Should we all be taking low doses of lithium to prevent Alzheimer’s?
Animal studies have shown that lithium orotate could help stave off dementia, and a human trial is about to start to see if the effects hold. Columnist Alice Klein takes a look at the benefits and downsides of lithium
The brain of a person with Alzheimer’s (right) is atrophied with a loss of cortex and white matterJESSICA WILSON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
In the 1880s, a newly dug well in Texas became known as the “Crazy Well” after a woman who drank from it daily allegedly overcame dementia. Her legendary recovery has since been suggested to be due to the naturally occurring lithium in the area’s groundwater. This lithium-containing “Crazy Water” is still available to buy in the local town of Mineral Wells.
Strange as it may seem, the idea that lithium, a simple metal, might have a role in treating and/or preventing dementia is starting to gain traction. Starting next month, lithium orotate, a type of lithium salt, will be tested for the first time in people with early Alzheimer’s disease in a clinical trial at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. This comes on the back of research published last year by Bruce Yankner at Harvard University and his colleagues showing that lithium orotate reversed memory loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia.
Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
canisgallicus 