Since my last post, I have suffered less from the auditory memory loops (AMLs) (or broken record syndrome) than from a creeping anxiety that had come to consume me on a daily basis. So when an AML sufferer recently contacted me, telling me not only about his stuck music issues but also about his anxiety disorder, I thought it might be time to share my latest adventures with all of you.
Anxiety
For several months I had been waking up scared every morning and spending most days seeing threats in every little situation throughout the day. My crazy circular thinking made me hyper-critical of everything, including my partner, who is a sweet, wonderful man. Though I tried to keep much of this from him, the constant overthinking/overanalyzing of my crazybrain tested the patience of those dear friends whose ears I bent nearly to the breaking point.
I knew something was wrong with me but I couldn’t stop the crazy thinking or the anxiety. So I embarked on a therapy fenzy. Maybe there were issues I’d need to work through with my sweetheart at the end of this journey, but first I needed to filter out my own dysfunctions.
Therapy Frenzy
At one point I was seeing 3 different psychologists, plus a life coach friend who uses techniques like neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and hypnotherapy…all in hopes of calming my brain and my anxiety. I told them all that I felt like a small dinghy in the ocean, jostling wildly with every little fish fart nearby. I wanted instead to be like a big cruise ship that remains stable, cutting through all but the roughest seas.
I got some surprising insights from my friend and some useful perspectives from the therapists. But slowly I let go of each because the results failed to give me the kind of relief I so desperately needed.
OCD Behavioral Techniques
In the process, I learned about some behavioral techniques that have been used successfully to control and reduce obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. These techniques had been effective in not only managing the subjective experience for OCD sufferers, but they actually triggered measurable physical and chemical changes in the brain! So I read the book, Brain Lock, by Jeffrey Schwartz, and was working on retraining my brain.
Biofeedback
Still, it wasn’t working fast enough for me. So I continued with the last of the therapies: biofeedback. However, it was not the kind of real-time brainwave-based biofeedback I’d expected, and instead was focused on relaxation techniques I was already good at. So I dropped that as well and looked at my remaining options.
Was it Something [Not] in the Water?
Over the previous 9 months I had been drinking super-filtered water. I knew that some friends of ours who use the same filtration system added healthy minerals back into their water after filtration. The anxiety had been building during that same timeframe. So I wondered if my anxiety and crazybrain might be partly the result of my being deficient in critical trace minerals. The first one that came to mind was lithium.
Lithium, an Essential Trace Mineral
I happened to have some 5 mg lithium orotate pills on hand, and decided to try it. The typical dose is 10-20 mg a day, 1 to 2 pills in the morning and 1-2 at night. But I’m sensitive to most substances, so I took 1/4th pill Friday morning, then another 1/4th Friday night. Since I didn’t have any negative reactions, I took 1/2 pill Saturday morning. And by Saturday afternoon, I was feeling dramatically calmer.
Lithium Orotate to the Rescue!
After less than 36 hours on a teeny dose of lithium orotate, I finally felt like that cruise ship! It was like a miracle for me.
I have now been taking 1/2 pill (2.5 mg) twice a day for nearly two weeks and I feel great! I still worry appropriately about things like financial challenges and threats to my family’s wellbeing. But I no longer wake up every morning feeling scared. I no longer have a running circular dialogue in my head about what’s wrong with everything I encounter. I am no longer exaggerating threats, or imagining things to be upset or worried about.
And I am no longer haunted by stuck music. I occasionally notice a song memory playing in my head, but it is not bothersome or intrusive.
What You Need to Know About Lithium Orotate
So here’s what you need to know about natural lithium. But first, the disclaimer…
The information in this post is for educational and entertainment purposes only! No substance is completely safe for everyone. So please consult with a qualified healthcare professional before trying anything new.
Lithium orotate is found in most of the world’s ground water, along with potassium, calcium, magnesium and various other trace minerals. Several studies have shown that regions with the highest lithium content have the lowest violent crime and suicide rates. The following PubMed link takes you to a study of lithium in 27 Texas counties. From this page you can also access similar studies from around the world.
This is NOT Pharmaceutical Lithium
If the name lithium sounds familiar, it may be because you’ve heard that prescription lithium is used to treat patients with bi-polar (manic-depressive) disorder. However, the forms of lithium used as drugs are so poorly absorbed into the brain that patients have to take huge doses that are toxic to the rest of their bodies, just to get enough into the brain to calm the mood swings.
Do Your Homework and Consult a Health Professional
Natural lithium orotate, on the other hand, is far more bioavailable, and can be effective even in tiny doses, with few, if any side effects for many people. Still there are precautions or caveats you and your healthcare advisers should be aware of.
The following links take you to articles about the benefits of lithium orotate. 1. Psychology Today article. 2. Global Healing Center article. 3. Lithium video by John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. But do your own research as well.
The 5 mg lithium orotate I am using comes from Life Extension Foundation, which I have come to trust over the years. I can’t speak for any other brands, but, again, do your research, use your best judgment, and follow the advice of a healthcare expert.
As always, wishing you peace and quiet.
– Pat
Hi Pat,
My name is Michelle and I’m a magazine writer in Los Angeles. I’m very interested in writing a story on auditory memory loops, and would love to talk to you. Where are you located?
Thanks for your help. I hope we can connect.
Lithium occurs in most ground water sources, although in very variable amounts, but not lithium orotate.
Why lithium is formulated for human consumption as a salt of orotic acid is difficult to understand since simpler and cheaper lithium salts, e.g., lithium carbonate and lithium chloride, have been show to be as readily assimilated.
However, orotate is a naturally occurring organic acid that is a precursor of the pyrimidine nucleic acid bases, cytosine, thymine and uracil, and is therefore entirely harmless.
PS, I see that this post was made more than eight months ago. It would be interesting, therefore, to have an update, as to whether the very small lithium dose you talked of is continuing to help in the way originally described.
Hi Pat, it is nearly a year since this last post. Can you give an update on how you are doing?
OMG you should not take lithium!!! good grief…
Hi Ann, You may be confusing lithium orotate with prescription lithium, which is terribly toxic and dangerous. Natural forms of lithium are found in ordinary drinking water and have shown to be beneficial. In two studies (Japan and Texas) higher lithium content in an area’s drinking water correlated with lower violent crime and suicide rates.
I have a similar experience started since last month. Just wondering whether to take Lithium Orotate or not. Any update from Pattio ? Please.
Hi Pat,
Any update since Sept. 14 ? I recently experienced music stuck in my head for well over a month now and thinking whether I should take Lithium Ortate or not.
-yk
Hi Pat,
I am a 21 year old male college student who has been going through this music problem for 2 months. It has made my life quite unbearable and I don’t see much hope. Then I came across your site. Knowing you managed to solve the issue tells me there is a way to solve this. Right now my dad and I decided to start taking some supplements (L-Theanine, Gaba, lots of vitamins, Ps) to lower my cortisol. Hoping there is something more you can help me with. Tried Prozac for 10 days and am now off of it, didn’t really help. Thanks!
Joe did yours ever get better I’m now also going through this hellish aml I’m going through withdrawals so I’m hoping once my withdrawals is over this symptom can go away because I don’t know how much I can take of this
By the way, I had blood tests done on the 29th of July and had a cortisol level of 27, which supposedly is very high.
Please tell me is it working out. LITHIUM OROTATE ….. Helps or not….. Im suffering