Lithium is a mood stabilizing drug used for bipolar affective disorder. Most people with this disorder need to take this drug for longer duration of time to prevent mood problems from recurring. However, lithium is a toxic metal with very narrow margin between toxicity level and therapeutic level. Therefore, it can easily become toxic and early warning signs of toxicity must known by the patients.
Click Here to read on signs of Lithium toxicity
However, lithium also can cause side effects which are not dangerous.
Click Here to read on side effects of Lithium
How lithium toxicity is treated?
Lithium toxicity is treated according to the blood level of lithium, if the patient has >2 mmol/l and patient is clinically not very upset then it is treated with
1. Stopping the lithium therapy
2. Hydrating the patient via intravenous normal saline and increased oral water to washout lithium inside the blood
3. If the patient is not responding or the lithium level is >3mmol/l or patient is having very significant toxic features, Hemodialysis (artificial cleaning of the blood) is the treatment option.
4. After the treatment, doctor will usually look into the cause for lithium toxicity and he/she may start a mood stabilizer that is different to lithium such as sodium valproate. However, Lithium is the usual gold standard in treating and preventing bipolar affective disorder
Further reading
1. Contraindications for Lithium treatment
2. Mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder: Uses and side effects
3. Characteristics of the bipolar disorder
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment