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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Squiggles on October 7, 2001, at 18:39:53
I was wondering if anyone has any
information on this. Does lithium
work as a mood stabilizer only
on bipolars? What is its effect on
normal people?Squiggles
Posted by Blood and Fire on October 7, 2001, at 19:33:06
In reply to Effect of Li on non-bipolars, posted by Squiggles on October 7, 2001, at 18:39:53
It looks like, at the least, Lithium acts against sucidal behavior in unipolars:
Schou, Mogens MD, DRMed, DrHCMult. Forty Years of Lithium Treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry. 54(1):9-13, January 1997:
"However, one may compare lithium with prophylactic alternatives. In a German multicenter study, unfortunately only partly published, which lasted 21/2 years, several hundred patients were randomly allocated to treatment with lithium or carbamazepine for bipolar illness and treatment with lithium or amitriptyline for unipolar illness. [41] Among the patients given the antidepressant drug, there were five suicides and no suicide attempts; among the carbamazepine-treated patients, there were four suicides and five suicide attempts; in the lithium-treated group, there were no suicides and no suicide attempts. The frequency of suicidal acts among the lithium-treated patients was significantly lower than the corresponding frequencies among those who were given antidepressants or carbamazepine (chi squared, P< .001 for both groups). These observations are consistent with the assumption that lithium treatment protects against suicidal behavior..."
Posted by allisonm on October 7, 2001, at 19:44:00
In reply to Effect of Li on non-bipolars, posted by Squiggles on October 7, 2001, at 18:39:53
I took it for about 7 months as an augmentor to an AD I was taking for my depression. It worked well as a mood stabilizer, but I had annoying side effects.
Good luck.
allison
Posted by Squiggles on October 7, 2001, at 19:46:43
In reply to Re: Effect of Li on non-bipolars » Squiggles, posted by Blood and Fire on October 7, 2001, at 19:33:06
> It looks like, at the least, Lithium acts against sucidal behavior in unipolars:
>
> Schou, Mogens MD, DRMed, DrHCMult. Forty Years of Lithium Treatment. Archives of General Psychiatry. 54(1):9-13, January 1997:
> "However, one may compare lithium with prophylactic alternatives. In a German multicenter study, unfortunately only partly published, which lasted 21/2 years, several hundred patients were randomly allocated to treatment with lithium or carbamazepine for bipolar illness and treatment with lithium or amitriptyline for unipolar illness. [41] Among the patients given the antidepressant drug, there were five suicides and no suicide attempts; among the carbamazepine-treated patients, there were four suicides and five suicide attempts; in the lithium-treated group, there were no suicides and no suicide attempts. The frequency of suicidal acts among the lithium-treated patients was significantly lower than the corresponding frequencies among those who were given antidepressants or carbamazepine (chi squared, P< .001 for both groups). These observations are consistent with the assumption that lithium treatment protects against suicidal behavior..."
Thank you Blood and Fire,Of course lithium is hot stuff - however, this
study compares amitryptiline subjects against
non amitryptiline ones, right? The question I
am interested in is what effect does lithium
have on completely non-medicated normals, against
bipolar or unipolars if you like.Dr. Schou is of course the god of lithium :-)
Squiggles
Posted by pellmell on October 8, 2001, at 9:58:20
In reply to Re: Effect of Li on non-bipolars, posted by Squiggles on October 7, 2001, at 19:46:43
I don't have any abstracts to quote for you, but I do have some personal experience.
I took lithium (600mg in the morning, 300 at night...or maybe it was the other way around) to augment the 200mg Zoloft I was taking. I'm not sure if it had any "mood stabilizing" effect on me, but I do remember it working very quickly. After two months of Zoloft monotherapy with few results, four days after adding the lithium I finally started to come out of my 11-month long depression.
I'm not on that combo anymore 'cause of Zoloft's effects on my sex life, but it did work beautifully.
-pm
Posted by Squiggles on October 8, 2001, at 12:40:13
In reply to Re: Effect of Li on non-bipolars » Squiggles, posted by pellmell on October 8, 2001, at 9:58:20
> I don't have any abstracts to quote for you, but I do have some personal experience.
>
> I took lithium (600mg in the morning, 300 at night...or maybe it was the other way around) to augment the 200mg Zoloft I was taking. I'm not sure if it had any "mood stabilizing" effect on me, but I do remember it working very quickly. After two months of Zoloft monotherapy with few results, four days after adding the lithium I finally started to come out of my 11-month long depression.
>
> I'm not on that combo anymore 'cause of Zoloft's effects on my sex life, but it did work beautifully.
>
> -pmInteresting pm,
I am beginning to think that lithium should
be taken by everyone LOL - truly remarkable
drug, and possibly underrated. Anyway, thank
you for the feedback. I am getting the sense
that it works on unipolars as well as bipolars -
I am looking for articles on the net concerning
this - it is disconcerting that different studies
have different results.Squiggles
This is the end of the thread.
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