Filter by: patients
Home > Community Treatment Reports and Side Effects > Lithium Carbonate Treatment Report
What is Lithium Carbonate?

Lithium Carbonate is used to treat and prevent episodes of mania in people with bipolar disorder (manic depressive disorder). Lithium is in a class of medications called antimanic agents, which work by decreasing abnormal activity in the brain. Read more...Click to read more below

Reported Purpose & Efficacy

Reasons and Efficacy
Purpose # of patients
# of patients with evaluations Efficacy
Major
Moderate
Slight
None
Can’t tell
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) 303 91 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Bipolar Disorder 302 121 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Treat my mood condition(s) 165 43 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Bipolar II Disorder 125 27 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Bipolar I Disorder 125 27 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_slight Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell
Other 45 7 Efficacy_major Efficacy_moderate Efficacy_none Efficacy_cant_tell

See all 728 patients currently taking Lithium Carbonate

Mouse over the table for more information

Reported Side Effects

Side effects as an overall problem

Severe
 68
Moderate
 92
Mild
 99
None
 85

Commonly reported side effects, conditions, and hospitalizations associated with Lithium Carbonate

Tremor in hands 77
Weight gain 43
Thirst 41
Nausea 37
Urinary frequency 26
Diarrhea 23
See all 134 reported side effects ▼ See top 6 reported side effects ▲

Reported Dosages

Frequently reported dosages based on patients currently taking Lithium Carbonate. See all 45 dosages ►

  150 mg daily 300 mg daily 450 mg daily 600 mg daily 750 mg daily 800 mg daily 900 mg daily 1,200 mg daily 1,500 mg daily 1,800 mg daily
  13 Number of Patients: 13 127 Number of Patients: 127 46 Number of Patients: 46 159 Number of Patients: 159 13 Number of Patients: 13 14 Number of Patients: 14 183 Number of Patients: 183 79 Number of Patients: 79 26 Number of Patients: 26 13 Number of Patients: 13  

Reported Stop Reasons

Why Patients Stopped Taking Lithium Carbonate (multiple reasons could be selected)
Reason # Patients Percentage of patients
Did not seem to work 209   Did not seem to work: 44%
Side effects too severe 198   Side effects too severe: 42%
Doctor's advice 108   Doctor's advice: 23%
Other 67   Other: 14%
Personal research 44   Personal research: 9%
Course of treatment ended 15   Course of treatment ended: 3%
Expense 13   Expense: 3%
Not indicated 12   Not indicated: 3%
Change in health plan coverage 3   Change in health plan coverage: 1%

See all 469 patients who’ve stopped taking Lithium Carbonate

Reported Duration See details about how long patients take this treatment ▼

Currently Taking Lithium Carbonate

A bar graph

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more

Stopped Taking Lithium Carbonate

A bar graph

0-1 month 1-3 months 3-6 months 6 months-1year 1-2 years 2 years or more

Reported Adherence, Burden & Cost See details from patient evaluations ▼

Adherence

Taking treatment as prescribed

Adherence of Lithium Carbonate

Always
 259 75%
Usually
 61 18%
Sometimes
 11 3%
Never
 13 4%

Burden

Difficulty being on treatment

Burden of Lithium Carbonate

Very
 22 6%
Somewhat
 55 16%
A little
 66 19%
Not at all
 201 58%

Cost

Paid out of pocket

Cost of Lithium Carbonate

$200+
 1 0%
$100-199
 0 0%
$50-99
 7 3%
$25-49
 20 9%
< $25
 200 88%

See more information, including instructions, precautions, side effects, and interactions.

Report created on February 11, 2012.