Lithium therapy - the effectiveness of the medicine, side symptoms, complications and their influence on the quality of the life in affective diseases

Abstract

Lithium is a medicine of the first choice in the preventive treatment of bipolar affective disorder. It is also used to enhance the treatment of drug resistant depression. How excatly this element acts is not yet fully understood. Lithium influences the transportation of sodium via cellular membranes (sodium-potassium ATPase dependant), has an inhibitory influence on the second transmitter system (connected with phosphatidylinositol), thus probably acting as a stabiliser of inter cellular processes. Lithium does not associate with plasmatic proteins and is almost entirely excreted by kidneys. The side effects of the medicine are linked to its influence on the central nervous system and on the renal transportation of electrolytes as well as the narrow therapeutic index of the medicine, which can cause intoxication if the recommended doses are not when medical recommendations are not observed. The undesirable effects are more intensive when the level of lithium in the blood plasma increases. Among the most common side effects are stomachaches, nausea, diarrhoea, lack of appetite, polydipsia, polyuria, shaking hands, headaches, sleepiness or deterioration of memory. Complications during lithium therapy listed in lite-S³owa kluczowe: terapia litem, choroby afektywne.

Can lithium salts alter the size and morphology of the Madagascar hissing cockroach’s neuroendocrine system?

“…The mechanism of action of lithium in this regard is not fully known. Most lithium salts are highly soluble in water, which is why they are easily absorbed in the human digestive tract; hence, they are administered orally 3 . Presumably, this element acts as an inhibitor of enzymes that are key to the functioning of neurotransmitter systems inside neurons 4 .…”