Your family doctor prescribing Lithium? That is a med that really should be prescribed by a Psychiatrist, and titrated, you do not give a patient high doses at once.
Lithium is an excellent med. and many people over the decades have had much success. It's not an anti-depressant, it's a mood stabilizer, used for Bipolar disorder, not depression alone.
Sure, there are some people that their bodies can't tolerate, or get bad side effects, and then their pdocs should switch to a different med.
Lithium in the form of Lithobid is better tolerated, due to it's time release formulation vs other formulations. Less GI tract problems. Lithobid, like any med should be titrated up to the lowest therapeutic dose, never give a patient a full heavy dose all at once, plus bloodwork should be done in order to check Lithium levels and if there is any negative effects the med is having on the organs, especially then kidneys, creatnine levels can change and may, in some people, may go over the normal healthy range, which reflects part of kidney functioning.
I personally would get a second opinion, sounds like your family doctor is entering an area that he obviously isn't qualified to be prescribing such meds in that fashion.
It's ashame when unqualified docs take it upon themselves to play psychiatrists, it can do more damage than good, thus leaving people turned off to persuing treatment.
This is my own opinion, and I'm not trying to offend anyone, so please do not be offended.
I'm only sharing what I know from experience(s) and because of that, I'm only trying to help someone avoid going through unecessary problems or time wasted, delaying and denying themselves from getting on track with proper meds and/or treatment. I wish you luck with this, and hope you seek a mental health professional for this, GP's can just do a certain amount of things.
Take care now,
DE

BTW
Forgot to ask, have you ever considered Lamictal? It's another med that should be titrated, usually is started in 25mg increments, the usual therapeutic dosage is 200mgs for most, my pdoc told me 150mg is the lowest therapeutic, but everyone varies. Nice thing, you do not have to go for bloodwork.
Keep the faith, don't give up, the things we think are impossible can become the possible.


(((((((( dreamrunner )))))