Lithium In Water "Curbs Suicide" 458
SpuriousLogic writes "Drinking water which contains lithium may reduce the risk of suicide, a Japanese study suggests. Researchers compared levels of lithium in drinking water to suicide rates in the prefecture of Oita, which has a population of more than one million. The suicide rate was significantly lower in those areas with the highest levels of lithium, they wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry. And I was only worried about fluoridation affecting my precious bodily fluids before ..."
Anyone ever read that Stephen King story? (Score:5, Interesting)
Where they spike the water to cure aggression in people? It doesn't end well.
Lithium is used to fight bipolar disorder (Score:5, Interesting)
It is not widely promoted since it can't be patented. This is not a conspiracy theory (even if it sounds like this), see it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_pharmacology [wikipedia.org]
HS chem may be a fading memory but... (Score:3, Interesting)
Doesn't Lithium react explosively with water?
Does not address core problem (Score:5, Interesting)
Araaag, drugs drugs drugs drugs. How about addressing the core problem of making life not SUCK so much?!
Re:Does not address core problem (Score:4, Interesting)
How do you make life not suck so much? Seriously -- is it better pay? Free sex? More leisure time? I am depressed about 90% of the time and have been since I was 16 (I'm 40 now). I work part-time (about 3 days/week on average), make a (barely) six figure income, and my wife is bi. I'm not making up a word of this. I should feel incredibly happy, but instead, a life-long sense of despair prevents exactly that.
I think there is a good part of depression that is due to external forces. I can say that when I was poor, it was worse. But a large part of depression is wholly internal and no amount of "making life suck less" is going to change that.
Re:Anyone else massively creeped out by this? (Score:5, Interesting)
I suppose all water has some level of lithium. Maybe people evolved for lithium-rich water (compared to the worldwide average today) and millions of people worldwide are actually suffering from lithium deficiency. Heck, it even kills some of them.
Re:Not surprising (Score:5, Interesting)
And maybe the real problem is that the body needs a certain amount of lithium to be stable, but some people need it more than other due to genetic predisposition.
And if we get it through water or through food is a different issue. One contributing fact can also be that we use pure sodium chloride in our cooking instead of a mix of salts where lithium and potassium also are present.
But it's probably best to avoid chewing on those LiIon batteries. But eating vegetables [naturalhea...niques.com] seems to be a good idea.
Re:lithium is well known (Score:1, Interesting)
Mod parent up.
People who intend to commit suicide tend to talk about it. It means they need help, please try and get them to it/it to them.
Isn't assisting suicide illegal? (in the states at least)
Re:Anyone ever watch that Joss Whedon movie? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or how about that Zach Braff film, "Garden State"?
(I highly recommend it, by the way).
Short Version: Because of the lithium, he never feels any emotion at all; eventually chooses to give it up and just resolve the problems that have been making him depressed.
I still recommend seeing the movie though!
Re:Does not address core problem (Score:3, Interesting)
If you could do anything, without limitations, what would you do?
If you could be anyone, make yourself become any kind of person, what kind of person would you be?
If you could have any life you wanted, what kind of life would you have?
I don't actually know anything about you, but these questions can help.
Re: Lithium is used to fight bipolar disorder (Score:5, Interesting)
If this study shows effects from the amount of Li occuring in drinking water, then perhaps pharmacologists should reevaluate what the theraputic threshold is?
Re:Does not address core problem (Score:3, Interesting)
In your case, I would suggest mountain climbing and skydiving, possibly base jumping after a while. Adrenaline, dopamine, and the fear of death do wonders for your appreciation of life. Short though it may be. Of course, changing your life based on a
Re:Anyone else massively creeped out by this? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Im certainly not advocating spiking the water with anything but fluoride"
Does that mean that you do advocate putting fluoride in water? A chemical used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism (until safer alternatives where found)? I guess it would make sense that if you don't like overly-energetic people (which I'm not arguing with you about!) disrupting TSH receptor site activity within their thyroid gland with fluoride to slow their production of thyroxine probably would be a good thing... so was just wondering if you are a fluoride in water advocate, or whether you mean you're just abstaining from commenting on that one particular chemical? (or of course the option's there that I am mistaken with regards to the effect of fluoride on the thyroid)
Re:Does not address core problem (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:lithium is well known (Score:2, Interesting)
It's pretty horrible being depressed, and in my 20's ,maybe younger, I thought about it, even had a go a few times.
Now one thing that hasn't changed is getting depressed, that still cycles round, but I found a pattern, suicidal thoughts tend to come at your greatest lows and a natural consequence of a low means there is a gradual upswing from the low.
So no matter how bad you feel about things now, there is going to be a time when you feel better.
