Lithium metallicum [Lith]:
- Jan Scholten
As far as the Lithiums are concerned, all we have got is a somewhat vague picture of Lithium carbonicum. But even here we didn't really have a clear picture of its mental emotional state. My own experiences with Lithium started with Lithium carbonicum too. This showed me its manic depressive tendencies.
In a more subtle form this theme presented itself as: quickly starting something, quickly giving it up and then quickly starting something else again.
It became clear that this theme was a red thread running through all the Lithiums, such as: Lithium muriaticum, Lithium bromatum, Lithium iodatum etc. Only after several combination prescriptions did I finally prescribe Lithium metallicum one day. It seemed like a sort of threshold that I had to cross; like prescribing every type of Natrum combination without contemplating the possibility of Natrum metallicum. Once I had prescribed Lithium metallicum the whole theme really became clear to me. It turned out to be one of the most important of all the Lithiums and will probably prove to be extremely useful in psychiatric cases.
And once again the advantages of homoeopathic prescribing became apparent: it allows us to use Lithium in its metallic form (after being potentised of course), while in allopathic medicine this pure form is too aggressive and does not get absorbed by the body. In allopathy they use lithium carbonate or lithium citrate.
Signature
The name Lithium is derived from lithos which means stone. It was discovered in 1817. It is the lightest of the solid elements and it when exposed to air it quickly oxidises into black Lithium oxide. In allopathic medicine it is used against gout and manic- depressive diseases.
Some minerals that contain Lithium: amblygomite, spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, triphylite.
It is also used in batteries for its properties of highly concentrated energy and little weight. It is also used in lightweight metal products.
Concepts
Stage 1 Carbon series
Initiative Impulsive Individual Person I
Instinctive Spontaneous Value Meaning Self-worth
One Simple Ethics: Good and Bad
Lonely Alone Body Life Lust
Stubborn Possessions
Single minded Rash Hero
Naive I-weakness
Immature Magic Myths
Destruction Child
Group analysis
A naive person: weak willed.
An impulsive person: changeable
Unfounded values
Unthinking: easily influenced.
A naive child: childish.
Impulsive good or bad behaviour: manic depressive.
A foolish hero, a heroic fool.
Picture of Lithium metallicum
Essence: A naive person with a weak will.
A naive and weak willed person
These people are at the beginning of the road of self discovery.
They don't know who they are, sometimes they even don't know whether they are here or not. Their sense of Self has not been developed, nor has their own will. So they appear weak willed and indecisive. They can spend ages on the minutest details, without ever finishing something properly. They are unsure of themselves and get upset by trifles. They are easily afraid and always worry whether they have done things right.
They seem to be afraid of life itself, of everything that is unknown to them. They love to have the protection of a safe haven, a home with a strong and protective fatherly figure nearby.
They wont dare to stand up for themselves, they wont dare to take what they feel they need. Their hesitation to receive can be so strong that they might even reject what is being offered.
An impulsive person: changeable They tend to do anything that comes up in their mind. Not because they are not interested in the wishes of others, but simply because it seems a good idea at the time. But, not surprisingly, this doesn't always turn out to be the right thing. Either the other person doesn't understand their intentions, or their remarks have nothing to do with the subject in question, or their actions totally overshoot the mark. The result is one disappointment after another, but, forever optimistic, they'll try again. This time they'll try and do it differently. And so it goes on. It is a sort of trial and error process, through which they come across as being very changeable and unstable.
They try something new, give up, try again, or they alternate between different possibilities to see if it will work this time.
Unfounded values
They want to try to prove themselves, to show to the world what they are worth. But they don't think their actions through before they start, so they do any thing that comes up.
They can't think things through because they haven't got anything to compare them with. They wouldn't know what values to take as a measure of good or bad.
They are inclined to view everything in extremes of good and bad.
And here we also see them quickly switching between the two extremes. One day they'll think the world of someone and the next day he is a ruthless scavenger.
This is how they see themselves too, one moment they feel good about themselves and the next moment they feel they are worth nothing, deserted by God, wicked as the devil. The slightest thing may cause this switch in feelings.
Unthinking: easily influenced
Because of their changeable moods and their weak will they are easily influenced by other people. When someone suggests something to them they quickly take this on because he is bound to know more than they do. They will often seek help from others because they don't have any stable inner values of their own.
