After having a diagnosis of depression for many months, I've been given the diagnosis of bipolar. After hearing what everyone around me had to say I finally wrote it all down and gave it to my psychiatrist. I'm now on 450mg of lithium twice and a day and xanax 3 times a day. I just started them today so I have a few questions.

1. How long before lithium takes affect?
2. I read that some people need an antipsychotic along with lithium, how is that determined? Will the lithium be enough to level me out by itself? I'm already taking 5 meds a day and it's annoying.
3. This is just a general question. If I ever decide to switch psychiatrists, is there like a record of all of my previous meds/diagnoses and such? Or should I be keeping track of everything?