I'm diagnosed schizoaffective. My mood disorder component within the schizoaffective diagnosis is bipolar.

The main thing I would tell you about mood stabilizers, sometimes better called aniti-mania medications, is that all mood stabilizers are really perfect for some individuals. Some people will be non-responders to an individual agent. Some people will find the side effects intolerable for a particular agent.

The way a person being treated finds out what is effective and tolerable for them is mostly trial and error.

In the interest of helping you give any proposed med a good trial, its generally true that a lot of initial side effects can diminish as you get used to a medication. If you find some side effects truly intolerable you should let your prescriber know right away. There is no reason to suffer any med that is causing you misery until your next appointment.

I could tell you about my lithium experience, but my experience with a med isn't relevant to what your experience will be. Just decide to give a med a good trial. Don't read over side effect lists and continually check for them. If it doesn't work or is intolerable there are many other choices.

In having a workable model of what the problem is you have already won more than half the battle.