One of the more interesting Youtube videos on lithium supplementation.
It appears that lithium might be helpful in the treatment of Parkinson’s.
How An OTC Supplement May Prevent & Slow Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Disease | Dr Thomas Guttuso Ep 1
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FYI: Dr. Guttoso’s trial of low-dose lithium for Parkinson’s disease has just been completed. Hopefully, we’ll soon get the results!
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Does anyone know what the desired blood level would be? Certainly don’t want to aim for therapeutic unless you’re bipolar. Toxic level is not far above therapeutic.
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I don’t know what the desired lithium blood level should be, but I have been taking lithium orotate at 10 to 20 milligrams of elemental lithium for decades. Earlier this year, I had a lithium blood test and my lithium level was below the psychiatric therapeutic level.
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I would think that because your level is below therapeutic they don’t give you an exact number.
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Yes, I agree - they are used to monitoring lithium levels in Bipolar patients - not longevity practitioners.
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Just because a blood marker is under the range, doesn’t mean it needs correction. This test is only done when on prescribed lithium carbonate. Besides for that trace lithium is enough for your daily lithium. Taking trace doses of lithium orotate (up to 2mg) and even low dose lithium orotate (2-5mg) will not cause any effect to your serum lithium levels. The dose is far too small hence “trace” lithium. So no need to check if taking. As for prescribed lithium carbonate, there is no point of experimenting unless there is a serious psyciatric condition which your psychiatrist prescribed this as a solution for. The therapeutic dose of lithium carbonate (900mg+) and the toxic dose are extremely close. Hence, why the prescribing physician dilligently monitors serum lithium levels in which this blood test is necessary.
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I am targeting a really low serum lithium value so dropped to 15mg per week from 35mg. I need to retest to see the impact.
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I did the blood test for Lithium last week on Tuesday and got the result this morning. My results so far are
7mg per week under 0.05 mmol/L
35mg per week 0.1 mmol/L
15mg per week under 0.05mmol/L
Sadly what I really need is a lithium test in the range of 0.01 mmol/L through to say 0.2 mmolL in steps of 0.01 mmol/L. That would give a much better guide.
What I am aiming for is around the 0.05mmol/L mark and possibly a bit lower than that. Hence I am happy with the result I have now. I know I am not taking too much. Because some of the cell plasma membrane ion transport channels are inhibited by lithium there is a good reason to try to keep it really quite low so I think I will settle on 15 or 14mg per week. I was taking 2 mg on 6 days and 3mg on the 7th. I may simplify this to 2mg per day.
I might try increasing the lithium to say 21mg, but to be honest I think I am probably in the right area at the moment. It is clear from this that 5mg to day takes lithium up beyond what is perhaps the healthspan sweet spot. However, none of these things are completely certain and someone else may have completely different results.
I can see the argument for 1mg per day and it would be really good to have a high sensitivity lithium test that is sensitive to variations at the bottom end of the scale. In the end, however, some information is better than none at all. I would not be surprised if the serum levels linked in a limited way to dosage on a linearish basis, but a lot of this sadly is guesswork.
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Anyone knows when is the best time of the day to take Lithium.
I dont think it matters. I take it in the morning.
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With food typically or you can upset your stomach
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I just changed from 1 mg of lithium orotate to 5 mg on advice from Dr. Attia. And WOW! What a difference. I feel like anger and stress are completely in check now and I can handle situations without losing my cool. I have also gained a great deal of empathy towards my family and we have a lot fewer confrontations.
The way that I know this is because I have a teenager and 10 yo at home. 
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Did he mention the impact of SGLT2i on lithium? I understand that you need to increase your lithium intake if on SGLTi (source) but I don’t know by how much: is it like +10% or 10x? 
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It would not be surprising if the ideal Li supplementation level varied from person to person. After all you are likely to get a background quantity from the environment you live in (water) and food that you eat.
I have stuck on 2mg for some time now. I do understand the issue with higher doses which is inhibiting citrate transport. I think 1mg may be just too little to have a material effect.
However, it is good to hear other people’s experiences.
If we could have some actual lithium serum measurements that would be even better as we could compare more results as to supplementation and serum levels.
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After taking lithium for decades the result is that I seldom have any anger issues. Things that used to trigger me and make me angry no longer do. I rarely feel stressed and all in all, I feel mellow as an old man. This is something I aspired to as a boy because I didn’t want to become an old curmudgeon like some who lived in my neighborhood. That lithium supplementation might have life extension benefits is a bonus.
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@DeStrider I was excited to try this…and then I discovered I was already taking 5mg (I thought 1mg). Oh well.
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Is that 5mg/day….5mg/week…?
What’s the consensus here? Is 1mg too low to see any benefit?
I don’t think there is enough research on this topic to be able to provide guidance towards a consensus. Some good research on this topic here: A primer on Lithium, Lithium + Rapamycin, etc. potentially more stable and safer pharmacokinetics
It seems to me that somewhere between 1mg and 5mg is fine.
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