1 in 1,000 chance of rash, the younger you are the more likely. Lamictal is a mild med with a long half life processed by the kidney. If you've got a healthy kidney then hey, it's one of the safest drugs for BPII if not the safest...Lamictal is more likely to help with depression and negative thinking than mania. Lamictal is often used for BPII as well as an add on treatment with another drug for epilepsy. I am in the process of attempting to switch from Depakote (summer weather led to mania) to Lamictal. Depakote caused major depression in me but helped with my mania. Lamictal is a mood stabilizing antidepressant agent but does not help with mania, I wish there was one that did both or that the FDA would invent one. SALT works for my bipolar mania, Lamictal tastes like CHALK and helps with my depression. The salts (valproate and lithium) often cause severe side effects such as tremor and dehydration which I suffer through every day. And my depression is horrible! Depakote alone cannot control that. I will become housebound, lose 20 lbs. in a depression. Think black thoughts, view every dish in the sink as a gaping hole, every item in site a disaster waiting to happen. Every conversation a disagreement. At time I wish I was dead but when I help the little old man in my support group I am glad to be alive.