Q: I have a question about taking low dose lithium. Though your previous articles generally recommend taking low dose lithium in 5 mg doses, there seems to be a bit of confusion of the available types in retail stores. For example, my health shop thas Lithium Aspartate (5mg), Lithium Orotate (120mg). Which is the correct type and amount that I should be looking at?

Dr. Wright: Either form of lithium is fine: What you want to look for on the labels of the lithium supplements you're choosing between is the amount of "elemental lithium" each one contains. Research indicates that taking 10 to 20 milligrams of elemental lithium per day can help keep your brain functioning at peak performance. Many lithium supplements contain 5 milligrams of elemental lithium (though, again, you should read labels carefully to be sure), so you would need two to four tablets or capsules to achieve the brain-protecting dose.

Even at a quantity of two low-dose tablets three times daily (for a total 30 milligrams of elemental lithium), patients' serum lithium usually stay in the "non-detectable" range, which means that they're very safe. In my 30 years of practice, I've never had a patient report symptoms of lithium excess. But just to be on the safe side, I always recommend taking extra quantities of essential fatty acids to prevent any possibility of lithium toxicity.