They need an authority to tell them what is what in this world.
Naive and childish
They are like a child who needs its parents support. A child that hasn't found its own way in the world. They like to try out whatever comes up in their mind, but they do this in a helpless sort of way. The sort of way that will make others say: Look, isn't it cute the way she is trying to do that.
A foolish hero
They can be very forceful and heroic in their actions. But even then we can see the childish traits coming through. They have hardly figured out what they are fighting for, more of an impromptu idea to take on an issue. Like Don quichotte in his fight against the windmills. They aren't able to reflect on the sense and purpose of their quest, because they have difficulty in comprehending any values in life, including their own self-worth.
This is the stage in which the hero is being given his task is, but he doesn't know what it entails yet.
Impulsively good or bad: manic depressive
In manic depressive disturbances we can find all the different themes of Lithium.
In the manic phase we have the impulsive and unthinking behaviour, the foolish way they handle their lives, their possessions and their communications with others. In the depressive phase we see that they give, they think themselves a failure and they feel thoroughly bad. Their is an alternation between feeling very good about themselves and feeling totally useless.
Expressions
Fears: vague (2!), the unknown (!), life, strangers, future, travelling, flying, crowds, streets, failure, disease, operations, cancer, death.
Irritation: overassertive, aggressive, self mutilation, accusing.
Mood: restless, excited, impulsive (!), manic, unstable, hysterical, timid, unsure, indecisive, (>) support, listless, meaningless, gloomy, suicidal.
Mental: associative, confused, symbolic, obsessive, slow, orientation problems, lack of concentration, forgetful, dementia, dissociated, psychosis, manic depressive psychosis (!).
Religious: magic, obsessive.
Causes: neglect, abuse, incest, parents absent addicted or weak, loss of parents or protectors.
Generals
Type: obese.
Perspiration: copious.
Time: (<) night. Desires: drinking, coffee, tobacco. Food: (<) fruit, chocolate. Sleep: sleeplessness. Physical: (<) light, (<)(<)(<) radiation, chemotherapy. Complaints Arrested development Vertical hemiopia (one sided vision!). Congenital eye problems. Trembling of arms, jerking of muscles at night, tremor, ataxia. Epilepsy. Malignant neuroleptic syndrome. Salivation, taste of metal. Hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroiditis, goitre. Affections of lymph glands, affections of thymus, lysis. Cardiovascular diseases (3). ECG abnormalities. High blood pressure. Congenital heart disease, abnormalities of tricuspid valve. Nausea, vomiting, stomach pains (>) eating. Stomach ulcer.
Duodenal ulcer. Diarrhoea, (<)fruit, (<)chocolate, (<)night. Sterility, insufficient milk production, miscarriages. Kidney affections (3), calculi in kidney or urethra (3), uremia, frequent and Copious urination. Overactive adrenals. Arthritis, gout. Acne, psoriasis, itching, hairloss, increased secretion of sebum, herpes, seborrhoeic eczema. Hair too thin. DD: Carbon series, Stage 1, Crocus, Mancinella, Vanadium, Vit B12. DD metabolism influenced by Lithium: Gaba, Glutamate, Inositol, Phosphoricums. DD remedies containing Lithium: Allium cepa, Brassica, Daucus, carota, Hyoscyamus, Lactuca virosa and sativa, Nux vomica, Solanum, lycopersicum, Tabacum. Case A 34 year old woman has come with abdominal pains. The pains are located on the lower right or upper right side, just under the rib cage, and they radiate through to the back. It is a nagging type of pain, occasionally stitching and it is accompanied by nausea and tiredness. The pain is worse in the morning, worse on exercising like aerobics and worse in spring and autumn. The pain is better from lying on the left side, rubbing or putting a hot water bottle on it. No modalities from food or weather, although she doesn't feel like eating when she is in pain. It all started a few years ago when she had been looking after her boyfriends mother for several weeks before she died. She couldn't bear to see this lady slowly waste away, couldn't bear to lose her. She also complains of headaches on the right side, radiating to the neck. It is a feeling of tension which is worse in the morning and it is sometimes accompanied with vertigo and an unreal feeling, as if she is sinking, or as if she is being pulled away. It makes her either hyperventilate or hold her breath. The vertigo also comes on its own sometimes, suddenly without warning, as if a button is being pressed. It is difficult to concentrate properly when she has this. She is very unsure of herself, she quickly thinks that everything will go wrong, especially when she is confronted with problems. She