original 2/7/2024; updated 3/5/2025
Wow, the story has changed! Here’s the short version, with the new news. A much longer description of what lithium orotate is, could be for, and what to watch out for, can be found on the lithium orotate page on my original website, PsychEducation.org. But there’s newer news…
Brief Version: What’s lithium orotate?
It’s just another way to deliver lithium to the brain, perhaps better than prescription lithium (which is lithium carbonate). Unfortunately, research on lithium orotate stopped back in 1979 when one study in mice found it more harmful to their kidneys than lithium carbonate. That research has been questioned ever since but not redone until now.
What’s New?
Two things now!
First, a research team at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada basically repeated the experiments from the 1970’s but using lower doses of lithium orotate. They found two extremely important things:
- Lithium orotate blocked manic behavior in mice better than lithium carbonate, even when the actual amount of lithium being delivered via orotate was far lower.
- The mouse kidneys were better off with low levels of lithium delivered via orotate than they were with the anti-manic doses of lithium carbonate. Not worse, as in the 1979 study.
Secondly, see the update on lithium and dementia below.
Why isn’t lithium orotate replacing lithium carbonate?
First: that’s one study so far, in mice.
Secondly: in medicine, change is slow, lemme tell ya’. I suppose that’s good in some ways. “New” treatments can cause problems that don’t show up for years. New diagnostic perspectives might be more accurate but changing the diagnostic rules too many times in a decade creates chaos.
And more specifically: in about 50 years, we’ve worked out what lithium blood levels are needed for treatment and prevention of mania, when using lithium carbonate.
If we switch over to lithium orotate, we’ll need to figure this out all over again. The Saskatchewan research will give some rough guidelines. But if your last manic episode nearly ruined your life, you’d want to be really sure your lithium dose was enough to prevent another episode. It will take many years to develop that certainty with lithium orotate.
Instead, I think lithium orotate is likely to become the routine pill for lithium when used prevent dementia. For that whole story, including the key research study from 2019, may I offer you my 30-minute video, which as of today is not “out of date” yet” (I hope it will be soon, as there’s another study due to come out very soon, which I’ll post here).
New news on lithium and dementia, 3/2025
Oh look, the authors of that key 2019 study followed up to see how everyone was doing. They were able to get information for 60% of the original participants, average age 85! Some had died, equal amounts in the lithium and placebo groups. But look at the difference in mental abilities (on the Mini-Mental Status Exam, where a score of 25-30 is “normal”, and anything below 24 suggests cognitive impairment):
Wow. Is this enough to justify using lithium for dementia prevention? Well in my case, yes (but I was already taking thyroid replacement hormone — hypothyroid since my 20’s — so that was not an issue). I started taking 150 mg of lithium carbonate back in 2020, based on the 2019 study. These new data, though just another small set, suggest this is a good idea? I think so.
Help with Research!
A team at King’s College London invites you..
“We are conducting a little study exploring people’s experiences with using lithium orotate. We would really appreciate it if you would consider taking part.”
- one interview by videocall, lasting up to 1 hour
- discuss your experience taking lithium orotate