My experience with low-dose lithium orotate and its cognitive and sexual improvements

[Determined-Mind]

I experienced my first sexual improvement with lithium last night with my husband! We were both impressed. The road to recovery is still long, but this mineral gives us great hope.

I'm going to use this thread to share with you all my improvements and experiments with lithium over the next few months.

J0
I started taking 5 mg of lithium orotate in the evening at bedtime on April 7, 2024.

J+4
I increased my dose of lithium orotate to 10 mg in the evening at bedtime.

J+8
I felt aroused when I saw photos of an attractive man's body

Side effects: I feel mini electric shocks at brief moments during the day (much lighter and more subtle than the electric shocks felt during SSRI withdrawal).

Evening sex with my partner: I don't feel any erogenous sensations, I didn't feel aroused, but I have to admit that somewhere in my brain there was an increase in electrical arousal as I screamed.

J+10

Side effects: Mini electric shocks around 4 p.m.
Very productive day intellectually and went to bed after midnight.

J+11

Very productive day, fell asleep after 3am.

J+12

I decided to take the lithium no longer in the evening but at midday because I went to bed much later than my usual time.

J+13

Second day of taking lithium at noon. I went to bed and fell asleep around 10:30 p.m.

But, around 7 p.m., I had a partnered sex experience that was not at all the same as usual. My partner described me as being much more enterprising and more expressive (oral moaning).

Honestly, I screamed the loudest I've ever screamed in almost 10 years of dating. But the intensity of my screams was much stronger than the intensity of my subjective experience.

I experienced some improvements: I felt more pleasant sensations in my thighs, belly and back. But there is still progress possible.

In the vagina I felt more friction. These were not necessarily pleasant - more neutral but I think this mini perceptual improvement led to stimulating the cries. Surprisingly, my partner didn't find my vagina any tighter and didn't feel any difference.

Clitoris: I encouraged my partner to continue touching me, even though I usually tell him to move on. Through indirect stimulation, I perhaps reached 0.25/10 of erogenous sensations - compared to 0/10, or even unpleasant sensations usually.

My partner generally found me “more present in the experience”. I think this is due to the mini perceptual improvements.

Seriously, I was surprised by what happened. I would be curious to try lithium + bupropion (+ buspirone) or other combinations in several months. The field of possible tests is vast.

But for the next few months I'm going to try plants instead (St. John's wort, panax ginseng, ginkgo biloba, BCAA, tyrosine, Shilajit, Tongkat Ali...).

Herbs like lithium are known to stimulate neuron growth, which is not the case, to my knowledge, for bupropion or buspirone.

To be continued!

Please note: I am a 30 year old woman. On neuro-pharmacologist Meso's discord server, I read that he said women were more likely to benefit from lithium sexually.

[Determined-Mind]

J+16
Lithium orotate increased from 10 to 15 mg. Since taking it in the morning, I manage to go to bed at a decent hour. I wake up early and work from morning to night. I'm still as productive and creative as when I started lithium.

J+19
I seem more attracted to sweet foods: maple syrup, chestnut cream, I've finished chocolate bars...

I seem to be able to feel chills again when I watch a film.

I'm also noticing more hair loss. It's the first day of my period.


J+20

I feel more tired today. I have my period. But normally I don't feel tired. Lithium is known to affect thyroid and metabolic function. I decide to make green molasses cakes to boost my iron and magnesium intake. Normally, I'm not open to eating molasses because I don't think it tastes very good. But here I ate several cakes!

Several days ago, my partner had also pointed out to me that I was more inclined to eat a food that I don't normally eat very much.

Because I'm so tired, I go to bed in the afternoon and even start playing Mario Kart.

In the evening, I'm in much better shape (thanks to the molasses, no doubt!!).

In a discussion with my partner, I'm able to tell him the movie we saw the day before, briefly recounting the story without a hint of recall and with secondary information. We suspect that lithium may be starting to improve my autobiographical memory!

J+21
During the film, I felt chills, especially when faced with a visually beautiful scene.

J+22

I'm pro-actively looking for sweet food.

I have not noticed any significant hair loss today and yesterday. I will carry next month if this effect can be related to the menstrual cycle or if it was a temporary side effect due to the increase of the dose a few days earlier.

