This video was me telling my story of mental illness, it wasn’t a discussion about supplements. Also it would literally be dangerous and irresponsible for me share my personal supplement stack. If someone with BD takes a combination of supplements that are too stimulating for them it could flip them up into mania, put them into hospital or worse. You may think I’m being alarmist but I’m not, this happened to two of patients last year; they took antidepressant supplements (SAMe, inositol, carnitine) I had recommended they should not take and they quickly went manic. Even for simple conditions a prescription should be individualised, and BD is famously complex. There isn’t a one size fits all, the stack I take would put some people in hospital. The BD prescriptions I write for my patients consists of 3 prescriptions, one for manic phases, one for depression phases and one for maintenance during euthymic phases. The 3 prescriptions have very different effects and my patients get an explanation on how and when to use each one. My next video is going to explain the biology of bipolar disorder and I will mention some universal mood stabilising treatment approaches. Next year I’ll have a course on managing BD available to buy with detailed instructions on how to personalise the treatment.

Thank you, that’s a nice thing to say. From 11 to my late 40’s I didn’t want to be alive, even when I was not severely depressed I still wished I’d never been born. For the past 14 years since I got the right diagnosis of BD 2 and started effectively treating it I fundamentally changed how I feel about my life. With my mental illness totally under control I’m happy to be alive, remember the first time I realised that my psychology had changed and I felt happy I’d been born. I guess for most people that sounds like a strange thing to say but when you live with constant mental illness life is a struggle. I even found meaning in all the years of suffering I endured by seeing how through it I learned how to help others, so I feel no regret or lament over years lost to mental illness. My big explainer video on bipolar should be ready by August 24. Again thanks 💛

I don’t remember how clearly I explained it but it’s no good taking a stack of neuroplasticity boosting supplements unless you have addressed and eliminated the specific issues with your individual body that are IMPEDING your neuroplasticity. Another way to say this is simply throwing NP boosting supplements at the brain without reducing wear and tear on the brain from all sources isn’t going to work well or at all; it’s just throwing money away. You have to develop a great microbiome, develop a strong gut wall to minimise bacterial leaking into the bloodstream , entrain great sleep (most neuroplastic changes occurs when we sleep, so this one is essential), dial down excess cortisol production, eliminate chronic infections (sinuses, throat,chest, gums, gut et.al), one’s diet has to be great (very high in fibre and polyphenols) and totally free from processed foods. We need to not be sedentary and control allergies; there are so many things to get right in addition to the supplement stack. It’s possibly to creat significant improvements in the brain but it requires a total therapy approach and a big effort. In my practice I take a case history to work out where we need to apply therapy to address the above issues and develop an individual prescription of supplements, if you ant me to look into your case you can book an appointment from my calendly link: calendly.com/PeterSmithUK

You're welcome 😊

Yes, it may slow down the aging process in the brain. For health/prevention you would only want to take a very low dose, say 2.5-5 mg. Some people report feeling unpleasant on as little as 5 mg.

Unfortunately there hasn’t been enough research into the toxicity profile of lithium orotate to know for sure. Some Drs go as high as 40-60mg of lithium from LO but at these high doses I worry about kidney toxicity developing over the long run. Because we don’t know exactly what level is safe we should stay on very low doses just in case; I believe 20 mg is a safe long term dose. I’ve had patients with kidney toxicity from lithium carbonate improve their kidney function when they switched to 20 mg lithium orotate.

Yes I’m still in practice, you can book an appointment directly online on the following link: calendly.com/PeterSmithUK

I love your enthusiasm and intention but there can be negative consequences to a ketogenic diet. The keto diet can be a good choice for some people but people need to know that it can actually cause insulin resistance, yes cause it, that’s not a typo. If excess intramyocellular lipid builds up ( fat in muscle cells) it blocks the insulin receptors causing insulin resistance. You may not even know you have insulin resistance because you rarely test it with carbs but it’s there and every time you slip out of ketosis you really cause harm to your body and brain because you are insulin resistant. There are many versions of the keto diet that do not provide enough polyphenols or fibre and are therefore not optimal for depression treatment. As I said I appreciate your intentions, but you need training to understand the full consequences of dietary advice.

No I recommend combining chamomile/apigenin with lithium orotate. To get a strong boost to neuroplasticity I recommend combining multiple supplements at the same time.

