Bipolar Today

---

An interesting study from the Paris Descartes University has made an promising discovery about the bipolar medication lithium and how it may affect patients who have damaged nerves. They discovered that, among mice who had had the nerves in their face damaged, nerve function was almost completely restored within only eight days. The nerves of the mice had the myelin on their facial nerves damage, as can happen in the nerves of people who have had diabetes or with certain injuries. Since the myelin insulates the nerves, they don’t work. Should a similar effect occur in humans, then lithium may be a promising new treatment for those who have suffered nerve damage from myelin stripping. More information about the study can be found here.

Commentary

Bipolar patients have long benefited from medications that were originally developed to treat other conditions, and then were found to help patients with bipolar disorder. Lithium itself was originally developed as a treatment for gout, and many mood stabilizers originally served (and continue to serve) as anti-convulsants. It’s nice to see that our medications may similarly be helpful for people with other medical problems. It would be a way to pay it back, as it were.

Still, I wonder why we have not discovered this treatment already, if it works. After all, the mood stabilizing effect of anti-convulsants was discovered because bipolar epileptics discovered that their bipolar disorder was improved because of their anti-convulsants. If this treatment works as well on people as it does on mice, I would have expected that we would find some bipolar patients with nerve damage would have had their mobility improved because they were on lithium. Still, the trial is promising, and could represent a real benefit for people with nerve damage.

Related posts:

1. New Discovery May Explain How Lithium Works
2. Irish Psychiatrist Suggests Adding Lithium To Water
3. Adding Lithium Can Reduce Antipsychotic Dosages: Study
4. Phase III Cariprazine Trial Shows Positive Results
5. APA Task Force Finds Omega-3 Effective for Bipolar Depression