When I was 15 I was heavy into drugs (LSD, ecstasy) I was seeing a P before I O.D.'d who diagnosed me b/p, he put me on lithium. When I stopped doing drugs and got sober my highs & lows from drug use went away ( I was not bil-polar just a really angry druggie kid) and I was still on lithium for the first year. 1500 milligrams a day, which is REALLY high even for someone with a diagnoses. I don't know if it was a combination of sobriety and the lithium but I gained 60 pounds, had horrible acne, I'd get dizzy spells when I'd stand that made me pass out, I couldn't remember anything, I had auditory hallucinations and slept, it was the reason I dropped out of school, i couldn't get out of bed, I literally slept 17 hours a day and If I wasn't depressed before I was from this medication. I'm sure with the proper dosage and right diagnoses this works great for some people, my experience was HORRIBLE, misdiagnosis can cause havoc and it upheaved my life. Like purple said the doctor wanted to ween me off of it and I stopped taking it all together, about a month with out it I felt GREAT and all adverse side effects stopped. I hope it
works out for you!