An estimated 2.6 percent of the U.S. adult population has bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depression, causes people to experience extreme mood swings. One of the treatments for bipolar disorder, lithium, is a salt that is taken in pill form. If you are a bipolar patient who is taking lithium, it is important to watch the amount of table salt that you ingest on a daily basis, because it can negatively affect the levels of lithium in your body.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a medical condition that often runs in families. Bipolar patients experience ecstatic moods called hypomanias in which they take on too many activities. If they lose touch with reality and start experiencing hallucinations or develop delusionary ideas, the ecstatic mood then becomes a mania. After a mania or hypomania gradually dissipates, a bipolar patient may return to a normal state of mind and then sink into a profound depression.
Lithium Treatment
In 1949, Australian physician John Cade announced that an inexpensive natural salt, lithium, was effective in calming manic bipolar patients when taken in pill form. Cade's discovery of the first effective drug for the treatment of bipolar disorder ultimately freed thousands of bipolar patients to resume relatively normal lives.
Too Little Salt
Because lithium and regular table salt are both salts, if you are not getting enough table salt in your daily diet or if you have lost a lot of salt while sweating during exercise or being exposed to heat, such as in a sauna, your body will instead hang onto lithium, increasing the levels of lithium in your body. This can result in a condition called lithium toxicity.
Lithium Toxicity
Lithium toxicity may begin with dizziness or other signs of muscle weakness and if it is not treated, can result in convulsions, coma and death. To avoid getting lithium toxicity from insufficient table salt, keep your salt intake the same on a daily basis, and do not start a low-salt diet without contacting your psychiatrist first.
Some bipolar patients may inadvertently ingest too much table salt in their diets. This results in an interaction between lithium and table salt in which the level of lithium in your body falls too far, which may cause the return of your bipolar symptoms.
Monitoring Salt
Monitoring your salt intake involves watching your consumption of salty foods such as ham, luncheon meats, tomato juice, olives, pickles, most fast foods, and sauces and seasonings containing salt. A brochure from the Drug Nutrient Interaction Task Force of the National Institutes of Health, titled "Important Information to Know When You Are Taking Lithium," contains detailed information about managing your daily salt intake so that you do not end up with lithium toxicity or the opposite problem of having insufficient lithium in your body.
References
- National Institute of Mental Health: Bipolar Disorder Among Adults
- Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance: Signs and Symptoms of Mood Disorders
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center -- Drug Nutrient Interaction Task Force: Important Information to Know When You Are Taking Lithium
- Helpguide.org: Understanding Bipolar Disorder
- "Manic-depressive Illness: Volume I"; Frederick K. Goodwin and Kay Redfield Jamison; 2007
- "Australian Dictionary of Biography"; Cade, John Frederick Joseph (1912–1980); Wallace Ironside; 1993
- Salt Institute: How the Human Body Handles Salt
- University of Minnesota: Drug Name -- Lithium
- Oregon Health Authority; Health Effects Information -- Lithium; July 2011
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