Monday, February 23, 2009

Do you know that...?

Lithium, an alkali metal used in batteries, is also used to treat mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder.

Lithium was already being used to treat mania as early as 1870. For some reason, people stopped using as medicine until it was rediscovered in 1949 and used as a tranquilizer for people with certain types of mental illness.

Many soft drink companies used lithium salts or lithia waters (mineral water with high amounts of lithium) in their products before. A company called the West Bend Lithia Company even produced Lithia light beer. These companies stopped producing lithium-based drinks after a ban was declared in 1948.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting but saddening... More drugs with more side effects to make us more sick on top of every other problem... How about a post about the often overlooked link between poor nutrition and disease (including mental disorders!)? I've been very inspired lately by this guy: http://beyondhealth.com/

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  2. Wow! My ex was on Lithium for 5 years and had tons of negative side effects, but it did help his Manic Depression (Old name for Bi Polar). I didn't know that it was the same lithium used in batteries!! Yikes!! Thanks for the info!!!

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  3. Oh, let's look at this positively! Maybe by buying and driving a plug in car, all our depression will be lifted! Cheers!

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  4. great blog you have I suffer from uni-polar and did not know that, cant you drop me a line and tell me the side effects.

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