feels unsure of herself at work and with other people. There is nobody she feels at ease with. She is very sensitive to criticism, particularly regarding her work, whether she will be able to handle it, but she doesn't say anything. She doesn't like it when people judge her. She often has to go home from work early, because she is too overwrought to carry on. As a child she used to be very dependent on her parents, she used to ask them all the time: You wont die, will you? Because I wont want to live if you die. She had difficulty growing up, couldn't detach her self from her parents, would have liked to stay in that protective environment. She hated it when her body started to mature and her breasts started to develop. She is melancholic by nature and she gets extremely upset when people die, she can't accept the fact that she has to lose someone. She was much affected by the death of a schoolteacher when she was little, and by a little boy who was run over. She is overly concerned for her cat, in case he dies. But there are two sides to her character. There is the passive side with the tendency to withdraw and go quiet, and there is also another, very active and strong side. She can be very positive, chat to other people quite openly and happily and then suddenly shell feel ill at ease and go totally quiet. She finds it hard to make decisions, particularly about big issues such as getting married or having children, she can spend hours worrying about such things. She hesitates a lot, afraid to live, afraid to take steps and accept responsibility. She can become totally fixated on some little trifle and then that has to work the way she has thought. If it goes wrong then shell immediately despair about everything. She is afraid of spiders, disease, death, narrow spaces and crowds. She has a dream in which she sees her deceased mother, shell run after her and then she suddenly sees that it is someone else. Then she wakes up with a start. A few years ago she received psychotherapy because she felt depressed and insecure, after she had left her previous boyfriend. It wasn't that she felt unhappy with him, they had a large house with much land and a horse, but he was always away and involved with his work and she felt he wasn't interested enough in her. Now she has a new boyfriend who is interested in her, but she finds it hard to enjoy sex with him. When she was a child she had a squint in her left eye. Generals Weather: cold type; (<) gloomy weather, (<) sun: weak; (<) damp: short of breath; she finds thunderstorms frightening and exciting, (>) wind and fresh air (3).
Time: (<) 11 am.
Desires: spinach (2), potatoes (2), vegetables, fruit, eggs, drinks, water (2).
Aversions: olives (2), pork, carrots, alcohol.
Menses: before menses: tension in breasts, insecure, irritable.
Sleep: good; sometimes she suddenly feels something strange in her head and then she is wide awake straight away; sometimes afraid shell never wake up again; sleeps on right side.
Analysis
The pronounced sense of insecurity and the weak personality would point to a remedy in the Carbon series. She can't bear it when people die because it will throw her back onto her own resources and she can't handle that. She also had difficulty with the fact that she was growing up, she still felt too dependent and helpless (Carbon series).
The sudden mood changes are a characteristic trait of Stage 1 and so we get to the remedy Lithium. It is a bit similar to Crocus and Pulsatilla.
Also typical is the dream here she runs after her mother, who then turns out not to be her mother at all. She doesn't know what she is doing and without thinking (stage 1) she assumes it is her mother. Then follows the sudden change (stage 1) to fright when it proves to be someone else.
Reaction One month after Lithium metallicum 1M she is a lot better, mentally and emotionally. Less gloomy, more enjoyment in life, stronger. The fear of death is less too. She associated deep sleep with death, but now feels that this can be nice too. She feels she is allowed to be who she is, without judging herself.
At her work things go a lot better. She gets much less uptight, can see things in perspective, can go with the flow. The stomach appear less frequently, the attacks are less severe. The headache and vertigo is much better.
Several months later these complaints are still improving.
After 9 months she has a slight relapse of her feeling of insecurity. She is moving house to live with her boyfriend, which is causing a bit of stress. A repeat dose of Lithium metallicum quickly clears this up.
As far as the Lithiums are concerned, all we have got is a somewhat vague picture of Lithium carbonicum. But even here we didn't really have a clear picture of its mental emotional state. My own experiences with Lithium started with Lithium carbonicum too. This showed me its manic depressive tendencies.
