I'm on Effexor too. Kills sex drive.
I don't know how much it's helping.
The only drug I feel is opioids. ( I'm off them) but when I took them everything was possible with minimum manic episodes.
I know it's not the real way pdocs want patients to weather the storms of bipolar.

It's kind of like some bipolars smoking weed or drinking to cope. Pdocs don't like that either.
I don't smoke weed. Drink only a little.
But...constantly worry about what my psych meds are doing to my nervous system, liver kidney thyroid blood pressure and on and on.