In 1988 I was treated with lithium as an outpatient. I have a relatively mild psychiatric condition which, while unpleasant, never caused me to be hospitalized.
Over the next two and a half years I was treated with lithium under two different consultants. It quickly became evident that lithium made my depression worse. However, neither doctor wanted to stop the lithium and I was kept on it while they tried unsuccessfully to alleviate the symptoms by tinkering with other drugs.>From being slim and active, I became bloated, sluggish and more depressed than I have ever been. I lost my career and was suffering severe menstrual problems.
Finally, in July 1991 I took the responsibility for my health and sanity back into my own hands. There was a very noticeable improvement in two weeks, and after two months I felt reborn.
My condition then quickly returned to its previous cycle, in which the depressive bouts are relatively short, interspersed with longer periods of being well.
I am appalled to think that other patients may be deliberately misled, as I was, about the nature of lithium, and that they are being damaged by it while being told that it is all for their own good.
The US Physician's Desk Reference warns that long term use of lithium may cause kidney damage, inflammation of the brain (characterized by weakness, lethargy, fever), and possibly irreversible brain damage. At the first signs of toxicity diarrhoera, vomiting, tremor, loss of control of voluntary movements, fits or movement of the eyes treatment should be discontinued. Your doctors had no business giving you other drugs with lithium; the PDR advises against taking anything else while on this drug.
It sounds like you are well on the road to recovery. You might like to investigate whether your condition has a nutritional cause since low levels of nutrients like B vitamins, zinc, iron, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium or, indeed, even a wheat allergy can bring on symptoms of depression.