General Overview of Lithium Toxicity and It's History

This paper presents a general overview of lithium toxicity. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the nature of lithium and its history. This is followed by a delineation of the medical uses for lithium as well as the brands of lithium currently in use and the recommended dosages. The next section of the paper focuses on the side effects of lithium and lithium toxicity, while the final section discusses both treatment and prevention of toxicity.

Jackson (2006) reports that Lithium is a soft metallic element with an atomic number of 3 and an atomic weight of 6.941. While the metal is used in a wide range of industries, Jackson states that the public mostly knows about its salt, lithium carbonate, which is regularly used in psychiatric pharmacotherapy.

Today, Garrett (2004) reports, Lithium salt is primarily used to treat bipolar disorder, once called "mania." It was first used as a treatment for mania in 1948 by an Australian psychiatrist, John F. Cade, although some work in this regard had already been done in 1890 by physicians Robert B. Cloud, Christopher Columbus Garrett, and W.H. Whitehead. It was further developed for treatment in Denmark by Mogens Schou. However, it was not until twenty years after its initial discovery that it became FDA approved in America as a standard and effective medication for bipolar disorder as well as genetically related forms of depression.

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