Showing posts with label lithium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lithium. Show all posts

10 things you never knew about Lithium




If you're bipolar, lithium is a fact of life.

Chances are you're already on it, or you're on something
else that's trying to do for you what lithium does for others.
But how much do you really know about this
curious substance that you're ingesting every day?














1) Lithium is a metal, in fact, it is the lightest metal
and has just three electrons.  Lithium’s so light that
it actually floats in water.














2) Lithium is so soft, you can cut it with a knife.












3) The soft drink 7 Up was also a patent medicine,
originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda"
and contained lithium citrate until 1950.











4) The word lithium comes from the Greek word for stone, “lithos”. A freshly cut chunk of lithium is silvery, but tarnishes in a minute
or so in air to give a grey surface.












5) Lithium is actually a form of salt that the body
produces naturally. Lithium is also made via nuclear
fusion in the interiors of stars.











6) There is a town in Missouri named Lithium.

 

7) Lithium is found in seawater and is more concentrated
near thermal vents, but the majority of the world’s
lithium is mined in South America. 






8) Lithium is one of the three elements
synthesized in the Big Bang. 








9) Lithium is used for batteries because it is an excellent
conductor of electricity. Light weight and very reactive,
a battery made of lithium-ion can be smaller and hold
more charge.These charge-to-weight and power-to-weight
ratios make lithium the battery material of choice.
















10) Common side effects that come from taking lithium
include tremors, nausea and upset stomach, loss of
appetite, dried and thinning hair, and an itchy sensation.
The more serious side effects include hallucinations, lack
of coordination, extreme thirst or weakness, feelings
of confusion or restlessness, seizures, severely slowed
heart rate, and fainting.





















Learn even more about lithium!


Low-dose lithium may extend lifespan


Lithium  - the commodity of the 21st century

An important source of high-purity lithium and a gemstone


Lithium investors will prosper in 2011








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Lithium



well, i'm in a new orbit.

the Lithium is definitely having an effect...
and i'm still trying to articulate just what,
exactly, or even approximately, that effect is.








i talked with my new pdoc about why i had vetoed
Lithium as a possibility years ago when i was first diagnosed. in my mind, Lithium was the proverbial chemical
lobotomy, the ticket to zombie-ville.

i envisioned myself shuffling around the house in track
pants and slippers in my bathrobe, guzzling coffee to
stay awake and sitting in a chair, staring off into space without a clue of any kind going through my head...







Lithium - the only rock that floats




kind of funny really, because that's what i was
doing anyway before i started taking it.
which is why i was open to his idea of giving it a try.

i'd been feeling so awful lately that i was open
to anything that brought the possibility of feeling
less this way. if he'd suggested ECT, i probably
would have shrugged and said "sure. what the hell..."






oh look - it's Lithium!





i didn't then/don't now think it's bad thing
to have mixed feelings about ingesting a substance
used in batteries, baseball bats and pottery glazes.

it might even be a sign of mental health.
despite all my reading, and what i've learned
from others' experiences, there is still a dark
shadow on the edge of my consciousness
about this particular drug.

but so far, it doesn't seem too bad.










when my Muse asked me how i was liking my new
lithiated brain, i said "it feels like somebody has
moved out of my head, but i'm not sure if i'll miss
them or not".











it's definitely not as dark inside my head
as it was a month ago, and that's a good thing.

what was a sense of absence when i talked
with my Muse now feels more like a distance.
like "things" can't get as close to me as they once did.
my boat is not so easily rocked.



am i getting over myself?



... or am i snuggling up to my lobotomy?








Worth Lithium Storm HyperLite



















how should i know?





one of the strange gifts that comes with living
la vida medicado is this keen awareness of just
how flexible... how fragile... how curiously arbitrary
the whole "reality" thing is... really.






John Cade, who discovered Lithium's
effect on humans



my biggest fear was my creative energy would dissolve,
fade away, whatever and it's a big fear.
it's the one true enduring joy of my life
and if that candle did flicker or fade away,
my world would be dark beyond redemption.




so far, that doesn't seem to be the case.





Lithium - the pill




i'm pretty diligent when it comes to work.

some of this is probably that bipolar tendency to get fixated on something, but some of it is my upbringing.
my parents and grandparents were very clear about
pulling one's freight and honouring the one's
commitments to others.




my pills look like this



i don't expect my meds to do all the heavy lifting
when it comes to my brain and my moods. i know
i need to "do stuff", like get some fresh air, eat,
hydrate and apply myself to my 'work'.
such as it is.





"Lithium" - the 3rd single
from "Nevermind"



in the past year, i've written about a hundred
"little stories", created about a thousand comics
and taken several thousand photographs.

my discipline in sticking with it helps with my self-image, and i've become better at all of them than frankly i ever thought i could be.

but it still adds up to nothing...





















... no income, no new doors opening, not even
any real sense that it's possible or likely.

hence, the lithium... i guess.

...and for now, i'm taking my meds,
like a good little head case and trying
to "do stuff".




i'm also wondering. it's often said among the mental
that "you are not your symptoms". so who am i now?

am i my medications?





MORE ABOUT LITHIUM











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Lithium... more Lithium



dugg Lithium demotivator




one can just never say too much
about lithium, can one?







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the Side Effects continue....


if i seem unusually focused on Side Effects these days,
this may help explain why.
here are the side effects from one of my meds...

there's the common ones...








and then there's the serious ones...








now, wake up every morning - or afternoon, as the case may be - and start working out what "reality" might be today....








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Continuing Side Effects

Lithium 102




Trace amounts of lithium are present in the oceans
and in all organisms. The element serves no apparent
vital biological function, since animal and plants survive
in good health without it.








The first recorded use of lithium for the treatment
of mania, based in part on the urate/lithium connection,
was 1871.  Use of lithium carbonate (the current pill form
of lithium) to prevent depression came in 1886.



In 1948, an Australian psychiatrist named John Cade
began treating patients with mania using lithium (1948). 
He had injected guinea pigs with lithium urate and found
that they became placid, and somewhat tranquilized. 
Only later did he determine that the calming effect
was from lithium, not urate.







Coca-Cola was originally created as a patent medicine and included miracle ingredients like cocaine (an estimated nine milligrams per glass) and caffeine. The soft drink 7 Up was also a patent medicine, originally named "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" and contained lithium citrate until 1950.





Dispels hangovers. Takes the "ouch" out of grouch.



Lithia water is mineral water containing lithium salts.
Lithia water can occur naturally in spring form. One example can be found in Ashland, Oregon's Lithia Park. The water is pumped to a fountain where hundreds of people come to drink it for its supposed positive psychological effects.


Do I look like I've been sedated?




Lithia Park is the largest and most central park of Ashland, Oregon. Its name originates from lithium oxide (Li2O)
or "lithia," which is found in the stream water pumped
to the park.





Used extensively in countenancing excess activity




In 1907 a lithia water spring was discovered at Emigrant creek several miles to the east. Upon analysis, the water
was shown to have the second-highest concentration of (presumably beneficial) lithium in any natural spring.




The highest highest concentration was found
in the famous springs of Saratoga, New York.


Lithium? You're soaking in it!



The lithium ion Li+ administered as any of several lithium salts has proved to be useful as a mood-stabilizing drug due to neurological effects of the ion in the human body.



Happy Day





As a mood stabilizer, lithium is probably more effective in preventing mania than depression, and may reduce the risk of suicide in certain bipolar patients.





More about lithiation...

Lithium 101











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Lithium 101


a cheery little movie about Lithium-
i learned a few things,
and you might too!













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