state of mind adjustments and reduces the intensity of clinical depression and mania.
The very early researches of lithium at Glostrup Psychiatric Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s given persuading proof that it can lower the regularity of hospital stays for anxiety (38 ). Baastrup and Schou's placebo-controlled discontinuance research study was particularly essential because it showed that patients relapsed on sugar pill yet out lithium (39 ).
Your physician will certainly inspect your blood levels frequently to ensure you are taking the appropriate amount of lithium. It is important to consume alcohol lots of liquids while taking this medicine. Your doctor might advise a low-sodium diet plan while you are taking this medication.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Lithium is a mineral so soft you can cut it with a knife therefore light it drifts on water. It is discovered naturally in the environment, with studies connecting reduced levels of it to emotional and psychological illness and fierce criminal offense. The mineral was contributed to soft drinks in the 1960s, where it brightened state of minds and aided people focus and concentrate-- therefore the name, 7-Up.
Lithium lowers 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 likewise been shown to have antidepressant effects and boost sleep, irritability, aggressiveness, and anxiousness in ADHD individuals.
People taking lithium should have normal blood examinations to keep track of degrees-- too expensive can be harmful. It is important to allow physicians learn about various other medicines and supplements taken, as some can communicate with it. Tell your medical professional if you have looseness of the bowels, vomiting, sleepiness, tremblings, weakness, unstable walking, or fainting (especially after workout). Use effective contraception to prevent pregnancy while taking this medication.
Hyperthyroidism.
Lithium may be used as a temporary treatment for over active thyroid glands (hyperthyroidism). This is especially essential if the person has Graves illness or various other autoimmune conditions like thyroiditis or Hashimoto's condition. Lithium prevents the release of thyroid hormonal agent by blocking iodine uptake at the thyroid gland via the sodium-iodide symporter and by disrupting tyrosine iodination. [9] Lithium also hinders thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) excitement and reduces the production of thyroxine from tyrosine in the thyroid gland. [10] Nevertheless, lithium use might lead to hypothyroidism and a goiter in some people. [11] For this reason, frequent analysis of thyroid function examinations and size is encouraged in patients on lithium treatment.
It is important to review the benefits and threats of this medication with your medical professional before beginning it. It is likewise iop mental health treatment important to prevent products reduced in sodium (salt) while taking this medication and drink sufficient liquids. If you have any type of problems, call your physician or the emergency situation department right away.
Epilepsy.
The anticonvulsant impacts of lithium are well developed from both medical and speculative studies. It is necessary to note that unlike a few primitive scientific reports and the lithium-pilocarpine animal version, a number of current studies demonstrate that lithium in healing levels does not reduce the seizure threshold however in fact lowers the limit for seizure occurrence.
This is thought to be because of the reality that lithium enhances cholinergic task, inhibits phosphoinositide metabolic process and GSK-3b signalling. It additionally decreases glutamate excitotoxicity by boosting NMDA receptor agonist-evoked apoptotic currents and enhances the endogenous nitric oxide synthase activity in nerve cells [36]
Lithium is well tolerated by lots of people with bipolar disorder, however it has a couple of negative effects that must be considered. These consist of a decreased capability to focus urine (nephrogenic diabetic issues insipidus) and a rise in the concentration of lithium in the blood (lithium toxicity). It is consequently very essential to follow your physician's guidelines concerning having regular blood tests.