I always recommend my patients combine moderate iodine supplementation to protect their thyroid when supplementing with lithium orotate long-term. The low doses from orotate don’t cause the significant thyroid issues high dose lithium carbonate cause.

Definitely do not take both, you may end up with too much lithium and cause toxicity. I cannot advise you to discontinue your lithium carbonate. Firstly I don’t know what condition you have and how severe it is; this is what I asses in a consultation. Secondly I never recommend anyone with bipolar disorder trying to rely on on just lithium orotate alone; it’s just not strong enough to do that for most people. I would go hypomanic if all I took was lithium orotate.

Yes do, with psychotic features the treatment must be stronger and constantly maintained but I yes I there’s a lot that can be done to treat bipolar. In about a month I’ll have another video made on bipolar disorder. It’ll discuss the biological basis of the condition and what we can do to rebalance it.

⁠@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments hello Peter, you said you will have online course, when its gonna be ready??? Do you still take clients?

I buy mine from the US Amazon or Lindens lithium orotate from the UK EBay That’s the only advice I can give you

You are welcome!

YES, you must NOT take the same amount of lithium as orotate that you would take as Li carbonate, it would be poisonous. Li O is excreted more slowly by the kidneys than lithium carbonate and therefore more accumulates in the body, another way of saying that is Li O has a longer half-life. I have another video explaining lithium orotate dosages, please watch that before taking too much Li O. See: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bLaWlMyox8rFh6c.htmlsi=k4gOlD-eoaRO62hq

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments Yeah, I know lithium orotate has larger amount of elemental lithium per mg than lithium carbonate, just wondering if its effects are any different in addition to like you said it takes longer to excrete lithium orotate.

Yes it has quite different effects. When a mineral is attached to different carrier molecules (carbonate, ortate, citrate etc.) it changes how it moves through the body, organs and cells. That’s the whole point to considering orotate, it behaves differently.

If lithium orotate is making you feel bored you might want to combine it with some anti depressant supplements to regulate your dopamine levels.

Thanks for sharing.

Glad it was helpful!

Do you have any further info on re-setting a person's biological clock with the help of Lithium Orotate? I have some ordered!

Yes I wrote a book about it called Sleep Better with Natural Therapies available on Amazon The middle section is about cognitive techniques for insomnia, but the first and last sections are about the biological clock and with techniques to reset your clock. Good luck

The specific supplements needs to be adjusted for each individual’s health issue. Like I said in the video you have to consider where are the sources of inflammation in the body and focus the treatment on those areas. If you’d like me to work out an individual treatment program I do online consultations, you can book an appointment from my website.

That’s great that it was so helpful for you. I’m not experienced with autism but I’ve seen lithium may be helpful. Following a TBI I recommend aggressively reducing inflammation and boosting neuroplasticity. You could add curcumin, luteolin, fisetin, taurine, huge amounts of polyphenols coloured plants and teas.

No that’s not what happens. Lithium decreases amygdala activation and improves frontal cortex top down control of the amygdala. Actually since making the video 2 people told me lithium really helps their anxiety. It’s safe to experiment with.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments that is good to hear 👍 thank you for your videos

I’m starting up again with a series of videos on bipolar disorder in June/July 24

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments awesome to hear. I look forward to it.

There are no guarantees but yes lithium has has anti seizure properties; of cause it depends on the type of seizures. You can definitely try it.

Good question. If you have bipolar disorder you should not suddenly stop it could potentially precipitate mania. I wouldn’t recommend stopping it but if you did only do it slowly over 1-2 months. But again I really don’t recommend doing that.

You are most welcome

Well yes b vitamins have a role in brain and mental health but this video isn’t about that, it’s just an explanation of how lithium works.

@@NaturalMentalHealthTreatments I like your videos they have good content and are beneficial, keep it up

Thanks. Got another one on bipolar and depression coming out in about a month.

The use of stem cells for treatment is still in its infancy, and I haven’t see any systems to use them in the brain as yet. Developing these novel treatments costs hundreds of millions to billions of dollars and a very long time (think decades), so in the meantime we just have to make a start boosting neuroplasticity with the techniques we have right now. Good luck with your recovery.

Same to you!

You’re welcome

You're welcome

That’s good to hear:-)

Glad it was helpful! I’m prepping another video on the biology of bipolar disorder.

Yes, it boosts neuroplasticity and speeds up recalibration of the brain.