• Question: What effect does lithianium have on the brain?

    Asked by simplysugar to William, Joanna on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Hello again! Lithium is a drug that can help calm the mood of people who suffer from mood disorders. One example of a mood disorder is ‘bipolar disorder’ where a person can be depressed one minute (really sad) but manic another minute (really energetic). The drug lithium helps the neurotransmitters in the brain (which carry messages) behave in a ‘normal’ way. In people with bipolar disorder these neurotransmitters might be sending too many messages (making the person manic or energetic) or too few messages (making the person depressed).

    • Photo: William Davies

      William Davies answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      Do you mean lithium? If so, it has lots of different effects, one of which is to raise levels of the chemical serotonin in the synapse. Serotonin is the ‘feel-good’ chemical, and so lithium is often used to treat manic depression (bipolar disorder). However, lithium can also have some nasty side-effects including muscle twitching and tremors, and so the dose has to be carefully monitored.

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