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atmosphere My planet’s atmospheric dry air composition (not including non-toxic trace gases)

My planet’s atmosphere has a very high partial pressure of Nitrogen, which will cause humans to have Nitrogen Narcosis or ‘rapture of the deep’.

Humans cannot develop a tolerance for Nitrogen Narcosis. The only way to get rid of the effect entirely is to depressurise the Nitrogen (I.e. reduce the partial pressure).

However, according to this paper, Lithium could potentially be used to reduce the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis on humans in hyperbaric conditions (this was tested on rodents).

Main question: Can I have human colonists on my planet regularly take Lithium tablets in order to live on my planet long-term (say, more than an Earth decade)? And how regularly would Lithium need to be taken in order for humans to live normally?

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    $\begingroup$ Mice aren't perfect analogs for humans - not sure about the bit about tremors and convulsions, there may be a bit of experimenting for the colonists to ascertain the danger-point. $\endgroup$
    – Escaped dental patient.
    Commented Aug 6 at 20:29
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    $\begingroup$ In relatively small doses lithium is used as a psychoactive drug. I for one wouldn't recommend taking lithium tablets without a good psychiatric reason. In larger doses it is toxic. Even in the relatively small psychoactive doses it may do bad things to one's kidneys. $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Aug 6 at 20:32
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    $\begingroup$ @Escapeddentalpatient.: Milli-equivalent. (Yes it should have been mEq, but youngsters these days have no respect for the fine points of spelling conventions.) $\endgroup$
    – AlexP
    Commented Aug 6 at 21:22
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    $\begingroup$ @Antares the atmospheric composition is the main part of the plot (high concentration of Nitrogen). I am trying to find long term ways human colonists could cope, preferably with pills instead of a mask. $\endgroup$
    – casualworldbuilder
    Commented Aug 7 at 12:20
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    $\begingroup$ @Antares look at the column to the right of my percentages. That is the partial pressure. My atmosphere has a partial pressure of 0.35 atm oxygen (which is more than Earth at 0.21 atm). There will be plenty of oxygen to breathe (and it isn’t toxic, that would be a partial pressure of >0.5 atm). As for your concern with adapting to pressure, humans can adjust to hyperbaric conditions just fine assuming the right gas mixture. Saturation divers (in high pressures) for instance use helium when nitrogen gets too high. In this story though, the colonists will have to deal with the narcosis. $\endgroup$
    – casualworldbuilder
    Commented Aug 7 at 21:58

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This question has frame challenge written all over it. As many of the comments point out, there are other more well established ways to help your humans survive.

For the main question regarding lithium: Yes?

The quoted article and related information does indicate the effects of nitrogen narcosis could be delayed. Additionally, lithium has been administered for long periods of time to people with bipolar disorder (lifetimes). This means its tolerated well. In the absence of research on humans at high pressures, it certainly seems possible. It is important to consider the side effects of lithium toxicity which is very close to the effective dose. Your risks may outweigh your rewards.

For your secondary question, the answer is Oxygen

Your workers are basically saturation divers working at a depth of about 40 meters on earth. This is a very manageable depth as saturation divers can go much deeper.

For very deep dives Heliox is used. This is a mixture of helium and oxygen. This is done to avoid nitrogen narcosis as helium in not reactive. However, for shallower dives of up to about 40 meters, you can use Nitrox. This is a mixture of nitrogen enriched with a higher concentration of oxygen, which for your atmosphere would be anything higher than 7%.

As your atmosphere has oxygen present, your workers would wear portable oxygen concentrators with a simple mask.

A POC system is functionally a nitrogen scrubber capable of consistently producing medical-grade oxygen of up to 90%.[10]

Even by creating a mix of about 21% O2, you probably couldn't stave off all symptoms of nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity. However, 5atm is really not that much so these would be mild. Your humans could be exposed to it for a fairly long time (more than a day) before they need to step inside and "decompress".

Sources:

Saturation Divers Oxygen Extraction Portable Oxygen Concentrators

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