[steddyeddy]

Sodium valproate is the drug of choice in treating mood disorders as far as I know. Lithium isnt used as much.

[RichieC]

jesus fking christ.

[bnt]

Originally Posted by steddyeddy

Adding pure lithium to water will probaly cause a energetic chemical reaction!

You couldn't take lithium metal as a medication, either: imagine what it would do to your stomach? It would be a lithium compound, such as lithium citrate or carbonate.

I would be very concerned about this for another reason: how do you control the dosage? You can't just throw the stuff down people's throats and expect it to just have the desired effects. Not that that wasn't tried: did you know that 7-Up lemonade contained added lithium citrate as a "tonic", from its introduction in 1929 till 1950?

[dirtysteve]

If it helps further my plans, so be it.

End Communication.

[mikom]

Originally Posted by dirtysteve

If it helps further my plans, so be it.

End Communication.

You gonna take a bath in it?

[jill_valentine]

It's an interesting philosophical question. But I'd say no, for two reasons.

First of all, I had a bit of a Nine Inch Nails phase and made myself a bit sick of them, so I don't want to give Trent Reznor this old chestnut to bang on about again.

Second, I used to work in a chemist, and it was very apparent who was on lithium and who wasn't. While I don't have a problem with it's careful application in very particular circumstances, and obviously, those folks would be on fairly high dosages, this kind of blanket use would incur the risk of all kinds of cons for people who didn't need it in the first place. The wider ethical problems of introducing lithium into a whole population, when there's an awful lot of unknowns about how and why it's effective among individuals, would be huge. It would also be impossible to track or regulate any individual's intake, and the human brain is a pretty mysterious and carefully balanced bit of kit at the best of times.

That's before you get into the issue of slippery slopey government mind control questions. The Irish government hasn't exactly got a stellar record when it comes to far less important matters than these, so I'd rather not trust them with anything like this. The quality of the tap water in my area varies from week to week sometimes. Over the summer, for instance, it tends to smell remarkably like chlorine - so as you can imagine, I wouldn't have great faith in the same people to regulate my lithium intake.

[bleg]

Originally Posted by Eric Cartman

yeah , maybee they just shouldnt add anything to our water , that would be nice

Ya leave it full of bacteria and coliforms please.

[My name is URL]

Originally Posted by bleg

Ya leave it full of bacteria and coliforms please.

I was waiting for someone to throw up that gem =p

Also, dihydrogen monoxide is bad, and bla bla bla. The question is about adding medications to water supplies.. not ensuring that the water is safe to drink in the first place.

[Guill]

How about some prevention rather than a cure.

[Saila]

Originally Posted by psycjay

The research is based on correlations. Just because areas with more lithium in the water coincide with less suicides tells us nothing about the why there are less suicides.

...........Lisa I want to buy your rock *opens wallet*

[starviewadams]

It'll probably kill me if they added it to our water,I'm already on Lithium!

Therapeutic level of Lithium is close to toxic levels and I have to have blood tests every now and then to check them,so it wouldn't be as simple as dumping Lithium in our water and everybody becomes happy!

[RichieC]

Originally Posted by jill_valentine

The wider ethical problems of introducing lithium into a whole population, when there's an awful lot of unknowns about how and why it's effective among individuals.

from what I'm reading it's pretty much a mystery how it works..

[bleg]

Originally Posted by My name is URL

I was waiting for someone to throw up that gem =p

Also, dihydrogen monoxide is bad, and bla bla bla. The question is about adding medications to water supplies.. not ensuring that the water is safe to drink in the first place.

Well it involves putting in a non toxic amount of chlorine in order to prevent disease. At this time putting lithium in water does not make sense as there isn't evidence.

[psycjay]

I think you should have isolated "don't know" from "don't care" in the pole, because I'd be interested to see how many people didn't care about what is put into their water supply!

[Elliemental]

Lithium is far too potent a drug to go adding to the water supply. I knew someone who took it, and spent the whole time throwing up. Perhaps a bit of Prozac, instead? Rather than the subtle as a claw hammer Lithium, a nice little pick-me-up