I was treated with drugs such as Prozac and Valium, some people self medicate with Cannabis or alcohol I did that as well, but to be honest if you can, tough it out, often there is good reason to be depressed but it will pass. I don't like Prozac especially mixing with alcohol it makes me nasty and vicious, maybe even psychotic. Valium is an interesting drug, it wraps your feelings in cotton wool and while your life goes to hell you just don't care and trust me you do need to care to be able to crawl out from that mental black hole. Its kind of unfortunate that the lows tend to be sudden and the recovery is slow. But remember its always the case that things do get better over time and throwing in the towel just means your going to miss out on some of those good times you would have had.
Money is the least of your worries as long as you have somewhere dry to sleep and enough to eat the rest doesn't particularly matter, just try to live with some honor, help where you can. If you need motivation, just try and make a difference, somehow, any how, it doesn't really matter but make a contribution with your life, even if its something as simple as picking litter in your neighborhood, you are making a difference by being alive.
Theres no magic formula to being happy, but don't worry about that, just one step at a time and keep trying to make a difference.
It's with this basic philosophy I cope from day to day when its bad and thrive when its good.
There are always people worse off than you, they cope, they get by, and so can you.
I dont do drink or drugs or believe in god or other fairy tales, you need to feel so you can live, and feeling the blackness is as much a part of my life as the many joys in life that I find.
One more thing don't take E's, they have a very nasty side, they give you a short term positive buzz for an evening but 2 or 3 days later you will feel like crap mainly because your brains chemistry has just been messed with, your body chemistry is kind of self regulating producing whats needed on demand. E's seem to create an over abundance of the chemicals which make you feel happy your body compensates and cuts its production and your left in the blackest of moods and it takes a while for the balance to be restored. In this frame of mind nothing is good or positive so just don't do it to yourself in the first place.
I hope this helps
Re:Anyone ever read that Stephen King story? (Score:2, Interesting)
Nice to read a coherent and, dare I say, compassionate post on
My creativity as a programmer, closet musician and business entrepreneur have benefited tremendously from my up-swings. Excruciatingly though, the down-swing is very often precipitated by stress (brought on by the pressures of running the shit I've created during my up-swings! - businesses, career, etc).
Anyway, I just wish there wasn't such a damaging social stigma attached to being flagged "bipolar" - sadly, I don't see that going away any time soon. It may take a generation or three (like IVF). You'd be amazed how many of us fuckers are lurking around in tarzan-swinging-frenzies, creating businesses, destroying businesses, running countries, going to war, creating art, being daddies to their heart-burstingly beautiful daughters, and sometimes creating an elegant algorithm and feeling that rush of a job well done... and being lifted by the secondary rush of euphoria for no reason at all other than a great song just started on Windows Media Player (I piss full throttle on winamp and it's complexity).
That's it. I'm off to the mineral springs. (Score:4, Interesting)
I resemble this remark. Fortunately for me, there is a mineral hot spring LOADED with lithium an hour away from me.
So, ah, I'm curious. Who else here has this problem, and how bad? I'm cyclothymic, which is a pretty mild version of bipolor disorder, and I've been keeping it (mostly) under control with sertraline.
I've had suicidal ideation, mainly as a teen, but no actual attempts. Mostly, I just get totally manic about a project for a month or two, and have a hard time sleeping, eating, or focusing on anything else. Then a couple weeks of normal. Then a month or two of eating too much and not being able to focus on anything, then a week or two of normal again.
Yerb Mate (South American Tea) (Score:2, Interesting)
Yerba Mate -- a popular tea in Argentina and other parts of South America has lithium in it. It is interesting that many claim that this tea makes them happier and more productive. I'm seeing it added more and more to "energy drinks" in the US, such as Red Bull.
I live in a college town, and I notice that it is consumed more and more by college kids.
Yerba Maté Chemical Features
From a chemical point of view, Ilex paraguariensis (Yerba Maté) can be evaluated under its food chemical aspect or as a raw material for several byproducts. Long before its chemical composition was known, Indians used Yerba Maté not only due to the beverage's taste but also and mainly because they knew its virtues, chiefly an increased resistance to fatigue and its thirst and hunger mitigation powers.
Studies show that the Yerba Maté has the following components: water, cellulose, gums, dextrin, mucilage, glucose, pentose, fat substances, aromatic resin, legumin, albumin, xanthine, theophylline, caffearin, folic acid, caffeic acid, viridic acid, chlorophyll, cholesterin and essence oil. Ashes contain great amounts of potassium, lithium, folic, sulfuric, carbon, chloric and citric acids, beside magnesium, manganese, iron, aluminum and arsenic traces.
Xanthine, theophylline and theobromine are three strongly related alkaloids found in Yerba Maté and are the most interesting compounds from a therapeutic standpoint.
The Yerba Maté's xanthine rate averages 1.60%, whereas it is 1.10% in infusions.
http://www.noborders.net/mate/ingredients.html