I have taken lithium in the past without too many side effects: mostly thirst and some tremors.

My husband on the other hand, even with blood monitoring, became severely toxic, his kidneys shut down, he had to go through dialysis, and was in the intensive care unit for over a week in a psychotic state due to the dialysis pulling meds off his system so quickly. That is a very rare result of lithium, but it can happen in very rare instances.

I chose to stop lithium after that experience last summer. It was rather traumatic to watch and we almost lost him. I just couldn't put another lithium pill in my mouth even though it worked well for me. My pdoc understood my line of thought although he didn't completely agree, but he has allowed me to try lamictal again as an alternative. So far, so good.