In a more subtle form this theme presented itself as: quickly starting something, quickly giving it up and then quickly starting something else again.
It became clear that this theme was a red thread running through all the Lithiums, such as: Lithium muriaticum, Lithium bromatum, Lithium iodatum etc. Only after several combination prescriptions did I finally prescribe Lithium metallicum one day. It seemed like a sort of threshold that I had to cross; like prescribing every type of Natrum combination without contemplating the possibility of Natrum metallicum. Once I had prescribed Lithium metallicum the whole theme really became clear to me. It turned out to be one of the most important of all the Lithiums and will probably prove to be extremely useful in psychiatric cases.
And once again the advantages of homoeopathic prescribing became apparent: it allows us to use Lithium in its metallic form (after being potentised of course), while in allopathic medicine this pure form is too aggressive and does not get absorbed by the body. In allopathy they use lithium carbonate or lithium citrate.
Signature
The name Lithium is derived from lithos which means stone. It was discovered in 1817. It is the lightest of the solid elements and it when exposed to air it quickly oxidises into black Lithium oxide. In allopathic medicine it is used against gout and manic- depressive diseases.
Some minerals that contain Lithium: amblygomite, spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, triphylite.
It is also used in batteries for its properties of highly concentrated energy and little weight. It is also used in lightweight metal products.
Concepts
Stage 1 Carbon series
Initiative Impulsive Individual Person I
Instinctive Spontaneous Value Meaning Self-worth
One Simple Ethics: Good and Bad
Lonely Alone Body Life Lust
Stubborn Possessions
Single minded Rash Hero
Naive I-weakness
Immature Magic Myths
Destruction Child
Group analysis
A naive person: weak willed.
An impulsive person: changeable
Unfounded values
Unthinking: easily influenced.
A naive child: childish.
Impulsive good or bad behaviour: manic depressive.
A foolish hero, a heroic fool.
Picture of Lithium metallicum
Essence: A naive person with a weak will.
A naive and weak willed person
These people are at the beginning of the road of self discovery.
They don't know who they are, sometimes they even don't know whether they are here or not. Their sense of Self has not been developed, nor has their own will. So they appear weak willed and indecisive. They can spend ages on the minutest details, without ever finishing something properly. They are unsure of themselves and get upset by trifles. They are easily afraid and always worry whether they have done things right.
They seem to be afraid of life itself, of everything that is unknown to them. They love to have the protection of a safe haven, a home with a strong and protective fatherly figure nearby.
They wont dare to stand up for themselves, they wont dare to take what they feel they need. Their hesitation to receive can be so strong that they might even reject what is being offered.
An impulsive person: changeable They tend to do anything that comes up in their mind. Not because they are not interested in the wishes of others, but simply because it seems a good idea at the time. But, not surprisingly, this doesn't always turn out to be the right thing. Either the other person doesn't understand their intentions, or their remarks have nothing to do with the subject in question, or their actions totally overshoot the mark. The result is one disappointment after another, but, forever optimistic, they'll try again. This time they'll try and do it differently. And so it goes on. It is a sort of trial and error process, through which they come across as being very changeable and unstable.
They try something new, give up, try again, or they alternate between different possibilities to see if it will work this time.
Unfounded values
They want to try to prove themselves, to show to the world what they are worth. But they don't think their actions through before they start, so they do any thing that comes up.
They can't think things through because they haven't got anything to compare them with. They wouldn't know what values to take as a measure of good or bad.
They are inclined to view everything in extremes of good and bad.
And here we also see them quickly switching between the two extremes. One day they'll think the world of someone and the next day he is a ruthless scavenger.
This is how they see themselves too, one moment they feel good about themselves and the next moment they feel they are worth nothing, deserted by God, wicked as the devil. The slightest thing may cause this switch in feelings.
Unthinking: easily influenced
Because of their changeable moods and their weak will they are easily influenced by other people. When someone suggests something to them they quickly take this on because he is bound to know more than they do. They will often seek help from others because they don't have any stable inner values of their own.
They need an authority to tell them what is what in this world.
Naive and childish
They are like a child who needs its parents support. A child that hasn't found its own way in the world. They like to try out whatever comes up in their mind, but they do this in a helpless sort of way. The sort of way that will make others say: Look, isn't it cute the way she is trying to do that.
