 |
| Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 15 February 1938 |
In March 1948, Australian psychiatrist John Cade discovered the effectiveness of lithium as a treatment for bipolar disorder. Today, lithium is considered the gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder.
Lithium, which was synthesized in the Big Bang, is found in trace amounts in numerous plants, plankton, and invertebrates, and it competes with
other ions such as sodium.
Before this, the soft drink 7Up, formulated in 1929, was called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda" because it contained lithium citrate. The drink was a patent medicine sold as a hangover cure. Lithium citrate was removed from 7Up in 1948.
After returning from incarceration in Changi Prison during WWII, John Cade became medical superintendent and psychiatrist at the Repatriation Mental Hospital in Bundoora, Victoria, where he theorised that uric acid was a
cause of manic behaviour ( "brain gout")
 |
| Dr John Cade, Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Wednesday 6 January 1954 |
Cade thought that the psychotic mental state was caused by a chemical imbalance and that the poison may be evident in the sufferer’s urine as well as the brain.
Cade began to
work on the toxic substance uric acid and to use lithium salts, which were known to dissolve uric acid.
Injecting erratic guinea pigs with lithium carbonate solution, Cade found the animals became relaxed.
After testing lithium on himself, Cade began to experiment on some of his patients diagnosed with mania, dementia præcox or melancholia.
 |
| John Cade acute unit at Royal Park Hospital, VIC, circa 2003. PD |
One patient was described as "a little wizened man of 51 who had been in a state of chronic manic excitement for five years . . . amiably restless, dirty, destructive, mischievous, and interfering".
After treatment with lithium for a short time, became "more settled, tidier, less disinhibited, and less distractible." The patient continued to improve and was able to return to work.
At the time, it was not known that lithium has a narrow therapeutic window. Too little and it has no effect. Too much can damage the kidneys.
Several deaths of patients undergoing lithium treatment occurred. But this first effective medication to treat a mental illness led to thousands of people remaining stable on lithium, preventing relapse, mood instability and much suffering.
Cade's discovery in 1949 led to world-wide acceptance of lithium as an effective treatment of mania and depression.
There are various ways that lithium may stabilise mood, such as by inhibiting glycogen synthase kinase 3, and or, inositol phosphatases and reducing excitatory (dopamine and glutamate) and increasing inhibitory (GABA) neurotransmission.  |
| Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Tuesday 5 January 1954 |
In 1976, John Cade was one of the first people to be made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
