Low-dosage lithium and a great deal of luck.

My cognitive impairments have dissipated. My memory has yet to improve to the same degree, although it is still improving gradually. I would guess that memory impairments would be the last thing to resolve in depression. Hippocampal volume is very much reduced (atrophied?) as severe depression progresses. However, I have been taking 300 mg/day of lithium for over 10 years, hoping that it would reduce my risk of developing Alzheimers Disease. This is precisely why I have remained on low-dosage lithium for so long. Statistics suggest that very low dosages of lithium can reduce the risk of contracting Alzheimer's Disease substantially. There are even studies suggesting that lithium can reduce the magnitude of dementia symptoms. Lithium has also been documented to stimulate the growth of hippocampal tissue via neurogenesis. The hippocampus is probably the brain structure most responsible for memory function. Brain plasticity is a good thing.

Upon introducing lithium, I experienced a small, but perceptible improvement in depression. It began no longer than 6 hours of taking the very first 300mg dose. *I was taking Parnate at the time. Since I hadn't responded adequately to the this, or any subsequent drug trial, I was not convinced that lithium was still helping. That became a moot concern, however. I had already decided to continue with 300 mg/day of lithium for its potential to prevent Alzheimer's Disease, even if it was of no value to me to treat bipolar depression.

* Prior to 1990, adding lithium to Parnate was a favorite strategy that psychiatrists applied when Parnate monotherapy failed to produce an adequate antidepressant response.

Now comes the most mind-boggling luck that allowed me to respond to treatment. I had been taking low-dosage lithium at 300 mg/day in the background for 10 years in order to reduce my risk of developing Alzheimers Disease. During this time I continued to perform drug trial after drug trial in an attempt to successfully treat my bipolar depression.

Eventually, I was blessed with a therapeutic response. I guess thats a bit of an understatement. During the two years following the onset of my treatment response in 2020, I had never considered for a moment that low-dosage lithium might actually be a crucial component of the drug regime that brought me to remission of bipolar depression without which, I would still be pinned to the couch.

There are suggestions that the prophylactic effect of lithium on Alzheimers Disease only requires dosages that are way below 100 mg/day. Why should I take 300 mg/day of lithium when I could take 150 mg/day instead? So, I decided to reduce my dosage of lithium to 150 mg/day. I remained at the same dosages of the other 3 drugs I was taking. 36-48 hours later

I restarted lithium with a single 300 mg dose in the afternoon and a 150 mg the next morning.

Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

Low-dosage lithium and a great deal of luck.

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