How Lithium Treats the Brain 

Well done that is a great accomplishment. You were prescribed 15 meds at the same time?? Any benzodiazepines?

What are those natural ones? Can you please tell?

@@IISuperw every one is different mate it’s not one fits all , Peter will do you all what you need contact him will be the best decision you ever make

Where is he located ? What help you the most in naturals supplements ? I dream to have a Doctor like that so much 💙 Struggling to not go back on medication and trying naturals supplements... Can not find lithium orotate here in Quebec Canada 😪 You are the most lucky one to have him 🌈

It Peter Smith here, lm located in the UK but I do online video consultations for people in other countries; I’ve got many patients in Canada. To setup an appointment email me and let me know where you are located what time zone you are. Hello@petersmithuk.com

@@abella11 more focus and that's affected my mood positively. Try it for a month

ok seems to be very safe. its only my 6th year now.😅

Hvnt u had side effects thn??

U r still alive 🙄?

What time of day should this be taken...and with which of the supplement that you've stated are beneficial? Also empty or full stomach?

@@excuseless You have to experiment to work out which other supplements. Divide the dose morning and evening. With or without food.

Hey, i am bipolar 1 and I think if Oratate form does for a person it's placebo effect wich can work for a while or you don't have bipolar at all. I even do not think that this will do for bipolar 2. This type of bipolar suffers from severe depressive episodes and a small dose of lithium can't help. Anyway I don't have side effects with Lithiumcarbonate. He does a good explantion on what Lithium does but it's not responsible to tell people with bipolar that they should take Lithiumoratate instead of a proper medication.

@@miranday.7995 Agreed Miranda. I've edited my original comment to say "possibly ok for mild type 2" instead of "probably fine for type 2"

@@miranday.7995 I agree with you both that low dose lithium from orotate is not sufficient (on its own) to treat bipolar 1 or 2, and for the record I absolutely didn’t tell people with bipolar that they should take just lithium orotate on it’s own instead of proper medication. I have bipolar type 2 myself and lithium orotate on its own is not enough to keep my condition stable. In my practice I recommend people combine lithium orotate with multiple additional supplements and multiple other treatment techniques if they intend to go drug free. My natural self help treatment techniques are not appropriate for everyone, they require a lot more more work than just taking prescription drugs. They require taking a lot of supplements in addition to lithium orotate, a very healthy diet, sleeping techniques, brain training and more. Individually each supplement and natural treatment approach are not as powerful as the pharmaceutical drugs; however, when several supplements and approaches are combined together at the same time, the effects can be very powerful and I believe some individuals, like myself, can not only manage their condition using natural self-help techniques but manage it and thrive. The natural self help techniques have no side effects, in fact they promote better health, furthermore the combinations can be adjusted and tailor made to fit the individual and the phase of the condition. I never tell people to stop any medication they need to stay safe and treated; I always make a point of saying the opposite. Please be careful to check your facts before you accuse someone of making irresponsible suggestions. I take the issue of people’s welfare very seriously. Would you please take care to check your facts before accusing someone of reckless behaviour. Comments can be harmful. If a person chooses for themselves to go drug free and I believe their case may be manageable with multiple natural self-help therapies then I can advise them how to go about it; but it has to be their decision and I have to believe it’s possible in their case. This video was about how we now believe lithium treats the bipolar brain which was unknown for a long time. It didn’t recommend anyone try to manage BD with just Lithium orotate.

@@miranday.7995 yes mianda..dont accuse unless u can back up your statements..i wish u luck w your mania

​@@miranday.7995he never said that.

Glad you found the content on lithium, helpful, like you, it took me quite some time to change my negative understanding of lithium carbonate to the understanding that lithium doesn’t have to be used a toxic drug at high doses. I did some videos on the science of meditation, I could do more. Bacopa is something I routinely use in my bipolar prescriptions with clients, at moderate doses it boosts, neuroplasticity, it’s antidepressant and mildly attenuates high dopamine, however, at higher doses, it strongly attenuates dopamine, this makes it useful for preventing and treating manic phases. I was always disappointed by lions mane, it promises a lot, it’s expensive, but I never felt it delivers anything. It’s all bark no bite, I think it’s got massive marketing hype, almost mystical status, but in practice it doesn’t deliver much; very poor return on investment.

