I was only on trileptal for about a year and a half and it worked really well but every few months I had to increase it to feel the full effects. Finally when I capped off at 2400mg my pdoc started taking me off of it and put me on lamictal. I personally found when I was on a higher dose of lamictal and a lower dose of trileptal it helped control the moods the best. However, the doctor wanted to take me off of the trileptal and I'm actually waiting for my pdoc appt to get here so I can argue to be put back on it.

I found no side effects with either drug and they both seemed to stable my mood but different aspects of my mood.