Posted by undopaminergic on February 20, 2020, at 10:58:26
I found an interesting article on lithium, especially as far as the differences between the carbonate and orotate salts are concerned:
https://www.balancingbrainchemistry.co.uk/peter-smith/105/Lithium-Orotate-for-Bipolar-and-Depression/Lithium-Orotate-for-Bipolar-and-Depression.htmlCite:
"You often see it suggested online that lithium-orotate is better absorbed from the intestines than lithium-carbonate but in fact there appears to be little difference in this regard."and:
"The big difference between lithium-orotate and lithium-carbonate is that lithium orotate passes the blood brain barrier more effectively than lithium-carbonate and delivers significantly more lithium to the brain where we want it. Furthermore when lithium is administered in the form of lithium-orotate it is retained in the blood and brain far longer than when delivered by lithium-carbonate ... lithium-orotate maintains far more stable levels of lithium in the system."and:
"In one study 24 hours after injection of lithium-carbonate little lithium was retained in the blood compared to 2/3 of the level of lithium being retained when the same amount of lithium was injected from lithium-orotate and the level of lithium in the brain was three times greater from lithium-orotate compared to lithium-carbonate."and:
"There's been too little scientific research to be absolutely certain but it appears that the salt (either carbonate or orotate) that the lithium is attached to has an effect on either how well the lithium is absorbed from the blood into the cells and how quickly or slowly it is excreted by the kidneys, or put another way how long it is retained in the body."and:
"People used to believe that lithium orotate was better absorbed from the intestines than lithium carbonate but it now appears that both lithium-orotate and carbonate are well absorbed from the intestines, however the lithium-carbonate is not as well absorbed from the blood into the brain where it is needed as lithium-orotate and therefore you have to take a higher dose of lithium from carbonate and maintain a higher level lithium carbonate in the blood to force it into the cells."and:
"It also appears that lithium-orotate is excreted more slowly by the kidneys, this may make it easier to maintain a constant level of lithium in the system however it could also potentially make it more toxic to take too much over time."and:
"There was an experiment conducted in the 1979 {ref?} in which rats were given an equal dosage of elemental lithium from lithium-carbonate and lithium-orotate and the rats given lithium-orotate suffered kidney toxicity. This experiment demonstrated what we in nutritional medicine have been saying for years and that is the format a mineral is delivered in or what it is attached to can have a profound effect on how the mineral behaves in the body and that different forms of lithium salts do indeed behave differently."
(see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34690 )In summary, whatever the reason, the author seems to have good results from the use of very low doses of lithium in the form of the orotate. He has bipolar I, but needs only 10 mg. However, he does combine it with other treatments.
-undopaminergic
poster:undopaminergic
thread:1108589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20200104/msgs/1108589.html