Have you ever wondered if there is a wonder drug? A drug that does really anything and everything? Something that you can take and it will ensure your health for as long as you shall live? I think of the movie limitless, where this is indeed the case. Then I sink back to reality and realize that the only time you hear about a wonder drug is well, always. Every time you flip on the TV and a new drug ad plays on your screen for whatever the case (hypertension, depression, etc.) you can’t help but think how awesome all of these new drugs are, or so they seem. Unfortunately, our population shows that more often than not these drugs are not everything that they are all cracked up to be.
This leads me to an article that our class read this week that talked much about lithium and its use in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Lithium has been shown to do many marvelous things inside the cells of our brain. It protects neurons as well as helps in the consistent supply of nutrients that the cell needs to survive. Lithium activates the actions of what scientists call BDNF or brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which is a good thing. At the same time, lithium inhibits GSK3 and phosphoinositol phosphatases, which are both in pathways that lead to cell apoptosis. The inhibition of these pathways that would potentially lead to cell apoptosis is then a good thing. This is why lithium can be used to treat one of the widest spectrums of disorders that I have ever seen. Things like Parkinson’s, ALS, bipolar, Huntington’s, and even fragile X syndrome.
Based on the information that I have just laid out for you it really does seem as if lithium is the wonder drug that everyone, myself included, has been looking for! It can’t be that easy though right? Unfortunately, that is right. So don’t go chopping up batteries and putting them in your salad just yet (a joke, please do not attempt). While in class we had talked for almost 2 full days on how wonderful lithium is, leading everyone to believe that we should all be on daily lithium supplements. Since we were all so skeptical that just taking lithium could be beneficial we decided to research this topic more. What we found was that lithium is good yes, but excess lithium becomes detrimental to our health. The search for the wonder drug fails again.
What I can’t help but take away from this article is something that is way bigger picture that this article itself. Like I said in my opening, drug ads make every new drug seem like a wonder drug, as we did in my class with lithium. What I want people to realize is that the chances of a new drug actually being a wonder drug is not likely. I mean, it hasn’t been done yet so what evidence do we have that a new drug would be? I want to advise people to do their research when it comes to supplements and drugs because, like my class found with lithium, extra research often leads to the truth, which is something that can make us all healthier.
The search for a wonder drug…
