Honestly, nothing worked for me. Every med I tried, I either had a physical allergic reaction or a mental side effect that was far worse than the bipolar symptoms. I finally went for a year's worth of ECT and that made the most difference for me. I have been well for a year. Even though I am having some issues surrounding symptoms at work, I still feel way better than I did on meds of any kind. I had tried, depakote, litium,topamax, trileptal, saphris, respiradol, prozac, all the benzos, seroquel, lamictal (allergic) and many others that I don't remember.