We just went through the most horrifying experience with lithium toxicity. My husband (and I) has been on lithium for several years with no problems until two weeks ago.

The first sign of problems was that he started developing tremors. He has a complicated medical profile, so the tremors at first weren't terribly worrisome, but after a few days they became so pronounced that he was losing the ability to do anything fine motor. About that same time, I started noticing, for lack of a better description, that he just didn't seem with it. I called his pdoc who sent us immediately to the ER for blood work. His lithium level was 3 times what it should have been, a 3.3. His kidneys were shutting down. They immediately called in a nephrologist and they started dialysis.

He was admitted to the hospital's progressive care unit -- a step down from ICU. The lithium level went down quickly and the kidneys seemed to recover nicely, but he then went into psychosis. For 3 days, his entire experience while conscious was constant hallucinations and delusions. He ripped out his IV's and monitors several different times. They finally kept him sedated to ride out the psychosis because consciousness was utterly terrifying for him.

They are unsure what caused the toxicity. He did not overdose. He had recently had levels checked. One theory is that it was a med interaction. Another is that one of his heart meds caused the kidney issues which caused the toxicity. It really is hard to know whether the lithium caused the kidney problems or kidney problems caused the toxicity. They assume the psychosis was the result of all meds being pulled off his system so abruptly through dialysis.

After about 5 days in the PCU, he started coming around. He started realizing he had been hallucinating and delusional, and the tremors finally went away. He came home after 8 days in the hospital. He is doing well now. Obviously he is no longer on lithium and they've made some other med adjustments.

Scary experience. I was on lithium myself when this all started, but I have taken myself off for now. This scared the crap out of me.