Lithium, Iodine, Lyme Disease -- by Ward Dean

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Dear Doctor Q & A

Lithium, Iodine, Lyme DiseaseQuestion:Dear Dr. Dean, I am 32, and have had Lyme Disease symptoms for 12 years. Though it still often fatigues me, I have it under control. I live a holistic life, I am active, and I have a vitamin regimen that includes Magnesium, CoQ10, high quality fish oil, and enzymes. I even have an in-house ozone sauna, which is very effective. I also have had a moderately bi-polar condition throughout my life, but I never wanted medication. I finally went on lithium carbonate a year ago as work became more intense. It was very effective and, remarkably, dramatically reduced my Lyme disease symptoms. After about 8 months on lithium carbonate, I had put on about 25 pounds over the previous months. Strangely, I had only been taking 600 mg a day of lithium carbonate, a rather low dose, and yet I had found it very therapeutic. Later, reading a book about the top ten natural remedies for Lyme disease, lithium was listed as one of them, but it was the non-prescription kind—Lithium Orotate—that was recommended. The book corroborated my own discovery that lithium of any kind seemed to protect the brain from Lyme’s numerous neurological effects, from headaches to confusion. And it said that compared to the prescription version, Lithium Orotate afforded most of the benefits with fewer of the side effects. I went off of lithium carbonate for a month to see if my weight dropped at all. It did not. Without the lithium, the depressive symptoms also began to creep back in, so after a month, I began Lithium Orotate. Happily, I have found it offers all the same benefits of mood-stabilization of the lithium carbonate, and I am only taking one pill per day —the 120 mg with the 4.8 elemental lithium. I enjoy the product’s benefits too much to want to quit. But whatever the prescription lithium did to my metabolism or thyroid is still obviously there. A Kinesiologist/Chiropractor I saw a few days ago gave me an iodine patch test on my inner arm, instructing me all about the 24 hour monitoring time. In about 5 hours, the iodine had been completely absorbed into my skin and disappeared. I have read all your articles on the website relating to thyroid, weight gain, and lithium. 1) Would weight gain from such a low dose of lithium carbonate imply a previous deficiency in iodine or a malfunction in some aspect of the thyroid gland’s many hormones that got exacerbated by the introduction of lithium into my system? 2) I was planning on taking a urine/saliva test for hormones and thyroid levels. Is this enough to determine the larger picture? I noticed that you said that blood levels for thyroid are not helpful. My goal is to keep taking the Lithium Orotate while correcting the weight gain. I will be grateful for any information you can give me. Ms. D. Response:Dear Ms. D., In a nutshell, lithium (including Lithium Orotate) can have anti-thyroid properties (i.e. it may induce hypothyroidism. You may have been borderline before (hypothyroidism is often a cause of depression) and the effects of the prescription lithium that you were taking “pushed you over the edge.” You have probably read some of my articles regarding the worthlessness, in general, of blood tests in diagnosing borderline hypothyroidism. I think a better way is to monitor your symptoms, temperature and especially your heart rate. As long as your heart rate is in the mid to low seventies (not higher) you are very safe in taking thyroid or iodine. I believe that from what you have said about your symptoms and the rapid clearance of iodine from your skin you would benefit from Iodoral®. You can also try taking the Iodine Sufficiency Test, available here, to determine whether your body is in need of iodine. For the Lyme disease, you may want to read the article on the website: “Samento®: New Support For An Ancient Enemy—Lyme Disease.” Hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, Ward Dean, MD