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Has anyone added low dose lithium orotate into the mix?

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
I wanted to ask if anyone has added low dose lithium orotate into the mix...2.5 mg's per day? Reason I ask is because one of Yasko's videos I saw, she mentioned that low dose LO can help transport B-12 and also to help get methylfolate into the cells. I just added this into my mix yesterday. I suffer from depression as well as constant fatigue. Quite some time ago I tried SJW...first on it's own...then later added low dose LO..2.5mg's...per day. The adding in of LO had a better antidepressant effect for me but in general, SJW made me feel very flat so I knew I wasn't really getting at the root of the problem. SJW on it's own when I tried it made me feel very flat so I knew that symptom wasn't from the LO. Then I stumbled across this forum and all of this makes sense to me based on my history of symptoms and even though I have not done the genome testing I would bet that I have a MTHFR polymorphism. Probably explains my trials and tribulations with a kabillion different AD's I've tried over the past years with no positive results. The only thing that "totally lifted" my depression was years ago when I sleep deprived myself. Certainly not a long term solution because we all need our sleep.

I'm currently on Freddd's protocol and the only supp I am missing right now is the l-carnitine fumarate but will be getting that. In addition though I am also doing higher dose of SAM-e along with higher dose of methylfolate. I'm taking 1200 mg's of SAM-e along with 15mg's of methylfolate per day. Trying to tackle this depression. Is it the fatigue causing the depression or the depression causing the fatigue? A chicken and egg scenario no doubt. Just yesterday I bumped it up from 10 to 15mg's. Reason being from other posts I've read I understand that the Deplin trials had a better AD response at 15mg's as opposed to 7.5 mg's so I am trying this dose and had no fears in bumping that dose up because I know I have a high tolerance for many supps. I had no negative reaction from that bump up. Yes I have had healing type symptoms along the way but that increase from 10 to 15mg's I had no negative reaction. I did have negative reaction yesterday when I tried for the first time of bumping my adb-12 up to 10 mg's in the morning. No doubt it was a healing symptom since it made my fatigue and depression worse yesterday but I need to back that back down to 5mg's...atleast for now. It sucks when you have the depression along with the fatigue cause the last thing you want to do is make your depression worse when you already have depression.

In any event, I just wanted to know if anyone else has tried and have had any positive response to adding in a low dose of LO, whether it be to help with depression if some of you have that or just helping with your CFS symptoms in general. Thanks for listening.
 

greenshots

Senior Member
Messages
399
Location
California
yes, I use it at low dose twice a day and have noticed a difference with mood but not sure about B 12 transport yet. I get my levels done next week and the last were sky high so I must not absorb them. When my doctor read all the studies on lithium orotate, she said it made alotta sense for both b 12 transport and glutamate regulation. Yasko came out with this late since my doc knew about this at least 4 years ago, as did Blaylock and other docs at Life Extension. We put my son on this and he went from being out of control to extremely even tempered. There's something about the COMT being sorta like the gatekeeper for this due to an area that makes lithium or processes dopamine, etc. I think Dr. deth did the work on some enzyme there. Anyway, its been good for us!
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
yes, I use it at low dose twice a day and have noticed a difference with mood but not sure about B 12 transport yet. I get my levels done next week and the last were sky high so I must not absorb them. When my doctor read all the studies on lithium orotate, she said it made alotta sense for both b 12 transport and glutamate regulation. Yasko came out with this late since my doc knew about this at least 4 years ago, as did Blaylock and other docs at Life Extension. We put my son on this and he went from being out of control to extremely even tempered. There's something about the COMT being sorta like the gatekeeper for this due to an area that makes lithium or processes dopamine, etc. I think Dr. deth did the work on some enzyme there. Anyway, its been good for us!

Your lithium levels are sky high?
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
yes, I use it at low dose twice a day and have noticed a difference with mood but not sure about B 12 transport yet. I get my levels done next week and the last were sky high so I must not absorb them. When my doctor read all the studies on lithium orotate, she said it made alotta sense for both b 12 transport and glutamate regulation. Yasko came out with this late since my doc knew about this at least 4 years ago, as did Blaylock and other docs at Life Extension. We put my son on this and he went from being out of control to extremely even tempered. There's something about the COMT being sorta like the gatekeeper for this due to an area that makes lithium or processes dopamine, etc. I think Dr. deth did the work on some enzyme there. Anyway, its been good for us!

hi greenshots

Glad that it has helped with your mood. Right now I am just going to stick with the 2.5mg's for awhile to see if that dose has any effect. Atleast only that dose did help me some when I trialed SJW. If it doesn't help at some point I will consider bumping it up to twice per day.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Do u guys fiind it helps sleep?
Iherb have a free trial pack of 10 tabs which im going to order next.

