What Is Involved in Lithium Therapy?

Lithium therapy ^[1] refers to that because traditional antidepressants will not be used to treat bidirectional disorders, because it causes strong mood swings rather than emotional stability, it is relieved by taking aluminum bicarbonate tablets. This is lithium therapy.

Lithium therapy ^[1]

For 60% of patients with bipolar disorder, lithium therapy generally works within 5 to 10 days, and it needs to be continued afterwards to minimize the incidence of depression and mania. Zapez et al. Reported that those symptoms were stopped as soon as they disappeared. The recurrence rate in the population is 28 times that of the people who continue to adhere to medication. Lithium therapy may have an effect on three processes that affect mood: increase the activity of serotonin, regulate the activity of the second messenger, and modify the activity of potassium in neurons. ^1]

Although lithium therapy ^{[1] has} great potential, its clinical effect is not as good as expected. This may be due to the patient's failure to adhere to the medication according to the treatment requirements, because it has some side effects such as weight gain. , Difficulty in coordinating movements, and tremors, thirst, memory disorders, etc. The main psychological reasons are: patients do not like to use drugs to control their emotions, feel good about themselves and think that they do not need drugs, and miss the excitement of mild mania. In addition, many patients complain that taking medication makes them feel depressed at all times. It is worth noting that too little dosage has no effect, too much can cause poisoning, and the difference between the two doses is very small, so the lithium concentration Monitoring should be carried out regularly through blood tests. The manifestations of lithium poisoning include nausea, nausea, vomiting, tremor, renal failure until death, which is also the reason preventing adherence to medication.