I see you posted this 3 weeks ago, I'm wondering how you're doing now?

There is so much Bipolar on both sides of my family that we basically have a status of either Bipolar positive or negative. The members of my family who don't have Bipolar are at an increased chance of Cyclothymia or other types of depression. My wife thinks that I am actually the most sane person in my family and that might be because I actually treat my disorder and the rest of them don't, so much.

@@VeryLikeLeigh I actually feel pretty good in the lithium is still working!

@@msearch444 That's good to know. I have started my son on it, he's high functioning autistic but is moody and depressed, not bipolar, I'm hoping it works for him.

​@VeryLikeLeigh I do hope too! May God bless your son 🙏💙🌷and family!🙏🪷 Amin!🙏

You are welcome, good luck with your healing journey

Also many people don't drink any tap water which contains minerals such as lithium. I know on my generation. It's mostly Bottled water or energy drinks and I think bottled water companies filter out many minerals such as lithium.

@sleepingrabbit4011 That’s right, most municipal water supplies are devoid of lithium. Thanks for sharing.

You’re welcome. Good luck with your healing journey.

Glad it was helpful.

You’re very welcome. Stay tuned, 2023 going to make a lot more.

This video is everything you need to know about lithium very interesting thanks doc.

You are welcome Good luck with your healing journey...

Thanks for the encouraging comment. I’m not an expert on how to eradicate Lyme but what I know is the inflammation it can cause in the brain can overwhelm the brains neuroplastic abilities causing mental health problems. So while you have Lyme you want to reduce inflammation and boost neuroplasticity S much as possible just to protect the brain, then when you overcome the Lyme you want to switch your focus from treating the Lyme to repairing the brain.

I’m glad you like my videos. Actually aggressivity is more to do with a lack of serotonin than excess dopamine, or maybe a dopamine serotonin imbalance; but it is serotonin that moderates impulse control and irritability in the frontal lobes.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments true. But dopamine can degrade into norepinephrine. And a lack of serotonin and an overload of norepinephrine and glutamate is a nasty combination. Lithium Orotate has been like a warm hug. And it doesn't completely suppress my dopamine like i thought it would. Norepinephrine and glutamate are not my friends. Lol

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments hello. Do you still offer online consultation? Greetings from Austria

You’re welcome. Quite a few people have told me that mouth taping improve their sleep, if that helped then maybe you could benefit by learning Buteyko breathing and perhaps also coherent or heart rate variability breathing. I wrote a book on sleep called Sleep Better with Natural Therapies.

Glad it was helpful :-)

You are welcome Good luck with your healing journey

j smith I’m filming that just now. Here’s that video: How to Use Lithium Orotate for Depression and Bipolar Disorder ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-J7VB6fOh9XE.html Ihope it helps you.

Glad it was helpful! Good luck with your healing journey

You think your feeling flat, unexcited empty because of the lithium?

@@Man-u-flex probably because of pandemic

​@@Man-u-flex I feel the same way. Everything that made me a leading expert in my field of work to someone that can't get the motivation to read two pages. Can't remember anything or want to do things. It's basically a chronic depression.

I am working on some mthfr stuff. Don't know anything about comt however. I am also working on learning more about lithium. My videos are on my channel.

That’s great that it was so helpful for you. I’m not experienced with autism but I’ve seen lithium may be helpful. Following a TBI I recommend aggressively reducing inflammation and boosting neuroplasticity. You could add curcumin, luteolin, fisetin, taurine, huge amounts of polyphenols coloured plants and teas.

I tried a higher dose of lithium (from orotate) to see how it would feel and I got trembling hands and felt emotionally flat. Thankfully for me just a low dose 10 mg a day (when combined with other remedies) is able to keep my bipolar totally stable; over a decade now with total mental wellness.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments Hi, could you tell me if there are withdrawal issues if you try Lithium Orotate and find out it is not for you? Which brands do you recommend. I'm a UK citizen but living in NZ so will need to order from overseas but I'm really wanting to treat myself before the psych team decide to put me on a high dose mood stabiliser. Do you take overseas patients for your functional medicine.

@@josiestanford3352 I always recommend discontinuing lithium gradually over a few weeks to a month to reduce the chances of a rebound effect. I recommend Advanced Research or Lindens. Yes I offer consultations online. To boodk an appointment send me an email hello@petersmithuk.com

Glad it was helpful.

