Essentials: The Science & Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

“that's separating out urea and uric acid. We're adding lithium to the uric acid. We're injecting this into guinea pigs. This is getting pretty wild and pretty weird, but this is medicine. And from time to time, this is medicine and science.”

“And by good scientists, I mean that he did control experiments. Here he was injecting lithium urate into animals and seeing an effect, but he knew that that solution of lithium urate contained not just the uric acid, but it also contained lithium.”

“on these guinea pigs. And indeed, that was the case. When he did the proper control experiment and injected only lithium solution into these guinea pigs, they calmed down. From there, he, in sort of 1940s style medicine,”

“if it has any side effects at all, there is the possibility for better treatments. And only by understanding how lithium works at the cellular level, at the neural circuit level, et cetera, do we really stand to find those new discoveries. Lithium seems to be able to suppress inflammation and importantly, it can suppress inflammation in neural tissues and within the brain in particular.”

“be present in bipolar disorder and the different forms of bipolar disorder and some of the major treatments for bipolar disorder, in particular lithium and its underlying mechanisms. I do hope you found it beneficial both for yourself and for others. I just want to remind people that bipolar disorder is an extremely serious condition. If you suspect that you have bipolar disorder or you”

“in bipolar disorder. There are several studies that have shown that supplementing with fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids at levels of, for instance, 9.6 grams of fish oil per day for four months, greatly reduced symptoms of bipolar depression compared to the control group, which received olive oil.”

“but doesn't contain as much of the omega-3 fatty acids and so forth. So 9.6 grams of fish oil per day over four months is a lot of fish oil to be ingesting on a given day. This was a double-blind study.”

“that's associated with bipolar disorder, that it's hard to imagine a scenario in which just talk therapy and fish oil and lifestyle interventions are going to completely suppress or treat bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder really need to consider the full picture of treatments, the drug treatments,”

“So the ability for fish oil, and in particular the omega-3 fatty acids, which come in varieties like EPA and DHA, have been explored at relatively high dosages for their ability to offset some of the effects of mania and to offset the effects of depressive episodes in bipolar disorder.”

“in bipolar disorder. There are several studies that have shown that supplementing with fish oil or omega-3 fatty acids at levels of, for instance, 9.6 grams of fish oil per day for four months, greatly reduced symptoms of bipolar depression compared to the control group, which received olive oil.”

“Olive oil is a different form of fat, monounsaturated fat, but doesn't contain as much of the omega-3 fatty acids and so forth. So 9.6 grams of fish oil per day over four months is a lot of fish oil to be ingesting on a given day.”

“the omega-3 fatty acids, which come in varieties like EPA and DHA, have been explored at relatively high dosages for their ability to offset some of the effects of mania and to offset the effects of depressive episodes in bipolar disorder.”

“With that said, there are two substances generally found as supplements, although there are other sources of them as well, including within nutritional sources that have been shown, at least in some studies to be pretty effective in adjusting the symptoms of bipolar disorder. And those two things are Inositol, and omega-3 fatty acids.”

“that is taken for a variety of reasons. It's something we've talked about on the podcast before. I personally take inositol, not because I have bipolar disorder. In fact, I am quite lucky that I don't have bipolar disorder, but I take inositol and 900 milligrams of myoinositol every third night or so in order to improve my sleep.”