Dear Helen,
Thanks for your thoughtful response. I am asking on behalf of my spouse diagnosed with AD. Her physician, when asked this, responded as I expected. He discussed the limitations of the research, the possible toxicity of lithium and the lack of FDA oversight of supplements. All valid points. But, given no approved treatment is available, it seems that medical experts should be able to help AD patients willing to try treatments with some reasonable basis in science, outside of clinical trials. Putting aside the legal liability issues, I recall this ethical dilemma during the early days of AIDS treatment research and probably other uncurable diseases since then. If lithium oronate might help, at low doses (below toxic levels) and is very inexpensive, why not support informed patients with trying this? We are not expecting a miracle, but why not try something when offered nothing?