You’re very welcome.

Keep it up Good luck with your healing...

Glad you like them! Good luck with your healing

if you had a manic phase then it doesn't work obviously

Lithium is never the best choice to treat a manic phase, weather it’s from orotate or carbonate. It’s to slow acting if you are already manic. What lithium does well is act as a preventative, it slowly builds up a stabilising effect. My strategy for managing BP mania is to develop the ability to read the early signs and indicators that you are heading into mania and then immediately implement an anti mania treatment strategy. Natural remedies including low dose from lithium orotate and other self help technique are gentler and weaker than the drugs and so to

You are welcome Good luck with your healing journey

You are welcome Good luck with your healing journey

You are welcome!

I was just prescribed this medication. I have anxiety and depression 300mg was prescribed to me.

Thanks, it's beginning to take off, I got 300 new subscribers in the past two months. Let me know what subject interest you that you would like to see discussed future videos, I’ll try to include them or even make a whole video about it.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments congrats your doing amazing

Please talk More about helping benzo tapering and withdrawals

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments thank you very much for your amazing videos:) Have you not had problems with hypothyroidism while taking lithium orotate? I am in a group where one lady already had significantly reduced thyroid activity at doses of about 15-7,5mg of lithium from li-orotate, and it improved after stopping use.

@@monikap8585 You just need to supplement a little iodine. I myself developed considerable fatigue when I was taking 10 mg lithium from orotate and eating lots of soya foods. I guesses low iodine, starting supplementing 800mcg iodine stomach seaweed and it completely solved the problem. I do not believe low dose lithium ototate actually harms the thyroid, it just competes with iodine and could lead to iodine deficiency goitre, it’s easy to prevent this with iodine supplements, minerals often need to be supplemented in combinations to prevent deficiencies from antagonism; another example is you need to supplement a little copper when supplementing zinc.

Glad you liked the video, Good luck with your healing healing journey

You are welcome, look out for my next video in a couple of months on an overview of bipolar disorder and what to do to rebalance the bipolar brain.

Glad you find it useful, is there a particular question/subject you are interested in?

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments I'm off benzo for 9 years and still have symptoms like mild anxieties when meeting people, and I get very uncomfortable talking to them especially strangers. I also still experience physical symptoms like, body ache, eye pain, extreme fatigue, and my hands are often shaking (trembling?) for no reasons. I was just wondering if I should take the supplements you mentioned in this video and also I want to know if my brain is damage permanently after this long 9 years. I'm not a person that I was before. The symptoms really bother me a lot to point they are the only things I'm focusing on. I rarely feel happy due to these symptoms. Thank you for your reply.

Hahah, dam it, you noticed. I sometimes have to go back and re-film a bit, I have a continuity check-list on the wall to run through before pressing record, but missed the glasses that time. I need to get new glasses with identical frames (after lock-down) so when I switch it won’t matter.

Thanks. I’m prepping my next video on the biology of bipolar disorder, it will include some additional benefits of lithium.

Thank you, I will. Let me know if there's a particular subject you are interested in.

Thank you 🙏 This week I’m setting up my new filming studio so I can start making videos more frequently. I’m gonna start making video of my upcoming book Living Well with Bipolar Disorder

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments YESSSS do it!! i am trying to get off benzos after a bad acid trip that made me panic and every other day after the bad trip i been struggling with anxiety. it changed the way my brain reacts to cannabis and then i started benzos because of the panic. i realized benzos where doing more damage to my brain than if i tried to heal it any other way, so i am in this black hole.

Thanks

Good luck to you in all your nice and healthy lifestyle! I hope you are doing well and everything goes according to plan. I wish you all the best, God bless you always!🙏🪷🙋‍♀️

The lithium should really help with the ocd that’s what I’m going try

DHEA is Not the best option if you have estrogen dominance, low testosterone or any form of Hormone imbalance. The best bet is Vit D3, Acrive B Complex, and essential trace minerals esp Zinc, Chromium, Selenium, Boron, Manganese, Molybdenum & Lithium. I have personally found Adatogenic Mushrooms to be excellent for such issues as well. Also instead of DHEA , you could consider low dose 2mg Pregnenolone in pulse mode which is the root Hormone and has better prognosis for Brain health.

