i'm a 73 yr. old female, diagnosed 30+ yrs. ago with bp2. i'm providing this merely for informational purposes. i had only hypomania, no depression, so for all those years i was only on 450mg. lithium. throughout those years, and unbeknownst to me, i began having thyroid issues; then i had to have all but a portion of my parathyroid glands removed as lithium was making/creating too much calcium, and after surgery i was on calcium tablets daily, and then finally about 3 yrs. ago i started having kidney issues. all my blood work over the yrs. was merely to determine my lithium levels, but not one psychiatrist mentioned the damage over time with long-term lithium use. please become informed. i am off lithium completely at this time.