Question

You are preparing to discharge a 48 year old male patient recently admitted and diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. Your patient was started on Lithium carbonate and is currently at a therapeutic level. In preparation for discharge, your patient will require education in order to be sent home on Lithium carbonate.   

What education would you provide to this patient? What laboratory values are important to assess with this patient and why?

Answer 1

Lithium carbonate is a anti mania drug used in bipolar disease. The therapeutic dose range - 0.6- 1.4mmol/L . Patients taking lithium should be encouraged to eat sodium rich diet and plenty of fluids because lithium causes hyponatremia . When the patient does not take enough amount of sodium ,lithium gets accumulated and it inhibits the reabsorption of sodium from the renal tubules.

The patient should be taught about the sign and symptoms of lithium toxicity and must be advised to check the lithium level every three months in the maintainance dose and also the levels of serum sodium has to be checked . These are assessed to prevent lithium toxicity which is a life threatening condition in which patient will initially start with nausea and vomiting and then lead to seizure, coma and dealth.

In case of any sign and symptoms of lithium toxicity or deviations in the reports, patient should visit the physician immediately for further management and treatment.