Hi Jamie, i am on seroquel too. I wanted to see if lithium oratate could help. Is there any way i could talk to you

​@@Rebelz173 it does research suggests this for sure. Older studies at least. It helps with nearly all mental illness it seems.

I took lithium for my ocd and sleep deprivation. Bumped my sleep back to semi normal

Thanks I’m just starting the preparation for another video on bipolar neurotransmitters.

That’s great to hear, I’m pleased for you. I think lithium is best effect is the way it boosts Neuroplasticity and helps to regenerate the brain, and yes this effect will last long after you have discontinued it. But maybe you would like to think about just taking a load house Say 2 1/2 mg continuously or at least for several years. One simple way to take it is drop the tablet into your water drinking bottle, it dissolves completely and then you just drink it throughout the day.

You’re welcome

Thank’s, you can tell them I do one-to-one consultations online.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments ok

I haven't built up any clinical experience with long Covid yet but my guess is it's the failure of the body to switch off the inflammatory response caused by the massive discharge of cytokines (Covid is famous for causing a big discharge of cytokines). Cytokines are chemical signals that the immune system discharges to signal to other parts of the body that there is an infection and they should activate their inflammatory systems and so on. We know that cytokines and inflammation is the driving force behind all of the big mental health problems from schizophrenia through bipolar to depression. There is solid evidence that what's happening in the brains of people with these conditions, myself included, is that we have a chronically slightly elevated immune/inflammation response in our bodies or brains, it's as if we cannot fully switch off or terminate inflammation. It may be that some of us have this genetically and built into us, but for others it may be deficiencies like the deficiency of vitamin D or magnesium that the body needs in order to terminate inflammation responses. What I would do to treat long Covid is go all in on combating inflammation. You be thinking of top herbs like curcumin (but not all curcumin's cross the blood-brain barrier well), skullcap, high-dose EPA (but not all EPA's are pure and non-oxidised), a superhigh flavonoids and polyphenols diet, intermittent fasting to cycle out activated microglial cells (there are some new supplements to take when you intermittently fast to turbocharge the autophagy systems to kill off activated microglial cells) and there are more exotic or uncommon anti-inflammatory supplements. Micro glass cells are the brains immune system cells, they exist in a dormant state and then when they get switched on by cytokines they convert into a activated state whereupon to use the American expression "they go postal", and if you have a lot of activated micro bile cells in your brain you need to kill them to make way for new un-activated ones. Another thing you would want to do is increase activity in your vagus nerve, lack of activity in the vagus nerve activates the immune system. Also push to the maximum the production of butyrate in your intestines and growing a healthy microbiome, butyrate exerts a control mechanism to come down activity in the immune system. If you'd like me to work out an individual programme anti-inflammation programme of supplements, diet and vagus nerve stimulator brain training exercises I'm available for online consultations. Whenever you do definitely push up magnesium, D3, phenols, flavonoids and fermentable fibre for the butyrate. I wish you every success with your recovery…

Oh yes you definitely can take too much lithium orotate, there's a documented case (just the one) of overdose from lithium orotate: An 18-year-old girl swallowed 18 tablets of 120 mg lithium-orotate in one go which would contain 82.7 mg of lithium, she experienced of some tremor, nausea and vomited. She went to the emergency room, she was medically examined and all her vital signs were found to be normal, the only finding was the mild tremor; she was given intravenous fluids and anti-nausea medication; after three hours of observation the nausea and tremor resolved and she was transferred (returned from what I can gather) to psychiatric hospital. In an animal study when the same amount of a high dose of lithium from lithium rotate was given to rats, delivering an equivalent dosage (milligrams per kilogram) of lithium to the amount of lithium from lithium carbonate that would be given to a human i.e. they matched the blood concentration of lithium obtain from orotate as would normally be given from carbonate, and the result was it produced severe kidney toxicity. So, interpreting these observations: Even when a human swallows 18 lithium orotate pills in one go the worst it seems to do is give you nausea vomiting temporary shaking. So in normal usage lithium orotate is safe. I once swallowed a very strong multi B complex and Multi mineral on a totally empty stomach and I had nausea and tremors for a couple of hours, I felt awful I had to lie down. In my practice I have only ever gone as high as 4 pills twice a day for a month before bringing it down to 3 or 2. Now the evidence from the animal studies where they gave very very high doses of lithium from lithium orotate shows that at high doses lithium orotate can actually be toxic than lithium carbonate, so definitely don't go there and try and take an equivalent amount. This appears to show that the toxic threshold of lithium orotate is actually lower than the toxic threshold of lithium carbonate. This may make you think you wouldn't want to use lithium orotate but the big useful difference difference between lithium carbonate and lithium orotate is that the pharmacokinetics of lithium carbonate show that it doesn't start delivering therapeutic effects until you reach a fairly high level of lithium in the blood, my understanding is that lithium when attached to carbonate doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier as well as lithium orotate and so you have to push a high level into the blood to overwhelm the blood-brain barrier and get lithium into the brain if you're using carbonate. Conversely however lithium orotate starts to deliver therapeutic effects at much lower doses so we can use it at much lower doses staying well away from toxic levels.

