This is tl;dr, I know BUT If anyone can help and just skip the story to the last 2 paragraphs for the main point, that would be great!

OKAY SO! I just sort of lost my job (technically my hours were cut to 4 hours a week and I only make $8 an hour) so a doctor is kind of out of the question until i have a little more money to pay the copay and stuff...Anyway, I'm on Lithium 450mg ER..I don't know too much about it but I was put on it because I had a manic episode, which lasted 2 weeks...i thought i was going to be a famous singer/song-writer and didnt sleep for days playing the guitar and sining/writing. then i ended up going on a furniture shopping spree at walmart...i returned everything the next morning to buy myself a plane ticket to california to see my long distance boyfriend of 6 years. i stayed with him for a week and he forced me to get help back home and go back to school.
as soon as i got off the plane I went to my pdoc that i hadn't seen since april and she prescribed my with lithium. this is the first time I've been on it and TBH I notice no difference in my mania/depression/bipolar...


the reason I am here posting is because I think I might be pregnant and having pregnancy symptoms BUT the thing is A LOT of the symptoms I'm having could also be due to the side-effects of Lithium and/or stress related...I started lithium on October 8. I was active sexually from oct 2-7.
I don't get my pay check until the 17th of this month...and because my hours were cut...i'll barely be able to pay the copay plus my monthly bills D: D: D: ARGH!!! I'm looking for another job but it's so difficult with all the stress and my school schedule. If I'm pregnant then I know I need medical attention immediately and if it's because my lithium levels are high, i also need to seek medical attention asap. but if it's stress....then i really need to just chill out and i feel like if there's someone out here who has experienced something similar a great weight will be lifted from me!

Am I pregnant OR is this from Lithium?
so these are symptoms I'm having:
~digital pregnancy test said Not Pregnant. 2 cheapy pregnancy test had faint positive lines
~(started oct 30 expected nov 4) I bled a week before my period was supposed to come for about 2 hours and it was VERY light bleeding, barely noticeable. It went away for 24 hours and came back a day later but was brown. It stopped and again 2 days later it was a light pinkish bleeding that lasted 3-4 hours. then was done. (I read that lithium can change your menstrual cycles but I'm afraid this is implantation bleeding)
~Nausea without vomiting beginning oct 16
~sore throat/nasal congestion oct 16-today
~food cravings/aversion (was told that lithium also causes these)
~light stomach cramps
~pain in lower back
~tender breast
~feeling apathetic
~feeling anxious
~feeling suicidal
~feeling depressed