depakote. My body didn't process it well and I had to be on really high doses to keep me at a good blood level. It only worked when my blood level was high, pushing the dose even higher. It constantly changed so I had labs done all the time. I got to the point I could guess within a few points what my labs would say which amused my pdoc. I gained a lot of weight on it, especially because I was taking so much of it (3200 mgs at the end plus I was on 300 mg of Seroquel and some ativan and lithium....not fun) and I took a job because they said I could have flex time but then they decided they didn't want me on flex time so they made rules about when I had to be in and I was always 2 minutes late or something (I had a long commute so it was unpredictable) and always really tired and slow the first few hours of work (which wouldn't have been if they'd stuck to the flex time agreement). When I stopped it the weight poured off (and then gradually was gained back as Seroquel went up) and I just felt so much better.

My pdoc mentioned using a tiny bit of it to get me to sleep a few months ago and I almost passed out at the idea.