I have been taking Lithium for 6-7 years, and am now slowly tapering off it all going well. It literally saved my life by restraining me (giving me better impulse control), and calming me down. Prior to Lithium I impulsively, and sometimes very seriously, harmed myself often. It shut that down. Unfortunately, Lithium didn't help me with depression, and only slightly reduced my hypo/manic episodes. The side effects I have had are hand and body tremors, increased thirst thus more bathroom trips, weight gain, messed up my thyroid which now needs medication to bring it back to normal, loss of some creativity, and a dulling of my emotions. All this I put up with so I could stay alive while I fought to get stronger. I was always o fairly high doses with blood levels between 0.8 and 1.2.

Now I am finally stable, and strong, my pdoc and I agree it is a good time to try life without Lithium. I drink a lot of water and never experienced noticeable water retention. Also, I lost the weight I initially gained on Lithium fairly easily a year or so into treatment. When Lithium works well it is amazing so it is worth a try. Staying on the lowest effective dose possible is best. As it has been said you will need to get regular blood work to make sure your body is managing ok, and Lithium levels are not too high. It is a pain but you get used to it. I hope it serves you well.