Sorry to hear about your anxiety with starting a new medicine. If it makes you feel better- I started out Depakote at 1000 mg- 2x a day. I was in a full blown mania state though. I was able to taper off the medicine as my symptoms stabilized- the 500mg - 1000mg just made me really tired as a side effect.
Good luck! It is the only med that I still have when I originally got diagnosed- so for me- it has been pretty rock solid.