Lithium (generic), Eskalith, Lithobid News

Treatment of bipolar disorder is complicated by the multiple phases of the illness, dimensional symptomatology that varies considerably across individuals, and a limited spectrum of activity for all mood stabilizers.

Lithium is a naturally occurring salt used by psychiatrists to stabilise mood in those with bipolar disorder , the condition in which moods swing between the blackness of depression to the euphoric state that is called mania, and also to boost the effect of antidepressants.

A friend who works at a psychiatric hospital told me that one evening several patients organized a rebellion and attempted to escape the building by use of force.

When one mentions lithium, most people have a negative reaction. They think of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , drooling, and lobotomies.

A long-running NIMH initiative, the Treatment of Early Age Mania study presented its most recent scientific paper on October 21st, 2011, at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Toronto, Canada and published its findings online at the website of the Archives of General Psychiatry ... (more)

The window between the therapeutic dose of lithium and the toxic dose is almost vanishingly small.

The most effective long-term treatment for bipolar disorder is lithium. It offers protection against depression and mania and reduces the risk of suicide and short-term mortality.

Physicians should feel confident prescribing lithium for patients with bipolar disorder, according to an Oxford University study in which the potential side effects of the drug were evaluated.

A new review published today in The Lancet found that in addition to the known potential for causing weight gain, taking lithium may increase the activity of the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

THURSDAY, Jan. 19 -- A new medical review finds that lithium, a common treatment for bipolar disorder, can lead to weight gain and causes high rates of abnormalities in the thyroid and parathyroid glands.

Lithium's side effects should prompt regular clinical monitoring, but a meta-analysis in the Lancet "reaffirms its role as a treatment of choice for bipolar disorder," according to commentators.