A foolish hero
They can be very forceful and heroic in their actions. But even then we can see the childish traits coming through. They have hardly figured out what they are fighting for, more of an impromptu idea to take on an issue. Like Don quichotte in his fight against the windmills. They aren't able to reflect on the sense and purpose of their quest, because they have difficulty in comprehending any values in life, including their own self-worth.
This is the stage in which the hero is being given his task is, but he doesn't know what it entails yet.
Impulsively good or bad: manic depressive
In manic depressive disturbances we can find all the different themes of Lithium.
In the manic phase we have the impulsive and unthinking behaviour, the foolish way they handle their lives, their possessions and their communications with others. In the depressive phase we see that they give, they think themselves a failure and they feel thoroughly bad. Their is an alternation between feeling very good about themselves and feeling totally useless.
Expressions
Fears: vague (2!), the unknown (!), life, strangers, future, travelling, flying, crowds, streets, failure, disease, operations, cancer, death.
Irritation: overassertive, aggressive, self mutilation, accusing.
Mood: restless, excited, impulsive (!), manic, unstable, hysterical, timid, unsure, indecisive, (>) support, listless, meaningless, gloomy, suicidal.
Mental: associative, confused, symbolic, obsessive, slow, orientation problems, lack of concentration, forgetful, dementia, dissociated, psychosis, manic depressive psychosis (!).
Religious: magic, obsessive.
Causes: neglect, abuse, incest, parents absent addicted or weak, loss of parents or protectors.
Generals
Type: obese.
Perspiration: copious.
Time: (<) night. Desires: drinking, coffee, tobacco. Food: (<) fruit, chocolate. Sleep: sleeplessness. Physical: (<) light, (<)(<)(<) radiation, chemotherapy. Complaints Arrested development Vertical hemiopia (one sided vision!). Congenital eye problems. Trembling of arms, jerking of muscles at night, tremor, ataxia. Epilepsy. Malignant neuroleptic syndrome. Salivation, taste of metal. Hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroiditis, goitre. Affections of lymph glands, affections of thymus, lysis. Cardiovascular diseases (3). ECG abnormalities. High blood pressure. Congenital heart disease, abnormalities of tricuspid valve. Nausea, vomiting, stomach pains (>) eating. Stomach ulcer.
Duodenal ulcer. Diarrhoea, (<)fruit, (<)chocolate, (<)night. Sterility, insufficient milk production, miscarriages. Kidney affections (3), calculi in kidney or urethra (3), uremia, frequent and Copious urination. Overactive adrenals. Arthritis, gout. Acne, psoriasis, itching, hairloss, increased secretion of sebum, herpes, seborrhoeic eczema. Hair too thin. DD: Carbon series, Stage 1, Crocus, Mancinella, Vanadium, Vit B12. DD metabolism influenced by Lithium: Gaba, Glutamate, Inositol, Phosphoricums. DD remedies containing Lithium: Allium cepa, Brassica, Daucus, carota, Hyoscyamus, Lactuca virosa and sativa, Nux vomica, Solanum, lycopersicum, Tabacum. Case A 34 year old woman has come with abdominal pains. The pains are located on the lower right or upper right side, just under the rib cage, and they radiate through to the back. It is a nagging type of pain, occasionally stitching and it is accompanied by nausea and tiredness. The pain is worse in the morning, worse on exercising like aerobics and worse in spring and autumn. The pain is better from lying on the left side, rubbing or putting a hot water bottle on it. No modalities from food or weather, although she doesn't feel like eating when she is in pain. It all started a few years ago when she had been looking after her boyfriends mother for several weeks before she died. She couldn't bear to see this lady slowly waste away, couldn't bear to lose her. She also complains of headaches on the right side, radiating to the neck. It is a feeling of tension which is worse in the morning and it is sometimes accompanied with vertigo and an unreal feeling, as if she is sinking, or as if she is being pulled away. It makes her either hyperventilate or hold her breath. The vertigo also comes on its own sometimes, suddenly without warning, as if a button is being pressed. It is difficult to concentrate properly when she has this. She is very unsure of herself, she quickly thinks that everything will go wrong, especially when she is confronted with problems. She feels unsure of herself at work and with other people. There is nobody she feels at ease with. She is very sensitive to criticism, particularly regarding her work, whether she will be able to handle it, but she doesn't say anything. She doesn't like it when people judge her. She often has to go home from work early, because she is too overwrought to carry on. As a child she