There’s a lot of things we can do with self-help lifestyle medicine and natural remedies. Apply all the treatment approaches you can, all at the same time, work on your diet, your microbiome, your sleep, your circadian rhythms, genetic variants, rewire your brain with meditation brain training, change your psychology with psychotherapy, change your immune inflammation levels, improve your neuroplasticity and manage your neurotransmitters. I’m restarting making youtube Vids very soon and will cover each of these topics. Do all this and you may transform your mental health and the course of your life, Good luck with your healing journey.

Also make sure you are not deficient of vit D, magnesium, omega 3 oils by supplementing them and get your diet on point. Good luck with your healing journey.

No.

How are you doing today after getting off benzos if I may please ask? Also which benzo was you on and how many miligrams?

After a brutal withdrawal from benzos it took 6 months to feel normal

You are welcome!

That’s interesting that it helped your anxiety. Let me know what you would like to see more videos on.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments Yes my anxiety and panic attacks are almost completely gone since taking lithium orotate. I'd love videos on PTSD, the possible causes of bipolar, herbs for anxiety, magnesium L Threonate (what's different about it). Have you heard of sunflower lecithin to treat bipolar mania? I've been using it for about two years. It helps me focus and helps with attention, but too much makes me very angry and snappish so I've cut back my dose.

I have a couple more vids so make on other subjects than I’ll be concentrating on making a series of videos and writing a book on treating bipolar with natural remedies. I often prescribe lecithin at high doses for mania and sometimes as a maintenance treatment.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments I'm interested in buying the book. This is a wonderful channel. Information like this is really helpful for me.

You're welcome Good luck with your own healing journey

You are welcome, Good luck with your healing journey

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments thanks again- you too! glad to find your channel!

Glad you liked it 🙂

Hi I take LiO, NAC and taurine every day as part of my wellness maintenance regime. If you do take taurine be awair that it can increase the excretion of lithium from the kidneys. In my case I need a constant dose of LiO to maintain my (bipolar) stability, so if I start to use higher doses of taurine I increase my lithium. But I have to say I only notice the need for extra LiO when I take very high doses of taurine like say 8+ grams a day.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments I didn't know that taurine increases the excretion of lithium.

@@BeingBetter I don’t think taurine specifically increases the excretion of lithium, but it does have diuretic effects so basically you will pee more lithium out; tea, coffee and off cause alcohol are also diuretics but I recommend people to drink teas and coffee because are rich in brain healthy polyphenols.

@Better Mental Health with Natural Remedies Taurine is an Osmoregulator and also a sleesh Diuretic. It aids in bile synthesis and binding lipid soluble toxcins. It can flush electrolytes and several trace minerals. It needs to be used long term in conjunction with Magnesium, Potassium, Zinc, Boron, Selenium, Molybdenum, Chromium, Lithium etc. Taurine also operates on pathways that require Methylation, so its excessive use depletes methyl groups The effects of Taurine are balanced by another Osmoregulator - Betaine / TriMethylGlycine that most are deficient in.

NAC is NOT well tolerated by many who have CBS mutations or impairments in transulfaration pathways, but Taurine is still well tolerated by them in conjunction with selenium, molybdenum & manganese which aid transsulfuration. Those who have Methylation SNPs will also NOT be able to tolerate Methionine well, so they usually need to supplement with an Active Methylated B Complex with Betaine l, Choline & Folate. NAC is over-hyped. It works well only if taken in lower doses and it's continued usage will deplete selenium, & molybdenum as well as methyl groups.