cheers!!!

hi heapsreal

Come to think of it, it may have helped with my sleep. Hard to tell because I just started with the LO, but last night I slept about an hour longer than my normal average per night which has really only been about 5.5 hours a night and it has been like that for many years. So it is possible it could have been the LO, but I do recall Freddd saying that the B-12 will help in secreting melatonin so it's also possible I am starting to get some B-12 in my system to have that effect also.
 

chilove

Senior Member
Messages
365
Wow.. I've been reading up on LO and can't find anything negative about it. I just emailed my doc to ask her opinion about adding to it the mix. I wanna try it now! :)
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Wow.. I've been reading up on LO and can't find anything negative about it. I just emailed my doc to ask her opinion about adding to it the mix. I wanna try it now! :)

hi chilove

I have read a lot of positives about it as well. I think some people are leary of taking it because they hear the word lithium and they automatically think of someone taking that who is bipolar. The dosages prescribed for that are far higher than 2.5 mg's per day. Afterall, lithium is a trace mineral so it's not like it would be a foreign substance to someones body who has never taken it before as a supplement. Plus it's one of the most inexpensive supps I take.
 

Rand56

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Myrtle Beach, SC
Oh and one more thing. For anyone who tries it and gets the Doctor's Best LO, don't be surprised when you are using a pill cutter to cut the 5mg tablet in half that you will somewhat crumble some of the tablets even if the razor is sharp on a new pill cutter. I've found that if you go quicker and with more force cutting it you have a cleaner cut. Going slower and with not as much force you will crumble the tablet more.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
There's a lithium thread in the general treatment forums
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/lithium-experiences.11208/

I've been taking lithium for the past few months. I can't tell if it's helping, but I'm not sure if it's causing side effects. I am concerned about liver damage though. I've heard with prescription lithium they sometimes monitor liver function. Actually, it seems that it's the kidneys which lithium causes problems for. I'll try to post if I find more information.
 

dbkita

Senior Member
Messages
655
I personally tried 5 mg elemental lithium as lithium orotate and felt like I had my energy just sucked right out of me for the whole day. I just wanted to sleep or sit and do nothing. It was akin to an overload of benzodiazepene or for me a large dose of pharmaceutical grade GABA which goes right through my leaky BBB and incapacitates me. Symptoms were virtually identical. I suspect a connection to GABA production. For now I have tabled it since the effect was so profound.
 

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
Prescription lithium is a type other than orotate, but I don't recall what. It can damage the kidneys.


ETA: The amount of lithium in the prescription type is much higher than in the supplemental lithium orotate.
 

ahmo

Senior Member
Messages
4,805
Location
Northcoast NSW, Australia
There's a lithium thread in the general treatment forums
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/index.php?threads/lithium-experiences.11208/

I've been taking lithium for the past few months. I can't tell if it's helping, but I'm not sure if it's causing side effects. I am concerned about liver damage though. I've heard with prescription lithium they sometimes monitor liver function. Actually, it seems that it's the kidneys which lithium causes problems for. I'll try to post if I find more information.

Prescription lithium is lithium carbonate, it's high dose, so has to be closely monitored w/ blood tests.

I started lithium orotate 2-3 months ago, following Yasko's advice. I felt its positive influence the same day, and every day since. It's only since getting my genetic results that I've had any explanation of my excessive emotional reactions. Before this I could only sigh and aknowledge that I'm an empath. I'm far more stable with the lithium. The other supps I've added for pyroluria were a big help, and lithium seemed to shift it all into a new possibility for me. No more bursting into tears at every sad story!

Yasko referred to 1/4 capsule, and that's what I've been doing, 1/4 of OrthoMolecularProducts 10 mg. cap. Just yesterday someone mentioned that Yasko's higher dosage, and when I looked at her site, her's is 130 mg 'providing 4.8 mg elemental lithium'. This seems very odd to me, that my dosage is so much less than her recommendations, and I'll experiment w/ increasing mine a bit. But this small, 1/4 cap dosage has been a brilliant shift for me, and when he remembers to take it, for my husband as well.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
Sorry to be so ignorant - I thought lithium was prescribed for bi-polar in addition to other mental health problems. I presume LO isn't the same stuff? It looks to have quite positive effects for some people.
 

brenda

Senior Member
Messages
2,266
Location
UK
I` ve read it should not be taken with autoimmune condtitions so this is holding me back.
 

adreno

PR activist
Messages
4,841
Sorry to be so ignorant - I thought lithium was prescribed for bi-polar in addition to other mental health problems. I presume LO isn't the same stuff? It looks to have quite positive effects for some people.
Yeah lithium (carbonate) is used for treating bipolar disorder, but in much higher doses.