3 ms·
The kidney damage, etc, are consequences of the very high doses of lithium needed to control bipolar disorder. Most experts who have been recommending lithium
by hollerith 1y ago
The kidney damage, etc, are consequences of the very high doses of lithium needed to control bipolar disorder.
Most experts who have been recommending lithium supplementation to support general health recommend doses about 100 or 300 times lower.
- modeless 1y agoExactly. An "exquisitely low dose" should be safe. And Alzheimer's also kills you, after making life no longer worth living. For people who already have it, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't try an appropriate dose.
- inejge 1y ago> An "exquisitely low dose" should be safe. The problem is that a subset of self-experimenters have the mindset "the more, the better" -- I still remember the Covid-era vitamin D discussions, with people openly reporting taking stupendous daily doses. (Lithium and vit. D are not in the same category, but you'll recognize the approach.) So someone goes overboard, maybe damages their health, and traces it back to an article without the caveat. Lawsuit time! We're talking about fractions of a percent here, but with a wide enough potential readership you have a non-trivial chance of a hit. Common sense doesn't work at scale. Hence the CYA rhetoric.