Lithium ER Official FDA information, side effects and uses. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Each round, speckled off-white to yellow, biconvex tablet debossed with "54/346" on one side and scored on the other side, contains lithium carbonate, 450 mg. Inactive ingredients consist of ferric oxide, magnesium stearate, povidone, sodium alginate, and sodium starch glycolate.Lithium should generally not be given to patients with significant renal or cardiovascular disease, severe debilitation or dehydration, or sodium depletion, since the risk of lithium toxicity is very high in such patients. If the psychiatric indication is life-threatening, and if such a patient fails to respond to other measures, lithium treatment may be undertaken with extreme caution, including daily serum lithium determinations and adjustment to the usually low doses ordinarily tolerated by these individuals. In such instances, hospitalization is a necessity.