used to be very dependent on her parents, she used to ask them all the time: You wont die, will you? Because I wont want to live if you die. She had difficulty growing up, couldn't detach her self from her parents, would have liked to stay in that protective environment. She hated it when her body started to mature and her breasts started to develop. She is melancholic by nature and she gets extremely upset when people die, she can't accept the fact that she has to lose someone. She was much affected by the death of a schoolteacher when she was little, and by a little boy who was run over. She is overly concerned for her cat, in case he dies. But there are two sides to her character. There is the passive side with the tendency to withdraw and go quiet, and there is also another, very active and strong side. She can be very positive, chat to other people quite openly and happily and then suddenly shell feel ill at ease and go totally quiet. She finds it hard to make decisions, particularly about big issues such as getting married or having children, she can spend hours worrying about such things. She hesitates a lot, afraid to live, afraid to take steps and accept responsibility. She can become totally fixated on some little trifle and then that has to work the way she has thought. If it goes wrong then shell immediately despair about everything. She is afraid of spiders, disease, death, narrow spaces and crowds. She has a dream in which she sees her deceased mother, shell run after her and then she suddenly sees that it is someone else. Then she wakes up with a start. A few years ago she received psychotherapy because she felt depressed and insecure, after she had left her previous boyfriend. It wasn't that she felt unhappy with him, they had a large house with much land and a horse, but he was always away and involved with his work and she felt he wasn't interested enough in her. Now she has a new boyfriend who is interested in her, but she finds it hard to enjoy sex with him. When she was a child she had a squint in her left eye. Generals Weather: cold type; (<) gloomy weather, (<) sun: weak; (<) damp: short of breath; she finds thunderstorms frightening and exciting, (>) wind and fresh air (3).
Time: (<) 11 am.
Desires: spinach (2), potatoes (2), vegetables, fruit, eggs, drinks, water (2).
Aversions: olives (2), pork, carrots, alcohol.
Menses: before menses: tension in breasts, insecure, irritable.
Sleep: good; sometimes she suddenly feels something strange in her head and then she is wide awake straight away; sometimes afraid shell never wake up again; sleeps on right side.
Analysis
The pronounced sense of insecurity and the weak personality would point to a remedy in the Carbon series. She can't bear it when people die because it will throw her back onto her own resources and she can't handle that. She also had difficulty with the fact that she was growing up, she still felt too dependent and helpless (Carbon series).
The sudden mood changes are a characteristic trait of Stage 1 and so we get to the remedy Lithium. It is a bit similar to Crocus and Pulsatilla.
Also typical is the dream here she runs after her mother, who then turns out not to be her mother at all. She doesn't know what she is doing and without thinking (stage 1) she assumes it is her mother. Then follows the sudden change (stage 1) to fright when it proves to be someone else.
Reaction One month after Lithium metallicum 1M she is a lot better, mentally and emotionally. Less gloomy, more enjoyment in life, stronger. The fear of death is less too. She associated deep sleep with death, but now feels that this can be nice too. She feels she is allowed to be who she is, without judging herself.
At her work things go a lot better. She gets much less uptight, can see things in perspective, can go with the flow. The stomach appear less frequently, the attacks are less severe. The headache and vertigo is much better.
Several months later these complaints are still improving.
After 9 months she has a slight relapse of her feeling of insecurity. She is moving house to live with her boyfriend, which is causing a bit of stress. A repeat dose of Lithium metallicum quickly clears this up.
I just wanted to say I really enjoyed this article. My homeopath has me on Lithium Metallicum, along with Stram. I have undifferentiated schizophrenia and panic attacks. Although Lith didn't seem the first choice, when I tried it, I felt a whole lot better. As if the remedy was knitting my personality back together. One perfect mental indicator is the love of "magic". I avidly read D&D manuals and fantasy books and ADORE the idea of magic. I also have strong dreams and have the "attatch strongly to this" one moment and then lose it, only to pick it up again a while later. Excellent rememdy. And thank you so much!
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