Bipolar Disorder/lithium related

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Expert: - 6/4/2005


Question
Doctor:
Can you tell me why the kidneys are watched closely in lithium treatment?  And if creatine does rise slowly over the years as in the case of my mother if lithium were removed does the creatine usually go back to a more normal value,?
thanks so much.

Answer
Lithium can decrease kidney function. Measuring the creatinine level in the blood is the best way to determine if this is happening. After lithium is stopped the function of the kidneys can remain the same, improve or deteriorate. If the patients does not have diabetes or high blood pressure, most often, in my experience, kidney function remains the same as it was as the point where lithium was discontinued.

Best regards . . .

Ivan
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Bipolar Disorder

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Ivan Goldberg, M.D.

Expertise

I am a psychiatrist/psychopharmacologist with many years of expereince in treating individuals with depressions, manic-depression (Bipolar Disorder), other mood disorders,. I am especially interested in the psychopharmacologic treatment of individuals with so called "treatment-resistant" syndromes.

Experience

I have been on the staff of the National Institute of Mental Health, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. I am currently in full-time private practice in New York City.

A.B. Johns Hopkins University
M.D. N.Y.U. College of Medicine

I am the creator of Depression Central:http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.html

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