Researchers in Japan examined levels of lithium in drinking water and noted that suicide rates were significantly lower in those areas with the highest levels of the element. Lithium is a naturally occurring element that can be found in tap water and is often used to treat mood disorders, such as bipolar disorder and acute mania. So should lithium be added to our drinking water? Not quite yet. There are no large-scale studies to demonstrate feasibility or safety in using lithium to this extent. However, the idea is one which will garner considerable debate. Like many medications it is yet unknown how lithium works in in the brain to treat mood disorders.
Do you have experience with lithium? Share your comments here.
Tags: bipolar, drinking water, Japan, lithium, mood, suicide, tap water, water
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Lithium in the drinking water is the scenario for “the Stepford Wives.”
May 7th, 2009 at 9:29 am
GOOD DAY TO YOU. SMILE* I AM BI-POLAR, AMONG OTHER THINGS, AND YEARS AGO THEY GAVE ME lITHIUM, AMONG OTHER THINGS. I RECALL WAKING ONE MORNING AND STATING VERY ENTHUSIASTICALLY, ” SO THIS IS WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE ALIVE !” HOWEVER, I JUST KEPT GETTING BIGGER AND BIGGER FROM FLUID RETENTION AND STOPPED TAKING IT. I HAVE BEEN ON MANY DRUGS SINCE THEN WITH MANY RESULTS. ALWAYS, EVENTUALLY MOVING ON TO YET ANOTHER DRUG. I TAKING 30 MGS OF PAXIL TODAY AT AGE 65 AND ALONG WITH A LIFETIME OF THERAPY AM HOLDING MY OWN. THIS HAS BEEN A LONG TERM WORKING SINCE THE AGE OF 21.
THANK YOU*
May 7th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Lithium was discovered to help manic depressives while being researched for a new anti-hypertensive drug. This occurred in aq prison and one day the researchers helper said a former prisoner was no longer crazy, who had been placed on lithium Chloride as a guinea pig .
May 7th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Anything else added to our drinking water is INSANE! Do some research and learn why people like Adolph Hitler and Margaret Thatcher added flouride(a toxic substance) to the waters in Poland and Australia. As for adding lithium in particular, I was mis-diagnosed as bi-polar and put on lithium. My skin developed sores and layers of scales that my doctor couldn’t figure it. Turns out I have had psoriatic arthritis since I was a child, and lithium exacerbates psoriasis in terrible ways!!!
We all deserve CLEAN water, air and food, NOT more poisons passed off as medications!
May 7th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
hi, due to 30 years of taking lithium for bi-polar mania, it LITHIUM damged my mom’s kideys so bad, she now has had acute renal toxcity for long term LITHIUM rx, she is on dialisis and fighting for her life. don’t take that sh*t drug until you do some research– there are PLENTY of other drugs for mania