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In short

Hedonic and mnesic processes seem to be improving. There's still plenty of room for improvement, but it's encouraging.

I'm thinking of continuing to take lithium alone for another 1 month, to be able to appreciate the effects of the mineral without interactions.

In fact, to be precise, I've been taking 250 mcg of huperzine A for several months now, with no results. For memory, perhaps it works in synergy with lithium?

But it's possible that lithium alone is doing most of the work. It's known to regulate genes, increase grey matter, grow the hippocampus and help with Alzheimer's in the early stages of the disease.

Anyway, in a few weeks I'll be out of huperzine A and I'm not thinking of buying any more.

I prefer to try other plants in synergy with lithium.

[Darman]

Thanks for this.
If you keep taking it please update us with any progress. I'm on about day 10 of it...I don't notice anything at the moment.

[Determined-Mind]

J+30

I started taking 300 mg of St John's Wort extract in the evening. My partner didn't want me to take this plant because it makes me tired.

I passed that the fatigue effect could be counterbalanced by the stimulating effect of lithium on me.

J+31

Took my St John's wort around 8pm. I started playing Mario Kart and watched a documentary, which I don't usually do.

J+32

I took my usual dose of lithium in the morning (15 mg as a reminder).

I felt incredibly tired, especially in the afternoon. I went to bed around 1pm, played Mario Kart around 2pm and watched a documentary.

3.30 pm: I want to work but I can't.

St John's Wort definitely makes me tired and lithium doesn't counterbalance this effect.

I don't notice any improvement in my sexual/physical anhedonia.

I've decided to stop taking St John's Wort because it's too harmful to my productivity. I'm not averse to trying it again in the next few months, if ever I find other interesting blends that could counterbalance the pro-fatigue effects of this plant and improve sexual and bodily pleasure.

J+34 (today)

I forgot to take my lithium this morning. So I took it at 11am.

It's now 1.15pm. I'm on fire. I'm full of energy and ideas. I want to accomplish a variety of tasks. I'm writing this message in that spirit.

Next step in the next few days: I'll add to my stack 500 mg of Panax Ginseng extract (Now Foods) and 60 mg of Ginkgo Biloba extract.

I'll keep you posted.

[kaimbre]

St. John's wort causes complete remission of my PSSD. But the active principle matters. I tested many brands that didn't work and the one that improves me contains 2% hyperforin and 0.3% hypericins.

[kaimbre]

There is only 0.6mg of elemental lithium in 15mg of lithium orotate.

If I were you, I would take a much larger dose. At least 2 capsules of 120mg of orotate. Each 120mg capsule has 5mg of elemental lithium.

[Determined-Mind]

Interesting that SWJ improves your PSSD. What brand did you use?

I'm tired of SWJ (brand: Now Foods).

For lithium orotate, I read in the scientific literature that it was 10 times more powerful than lithium carbonate.

To give you some news, I tried to increase my dose to 20 mg on June 17. I didn't notice anything significant.

I also did some tests:
- 15 mg lithium + 300 mg SWJ (tired me out so I quickly stopped)
- 15 mg lithium + Shilajit (several dosages tried) and/or 500 mg Kudzu
- 20 mg lithium + 2 NAC (+ 500 mg Kudzu)

I didn't notice any particular effect on hedonic sensations.

Because of lithium supply problems in Canada, I stopped lithium on July 28.

Result: more fatigue, less productivity, more anxiety, more doubt in my work, almost no hedonic sensations, avoidance of sexual relations.

Bonus withdrawal side-effect: insomnia (I wake up at night and can't get back to sleep).

I tried to compensate for stopping lithium with plants, but to no avail, nothing worked as well.

I started taking 5 mg of lithium again on August 30, and the very same day I noticed a difference: I was much more productive and felt a little more sensation on my body when my darling touched me. We had sex that very night, even though we hadn't done anything for almost a month, and worse, I'd been avoiding him lately.

I upped my dose to 10 mg on September 7.

On September 10, I started a test with 1 mg buspirone. I'll write a new topic about it in a few days on this forum, when I have more samples.

But for now it's interesting what I'm feeling.

End of this topic.