I'm not clear... did the original pdoc prescribe you 150mg/day or 600mg/day?

At 150mg/day, there would've been no need to have your levels checked, as that is way below therapeutic dosing levels. Some docs will go all the way up to 600mg/day still without checking levels.

Generally, however, when people are starting a course of lithium, levels will be checked after the first week or two if they are taking therapeutic dosing or 500-600mg/day. Take what I say with a grain a salt, however (no pun intended), because I'm not a medical doctor.

I agree, docs should *always* have coverage available and clearly communicated to all patients when they go away. It sounds like your original pdoc really dropped that ball there.

DocJohn