I've been on lithium for unipolar depression. It didn't do anything for me.

Couple of things:
- I didn't have to have blood drawn "all the time". Maybe three or four times during the course of the treatment.
- I was more than a bit psychotic and was afraid to drink because of it, so I didn't drink a whole lot, and I didn't get toxicity. And it wasn't because my doses were super low either (1000 mg a day)
- I didn't have side effects that I noticed.