6feca58d   
   XPost: alt.atheism, talk.philosophy.humanism   
   From: dalton@nfld.com   
      
   On Feb 21, 2018, Mike_Duffy wrote   
   (in article):   
      
   > On Wed, 21 Feb 2018 02:17:10 -0330, David Dalton wrote:   
   >   
   > > [...] reduce my medication slightly but won't come off it entirely   
   >   
   > Speaking of brain medication, I seem to recall that at one time you took   
   > lithium, but have switched to something else due to its long-term   
   > deleterious effects on kidney &  liver function.   
      
   Yes, I was on lithium for over twenty years and came off it in early   
   2013 due to negative effects on my kidneys (not liver), and   
   switched then to divalproex sodium (on which my liver has   
   to be monitored every three months) while remaining on   
   a moderate dose of olanzapine.   
      
   > I am curious to know your take on the research regarding the measurably   
   > different effect on consciousness &  perception of the different stable   
   > lithium isotopes. Chemical properties of the two isotopes are so similar   
   > that one would not expect the choice of isotope to have such a drastic   
   > effect on brain function. Have you ever thought about this in the context   
   > of what we know about how the brain attains consciousness & perception?   
   > (Which is basically a lot of hand waving.)   
      
   I think I did once speculate that different isotopes of lithium might   
   have a different effect, but would have to dig back through my   
   paper and electronic writing to find such speculation. I haven’t   
   done any online or library research on the subject. Right now,   
   though it is an interesting question, I doubt that different   
   isotopes have a different effect. If they did though perhaps   
   a less toxic dose of the more effective isotope could be   
   used. But in any case, the mechanism by which lithium   
   acts as a mood stabilizer is still not well understood.   
      
   good night (almost 3 a.m. here)   
      
   --   
   David Dalton dalton@nfld.com http://www.nfld.com/~dalton (home page)   
   http://www.nfld.com/~dalton/dtales.html Salmon on the Thorns (mystic page)   
   “She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns   
   `Come in,' she said, `I’ll give you shelter from the storm' " (Bob Dylan)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)