15 replies to this topic

[prisoner of life]

Has anyone experienced strong long lasting withdrawal symptoms after taking lithium orotate? I started using it in December and worked my dose up to 20mg (elemental lithium). I experienced some benefits from taking this supplement that were accompanied with a brain fog. I read that cognitive decline is normal at the beginning of taking lithium and it should diminish/pass over time.

I took 5mg for two weeks, then 10mg for another two weeks, then 20mg for yet another two weeks. At that point brain fog was severe so I lowered the dose to 10mg, then to 5mg, then I stopped taking the supplement altogether. Unfortunately the brain fog didn't go away after discontinuation in fact I think it increased. It' been a month since I stopped taking lithium orotate and I still experience heavy brain fog felt most strongly in the evenings . At first I thought it was a simple withdrawal that will pass quickly but now I am getting scared. As I said it's already been a month and the brain fog is still there.

Will this ever go away or is my brain fu**ed up permanently?

[normalizing]

i never took it daily for that long as you did, but im pretty sure lithium is very strong metal that accumulates in your body and brain and it can probably stay there for a long time. not sure why would you take it for so long so regularly? from what i think, you need little lithium here and there once a while as it builds up and its hard to get rid of actually. ive had some problems taking 20mgs too at one point until i stopped for a month and just took way way less once a while. it accumulates, you must understand this simple thing! i think you will be fine if you dont take anymore for few months and try to fast

[prisoner of life]

I took it for about 2 months with an average dose of 10 mg so I'm not sure it was really that much. But anyway thank you for your opinion, it is comforting to read that this should go away.

[blind12]

Never expected this to be true but it might indeed accumulate,

Lithium accumulates in neurogenic brain regions as revealed by high resolution ion imaging [juvenile mouse brain]
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241875

Edited by blind12, 15 March 2018 - 02:11 AM.

[normalizing]

how can you not expect it to be true? do you know general biochemistry? do you also expect not to accumulate any other mineral, metal or vitamin too?

[Artificiality]

I took Lithium for a couple of years and didn't notice much off or on. Many others have as well. 

It may not even be the Lithium, it could simply be the timing coinciding with something else. I can't count how many times I blamed a symptom on the wrong cause.

 

[Eryximachus]

Lithium Orotate is snakeoil and not biologically active.  

[forensicyo]

It is certainly concerning to hear that a brain fog condition endured for a month after a relatively short course, and with relatively modest doses, of lithium orotate.  Your experience is a reminder that with so many compounds that are discussed on longecity there can be dramatic variations in responses, even opposite responses.   To answer your question about lithium orotate, I've taken similar doses for longer periods with no adverse effects that I could notice, both while taking it and no adverse effects upon discontinuation.  I haven't experienced brain fog while using it personally, in fact the opposite, it seemed to help my cognitive functioning.  Anyway, I hope by now the brain fog has remitted or you found something else that helped that problem.  

[Painkillerrr]

You should first telk us why you are taking it...

[prisoner of life]

It turns out it was a probiotic I was taking together with lithium that was causing my brain fog after lithium orotate discontinuation. It was just a coincidence that I took two supplements that were giving me brain fog at the same time.

 

Edited by prisoner of life, 16 April 2018 - 11:52 PM.

[CWF1986]

^

 

Thx for the follow up!  That's so rare on the internet haha

[Eryximachus]

Lithium Orotate is snakeoil and not biologically active.  

 

Hilarious how many supplement junkies responded to this.  When someone makes a rather frank claim about a substance, a simple 5 minute search on PubMed usually clears things up.  Lithium has been used both in medical settings in the 1970s, and as a natural supplement until it was banned in the late 1940s. Lithium citrate was the origin of the lemon lime flavor of 7-up, and it was marked as a hangover cure "it takes the ouch of out grouch" was the advertising line.   For a sane person, 150mg of active lithium works amazingly quickly at curing hangovers, even to this day.

 

Where does that leave lithium orotate?  It has never been used either by doctors or as a major commercial product. It exists on the fringes, in the minds of people on the internet.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/28421576 - Woman is taking lithium orotate, blood levels are minimal, meaning it doesn't work.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/18072162 - sane person takes too much lithium orotate - and wee see why the FDA allows it - its bioavailability is pathetic. 120mg = 4.5mg of active lithium). She comes in complaining of tremors.  Oops.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/1260219 - outside of the lower bioavailability, there is no difference between lithium orotate and any other form of lithium.  

 

We can go on and on. 

 

Bottom line, at the doses commonly used, it has no clinically significant benefit. If you really want to use it, you can order for peanuts form India in the Carbonate form.  

Beware - lithium does lower seizure threasholds. If you part, DEFINITELY avoid hallucinogens, especially LSD.  Be very careful with amphetamines and cocaine.  Lithium has a place, but not if you do any illegal drugs.  

[airplanepeanuts]

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/18072162 - sane person takes too much lithium orotate - and wee see why the FDA allows it - its bioavailability is pathetic. 120mg = 4.5mg of active lithium). She comes in complaining of tremors.  Oops.

The elemental lithium in the orotate salt has nothing to do with bioavailability.

[Eryximachus]

The elemental lithium in the orotate salt has nothing to do with bioavailability.

 

Explain to me why there is not a clinical use for orotic acid in any aspect of pharmacology?  What is the point of using it, if it has nothing to do with bioavailability?  

 

Edited by Eryximachus, 22 May 2018 - 12:54 AM.

[micro2000]

Explain to me why there is not a clinical use for orotic acid in any aspect of pharmacology? What is the point of using it, if it has nothing to do with bioavailability?

I agree that the bioavailability of orotate salts is hype, but this does not argue that these salts have no bioavailability.

[ironfistx]

Lithium Orotate is snakeoil and not biologically active.  

Citations?