Lithium

[miss_me]

i was just about to post a question about manic depressive's but read a few posts that have already been posted. My question now is what exactly is lithium? one of the posts said it wasnt a drug but a mineral salt, i was under the impression lithium was a very strong drug... Is it addictive? would someone have to be on it for all of their lives? is manic depression something that can be 'fixed'/'cured' or do people just learn to control it and live with it?

[shammydodger]

Lithium is the lightest metal. It is the third element in the periodic table, after hydrogen and helium. It will be prescribed as one of its salts, as lithium itself reacts quite readily with water and would do great harm to your insides if you swallowed a piece of the metal.

As to whether it is a drug or a mineral salt, the terms are not interdependent. Drug is a generic term given to many pharmocological treatments. Various lithium salts, often described simply though inaccurately as "lithium" are used as drug treatments for depression. Sorry I can't help with the remainder of your queries.

[shammydodger]

Just to clear up a point I was trying to make, lithium itself is not a mineral salt, it is an element. Salts of lithium are mineral salts and many of these lithium salts are used as drugs.

[Dr Hungry]

The BNF doesn't mention that Lithium salts are addictive and says there are no withdrawl symptoms. A psychiatrist did once tell me that once you start someone on lithium then you shouldn't expect them to be coming off it any time soon and that it's very hard to get someone to cope on their own after taking the drug but I don't know whether that was the opinion of that particular doctor or whether it is a general consensus. Lithium carbonate or citrate are generally used as drugs, not the metal itself.

Manic depression is different in everyone who suffers from it and there are degrees of severity. I don't think that there is an outright cure for it, but many people do control it well and lead normal lives. I think that everyone who suffers will experiences episodes that are more serious throughout their lives, but with good management the frequency, length and severity of these episodes can be decreased.