Earlier this year, Dr. Guttuso published The Promise of Lithium: How an Over-the-Counter Supplement May Prevent and Slow Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease, a very informative exploration and explanation of the exciting potential of lithium as a treatment for PD.
In a recent YouTube video he covered much of the book. Check out the video:
Dr. Guttuso was my husband's MDS. He is wonderful and helped him much more than his general neurologist. He does a lot of research.
That’s great! has he put your husband on lithium? If so, how much? And is it helping?
unfortunately, my husband passed away before this study was started
i’m sorry to hear that. As a caretaker, I’m sure you have a lot to offer to this group. We do appreciate that.❤️
I facilitate a Caregiver Support Group in the Buffalo NY area.
Wow! Very interesting and encouraging. Thank you for sharing this.
Anyone in the Cure Parkinson's group take lithium? If so can you share....dosage, who suggested you take it, how long have you been taking it and most important your opinion.
I’ve been on 20 mg for the past few months. I haven’t seen any change. I probably need to up my dose but I’m a little nervous. I don’t see my doctor until September for bloodwork. I’m not sure how much more I should be taking. I read the book but it’s unclear how much I should be taking.
doses are individualized. It takes time for a lithium level to build up in your blood
Forum member Bass of Spades uses lithium orotate to good effect. I don't recall him mentioning any benefit as far as motor symptoms or off time. A friend of mine uses it for her memory which I wrote about here :
healthunlocked.com/cure-par...
Art
My wife is taking it as of a couple of weeks ago. The book suggested starting out at 5 mg of lithium aspartate. We started there and last week went up to 10 mg. In the book he suggests staying below 30 mg so we'll continue to play in the range up to that point. She did say the other day that she feels like she has more energy and feels more herself. She's also been on B1 sublinguals for a few months, so the mild results could be either or a combination.
What dosing regime is being used by your wife?
She's currently taking 10 mg daily.
Thanks. What I meant was, In the morning or afternoon or evening or before bed? On an empty stomach or with food? Any other supplements taken together or in close proximity to lithium?
She's taking 5 mg after lunch and then 5 mg before bed. I don't think it matters whether it's with food or empty stomach. She hasn't experienced any side effects. She takes her final Sinemet dose of the day around the same time in the evening.
Thank you
Thank You
This is potentially an exciting development! I read the book as well, but still don't understand why he has so much difficulty in getting a DB-clinical study financed? Any ideas/clues here?
Money. Most clinical trials are funded by pharma companies. No pharma company is going to fund a trial on lithium because they can't patent it and make money off of it. So, he's stuck with funding from NIH and foundations, and there's a ton of competition for that money. Once he shows additional success in his next trial, he thinks he'll have an easier time get funding from NIH or some foundation.
OK if that is the main issue than surely the Parkinsonian community can chip in and make sure he gets his first double-blind etc off the ground? I'll check whether he plans to be at the WPC.
I scanned this one. Onlything I retained is that the wrong dose can cause worsening brain disfunction.
I take 20mg lithium orotate for about a year now. I take at night. Helps with sleep, too.
I have been using it and my mother. I use 5 mg a day. I give my mother 2.5 mg 5 days a week. She seemed to improve, less falling, stepping over objects better. Gait is better. Tremor got worse however. In fact she did not have the tremor till after I started giving it to her.
My Parkinson’s is very mild, but my left arm swings almost normally now unless I am fatigued. I heard from Parkinson’s expert say people do not breathe much on he affected side. That is actually a very early sign of Parkinson’s. I think they are studying breathing into that lung now as a way to help early Parkinson’s . Anyway it was true for me. Now I notice I am breathing better into left lung. I am less stiff generally and moving better.
I did not read this book but in interviews, author did not say what dose they were studying. He said they were studying the dose they believed most likely to help. No one knows the best dose.
I thought about reading the book to get a better idea of dose.
I take more than my mother because lithium requires good kidney to be excreted. I figured in her late 80s a lower dose would be safer, and she would not require as much.
People are always saying doctors do not pay attention to what patients say helped. Well this doctor did. The book and proposed study were started because one patient was on 1/2 lithium carbonate usual dose for bipolar and his Parkinson’s freezing was better. The doctor took an interest and started researching Lithium.
Hi, regarding dosage, do you know if, for purposes of the studies, the dosage was better given once per day or spread out into two or three dosages during the day, please?
I don't remember for sure but I think spread out into two or three times per day
My serum lithium results are:Less than 0.2 meq/L.
I understand that the meq to mmol conversion factor for lithium is 1
Dr. Guttuso talks about improvement in the range of 0.3 to 0.5 mmol.
Will start lithium orotate 5mg, titrate to 30mg and test serum lithium levels once a month.
Lithium Orotate
I just noticed an interesting thing about lithium orotate
long-term Lithium use tied to higher risk of VTE, Parkinson and kidney diseases
Really great PD summary from 12/2022 Dr Laurie Mischley
