What are the long-term side effects of lithium?

Lithium also exerts antisuicidal, immunomodulatory, and neuroprotective effects. The main problems associated with long-term lithium treatment include kidney, thyroid, and probably cognitive issues.

Does lithium cause long-term damage?

With long-term use, lithium can cause chronic tubulo-interstitial nephritis, which is characterized by a decrease in the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and may lead to chronic kidney disease (lithium nephropathy) (97, 98).

What is the downside of taking lithium?

If you've been taking lithium for some time, it can cause weight gain. It can also cause problems with your kidneys or thyroid gland. Common signs of an underactive thyroid are tiredness, weight gain and feeling depressed.

What is the most concerning side effect of lithium?

Rare/serious side effects

Signs of lithium toxicity include severe nausea and vomiting, severe hand tremors, confusion, vision changes, and unsteadiness while standing or walking. These symptoms need to be addressed immediately with a medical doctor to ensure your lithium level is not dangerously high.

Why do people quit lithium?

Adverse effects were the most common cause for lithium discontinuation. Among the adverse effects, diarrhoea, tremor, creatinine increase, polyuria/polydipsia/diabetes insipidus and weight gain were the top five reasons for discontinuing lithium.

Lithium: Adverse Effects and Interactions – Pharmacology | Lecturio Nursing

What are the dangers of lithium?

► Exposure to Lithium can cause loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. ► Lithium can cause headache, muscle weakness, twitching, blurred vision, loss of coordination, tremors, confusion, seizures and coma.

Is it worth it to take lithium?

While there are different medications used to treat manic and depressive episodes in people with bipolar disorder, lithium is a commonly used medication. Studies suggest that lithium is very effective at both treating symptoms of bipolar disorder and preventing relapses of the condition.

What does lithium do to your organs?

Taking lithium for long periods can affect your kidneys and your thyroid. Lithium can also cause drowsiness. Your doctor will carry out blood tests regularly to monitor how much lithium is in your blood. They will also monitor your kidney function, your thyroid gland and your parathyroid gland.

Can lithium change your life?

Lithium can be life changing for those who find bipolar disorder difficult to manage, but its use does come with side effects. In this article, we outline some of the more common short term and long term side effects of taking lithium.

What organs can lithium damage?

Lithium has adverse effects on the kidneys, thyroid gland and parathyroid glands, necessitating monitoring of these organ functions through periodic blood tests. In most cases, lithium-associated renal effects are relatively mild.

What is an alternative to lithium for bipolar?

The ones that treat bipolar depression are cariprazine (Vraylar), lurasidone (Latuda), olanzapine-fluoxetine combo (Symbyax), and quetiapine (Seroquel). Among them, lurasidone offers a good balance of efficacy and tolerability.

What drugs should not be taken with lithium?

Common drug–drug interactions with lithium

The most commonly prescribed drugs that have the potential to interact with lithium are ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor antagonists (sartans), diuretics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Is lithium hard on kidneys?

Lithium may cause problems with kidney health. Kidney damage due to lithium may include acute (sudden) or chronic (long-term) kidney disease and kidney cysts. The amount of kidney damage depends on how long you have been taking lithium.

What is normal lithium level for bipolar?

For adults with bipolar disorder there was consensus that the standard lithium serum level should be 0.60‐0.80 mmol/L with the option to reduce it to 0.40‐0.60 mmol/L in case of good response but poor tolerance or to increase it to 0.80‐1.00 mmol/L in case of insufficient response and good tolerance.

What is a natural alternative to lithium?

Natural Lithium Alternatives

carbs and caffeine, regular exercise, talk therapies with various therapeutic focus, and other supplemental inclusions that have been shown effective for depression, bipolar presentations, and mood disturbances. All of these types of treatments may be viable lithium alternatives.

Why is lithium controversial?

Since its introduction, the prescription of lithium has grown increasingly controversial due to reports of poisoning, memory loss, and the drug having a “lobotomizing effect” on patients.

What is the success rate of lithium?

“Only one-third of patients respond to lithium with disappearance of the symptoms,” says Renata Santos, co-first author on the study and a Salk research collaborator.

What are 3 interesting facts about lithium?

What does lithium do to your brain?

At a neuronal level, lithium reduces excitatory (dopamine and glutamate) but increases inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission; however, these broad effects are underpinned by complex neurotransmitter systems that strive to achieve homeostasis by way of compensatory changes.

How do you get off lithium?

If you need to stop taking lithium, it is best for you to come off it gradually, over at least four weeks, but preferably over three to six months. Gradually reducing the dose will make it less likely that your symptoms come back (compared to stopping the lithium quickly).

How do I protect my kidneys from lithium?

N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant that can protect and even reverse renal toxicity, including toxicity from lithium.

How common is kidney failure with lithium?

Although several reports suggest little effect of lithium on renal function, other studies estimate prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst lithium users between 10 and 35% (Presne et al.

Can lithium damage your heart?

Introduction. Lithium overdose can be associated with cardiac toxicity, especially in those with underlying heart disease. Toxic levels of serum lithium are associated with cardiotoxic effects ranging from simple ECG disorders to dysrhythmias, cardiomyopathy and even acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Does lithium make you forgetful?

Lithium has been associated with impaired memory, word finding difficulties, and impaired recall. Often, my patients have reported a cognitive "dulling" and a loss of cognitive "creativity" with lithium use that they found most disturbing.

What should I watch out for with lithium?

Call your doctor right away if you have diarrhea, vomiting, drowsiness, muscle weakness, tremors, unsteadiness, or other problems with muscle control or coordination. These may be symptoms of lithium toxicity. Make sure your doctor knows if you have a heart disorder called Brugada syndrome.