Friday, March 16, 2012

Does Lithium Work by Resetting the Body's Clock?

Biplolar Blog featured a really interesting story about a recent study of lithium.  Lithium, of course, is one of the go-to meds for bipolar disorder.  Scientists at Manchester University have discovered that the drug inhibits a "clock protein" called GSK3 (damn that GSK3!) which inhibits the the body's circadian rhythms.

This finding is interesting for a couple of reasons.  First, it suggests that bipolar disorder is due in part to a dysfunction in the body's natural wake-sleep cycle.  Second, it provides a refined target for possible new medications.  Potentially, these medications may lack the side-effects of lithium -- side effects that often cause people to give up on the drug entirely, triggering another bipolar cycle.  Finally, it sheds light on why so many people find light therapy, which also affects the body's rhythms, to be so effective at treating mood disorders.

Given all the problems I've had with my internal clock, and all the crazy shit I've had to do to regulate it, I gotta say this makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.  You can read the whole article here.

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