ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

How Lithium may help Mental Illness

Updated on August 24, 2014
jheldt profile image

I am a writer, blogger, youtuber and video game streamer, I have several facebook pages, blogs and more.

How lithium can help with mental issues

As I have written elsewhere today's soils and diet's are deprived of many minerals. Magnesium and lithium are common minerals people are lacking. High does of Lithium (around 300 mg) are used to treat psychiatric problems such as bipolar disorder. Lithium used in low dosage can be helpful with many mental problems.

Decreased levels of minerals (especially lithium and magnesium) may affect the body in a multitude of ways, especially mentally. Even an addition of a small amount of lithium can decrease the sodium gradient in your brain and decreasing neurotoxicity.

The basic premise behind why lithium can help is that it looks a lot like sodium, so much our bodies (our kidneys in particular) often confuse the two. By supplementing with lithium it helps to lower the sodium gradient in our brains and lower neurotoxicity.

It's speculated then that long term low dose lithium supplementation can enhance our neurotrophic factors, neuroprotective factors and/or neurogenesis, which may be attributed to reduced risk of suicide in countries with higher amounts of lithium in water supplies.

Do you suffer from or know someone that suffers from?

Do you suffer from or know someone that suffers from?

See results

How to supplement with lithium

Lithium orotate is the best form of lithium to supplement with. It is best to supplement with low amounts of it such as 2 mg. Commonly the lowest dosage you will find will be 5 mg so it may require splitting the pill in half and starting at 2 mg.

It is not recommended to start at a higher dosage as it may increase the side effects from taking so much. Other forms are not recommended as well. Some side effects may be apparent during the first couple days but they will dissipate.

Supplementing with other minerals and electrolyte may help as well, especially if suffering from mitochondrial dysfunction (chronic fatigue and people with thyroid issues often suffer from this). Magnesium and bioplasma cell salts should be supplemented as well. I have written before about magnesium supplementation and making/using magnesium oil here: http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-magnesium-oil

From personal experience and research, decreased minerals/mineral deficiency seems to contribute to health problems and lower enzyme activity. By supplementing and balancing out the minerals you supplement with it can help with many health problems people deal with on a daily basis.

Conditions that can be improved with lithium supplementation

Supplementing with lithium can improve a number of health conditions. It can help with MTHFR enzyme mutations, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. In countries with higher levels of lithium in water supplies there has been lower incidence of crime, mental diseases and suicide. Even in countries with a high incidence of suicide such as Japan has shown improvement. This blog post alone shows many ways in which supplementing with lithium may help: http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2011/02/lithium-and-longevity.html

It has been shown that higher amounts of lithium may decrease thyroid function. While it hasn't been researched or shown scientifically it may be due to having mineral/electrolyte imbalance, and there also may be diminishing returns on taking too much lithium. Taking the right amount of lithium may be beneficial for people suffering from mental problems. Staying properly hydrated with plenty of electrolytes will also help a lot as well as shown by another hubpage of mine here: http://jheldt.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-make-natural-electrolyte-mix-AKA-MTHFRade

Lithium and products to help

Doctor's Best Best Lithium Orotate (5mg), 200-Count
Doctor's Best Best Lithium Orotate (5mg), 200-Count
This is the best form or lithium orotate to supplement with. Start and stay at a low dose such as 2-2.5 mg. This comes in 5 mg so you can split it into two and will last for some time.
 

Lithium uses for mental health

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)