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Have MCI, sharing new intel re Lithium Orotate
I have discussed previously that I have mild cognitive dysfunction and after two rounds of neuropsych testing over two years and Lab & imaging testing confirming my clinical profile, I am taking Lithium Orotate as a nutritional supplement. But I consume professional intel on studies religiously. Like this one.
https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/lecanemab-or-lithium-compare-benefits-risks-and-doseThe key question that stood out to me which the physician author (Dr Phelps) asks in his review of studies is below. I highly emcourage reading this. You have to follow some links and jump back and forth a bit but make the effort. For those of you fond of calculating elemental lithium there is a section on calculating equivalent dosing to the mice study.
“Brain lithium prevents amyloid plaque formation and phosphorylation of tau proteins. In the process of AD dementia, lithium is sequestered in plaques, creating a positive feedback loop: more plaque, less lithium, leading to more plaque, and so on. Giving lithium orotate to young adult mice almost completely prevented plaque formation and tau phosphorylation. Starting lithium orotate after plaques and phosphorylated tau have already formed almost completely reversed the expected cognitive impairment. Lithium carbonate is far less effective. If all this were true in humans, lithium orotate would be an obvious treatment both to prevent AD dementia and to treat it once detected.
Of course, skeptics’ first response has been “these are mouse data.” Aron et al point out that lithium levels in human and mouse brains are comparable, supporting the relevance of mouse models for studying the biological effects of lithium. Skeptics, including a prominent neurologist following a national presentation on AD treatment, have said that we should wait for a randomized trial of lithium orotate in humans (personal communication, August 2025). But the recent lithium carbonate randomized trial took 8 years to mount and complete. What shall we suggest to patients and families for the next 8 years?
A healthy lifestyle—including a Mediterranean-like diet, regular physical activity, and avoidance of smoking, excessive alcohol, social isolation, sleep disorders, and hearing loss—is an important means of preserving cognitive function in people at risk of developing dementia.
The subsequent article will compare lecanemab and lithium’s benefits, risks, and costs. With ApoE genotyping and the new pTau/amyloid blood test, patients and families need help now deciding between treatment alternatives.”
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@johnbishop Thank you so much for posting the video!
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2 Reactions@annedallas
My wife had a lithium blood test like yours.
I just read the Wikipedia article on “Lithium (medication)” and the “normal” range you quote looks like the target range for people being treated with LiC for Bipolar Disorder.
Dr. Yankner (Couric interview) and Dr. Greenblatt (Psychology Today) have both said that the low levels of LiO don’t show up on standard blood tests.
BTW Dr. Yankner, in his comments to the Medpage article on the LATTICE study (referenced above on March 3), indicates that the human equivalent of what they fed their mice at Harvard was 0.3 mg of Lithium from LiO, presumably calculated for a 70 kg person.
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1 Reaction"What shall we suggest to patients and families for the next 8 years?"
You ask THE question regarding taking a "wait-and-see" approach.
Given that those who have received a valid AD diagnosis have approximately 4-8 years of life left, due consideration must be given to the extremely low risk of 1mg lithium orotate microdosing.
Note: informed by disciplined calculation, the human-equivalent dose based on the Harvard study method is approximately 0.74 mg of elemental lithium in the form of lithium orotate for a 70kg person.
And of course, it is best to advise a physician of supplement use.
@plus on the 15th I wrote: "Yesterday I upped it to 21mg just in case the OTC is actually less than that..."
Clearly I have some concern about OTC. Not just that they do have the label amount of LiO, but that it's pure and the capsules don't have anything else we'd prefer not to ingest. I'm replying to myself to update that we've backed off to 5.8mg - 1mg Pure... brand + 4.8mg of the other. After a day or two of the 21mg combo my wife seemed a bit worse, though there are as you might expect many other variables day to day. It seems possible to me that the 21mg mixed brand, while causing no side effects other than -possibly- too high a dose, may have been triggering the "healing" mentioned in the Harvard article related to clearing plaques. (I need to read that and the source Nature article yet again)
Now I'm on to other articles missed in recent days due to so many other factors in our now busier schedule...
@pb50 wrpte: "groping my way"
Obviously me too! This whole topic was unknown to me a few weeks ago, and unlike the professional research community I have many demanding distractions. I share your hope that anyone struggling with this topic does due diligence rather than relying on our shared opinions and experiences. That said, I'm treasuring all that's shared here in plotting a course.
@nb14 wrote: "reverse osmosis filter will remove the naturally occurring lithium"
Yes! As so often, something we've done for health may have the opposite effect!
@johnbishop Many thanks to you and @nb14 for sharing the Couric interview of Dr. Yankner, lead of the Harvard 2025 LiO study. Some of her questions were helpful, and we very much liked his patiently perfect responses. I especially liked how he goes beyond the 2025 HMS article and its linked Nature study source, to include some new material.
I noted that the REST acronym mentioned refers to the protective protein that apparently defends neurons from amyloid-beta stress. Hopefully other viewers won't think that's about taking naps.
We were a bit chastened by his admonitions against taking LiO before controlled human trials, yet are quite pleased with the mild benefits we're already seeing. Plus many indications for decades that there are no known downsides to this Mayo group's small daily doses.
That said, I'm quite keen to get pharmaceutical grade LiO with known dose and no questionable other ingredients possible in OTC "supplements." Even the tested brands don't report testing every batch. Still, while obviously paranoid I'm pleased to see my wife's modest improvement and the neutral reports and lack of any downsides reported here.
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1 ReactionThere may already be a topic on "Nocturia" here that I've not yet seen, but I'll mention something related to prior references here to the likely importance of sleep in clearing plaques.
Sleep interrupted by visiting the bathroom during the night can be a problem, as others our age may have noticed. We years ago stopped liquids 4 hours before bed, but it didn't help much. I bought an inexpensive "analog" TENS box and rechargeable 9v batteries for it. We started with the two electrode pads at various places on the Tibial nerve and enjoyed immediate improvement from typically 6 or more nightly sleep interruptions, to 3 or 4 and sometimes fewer.
A year or so ago I found reference to Sacral pad placement, and immediately got to 1-3 nightly sleep interruptions. Sometimes none at all. We also noticed a reduction in daytime urgency.
Again, I mention all this here in the hope it may help others dealing with MCI to get better sleep. Hopefully it could be helpful even for those not taking LiO, but if LiO does prove to support healing during deep sleep all the better.
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1 Reaction@plus - Here's a search of Connect for Nocturia with a list of discussions if you want to scan through them - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/search/discussions/.
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3 ReactionsI just noticed this. A finding in the Harvard paper that I haven’t seen reported anywhere is their findings on Lithium and brain ageing in people with *no cognitive impairment*. They found that the Li level in the brain was positively correlated with cognitive test scores for working memory and with performance on the Mini Mental State Examination. They also did other tests on mice and on human brain tissue. “These results in normal ageing mice and humans indicate that Li homeostasis may contribute to cognitive resilience.”