You may want to ask your pdoc to give a different (meds) a try, Depakote and Effexor didn't do anything positive for me, but we are all different.
I do not want to sound like I am a"sales person" for Lamictal (Lamotrogine) but after several different meds it has helped greatly, and the nice thing is no weight gain or fatigue, also I haven't needed any antipressants along with it like I had in the past.
It is a med that slowly has to be titrated, and closely follow with your pdoc in the begining, but it has been great for me, I am Bipolar-II (mild) so again meds work differently for different people.
BTW another nice thing vs. Depakote you do not have to have monthly blood work up (liver) so that is a plus for people that may not want to get poked every month and make the time to go the lab. The fatal rash that is mentioned in the side effects for Lamictal are very rare, when I first read about it I was a little scared till I heard the percent is very, very rare. Only thing over long term is slight dryness around the hairline of the face and back of neck, no big deal, and in my case it may be cause I am getting old, ha!ha!
Just my too sense, btw I am 47, be 48 in Jan. old, eh? ha!ha!

Take care,

DE