@bewildered yes my son recently got off lithium. He takes Olanzepine only now (it's the generic of zyprexa). Zyprexa is way too expensive. But he has stage 3 kidney failure from the lithium. There are 5 stages so he is safe so far on a low salt diet. It's still very disheartening.

@bemwildered my son got off the lithium after being on it for over 30 years. He has stage 3 kidney failure. There are 5 stages so this is not bad. Low salt diet. He still functions well. They took him off risperdal and he's better too! He takes Olanzepine the generic of (Zyprexa). It costs less and same results. He is sooooo much better now. And he takes Lisinopril now to protect his kidneys from further damage. We changed doctors of course. The last one was a psych nurse practitioner who did not check his kidneys, only did the lithium level labs and mismanaged them. It's good to change doctors once in a while because one may be more experienced than another, and give you better info., research on line, etc. no dialysis at stage 3. I know a person who takes Abilify alone and does very well. He is a social worker!