Neither of the mood stabilizers: Lamictal or lithium helped me. I swung wildly while on Lamictal and stayed really depressed on lithium until I had to quit it because it caused hypothyroidism. Now I have to take meds for that. As for atypical anti-psyc's, I've been on almost every one of them too and they all had such terrible side effects that I had to quit them. The one I stayed on that had the least bad side effects was Geodon...and if I don't drink enough water all day long my blood pressure drops and I have nearly fainted several times (just managed to get horizontal in time to let the blood rush back into my head). Yes, that's the good one. So I feel for your plight about mood stabilizers. They and me just don't mix.