You know I was thinking about this very question this week. I never thought I would be up to five medications when I was stable for a few years on just one. I talked to my pdoc from my last visit on Monday about coming off of the Effexor because I feel no need for it. I got the same response from when I was in PHP in November, since I'm in an acute episode, they don't want to take anything out to make things worse. So I was thinking about what each one is for, and why do I now take them? This is the order in which I received them..

Trileptal....mood swings, mostly anger and dysphoric hypomania and depression
Effexor....bad depression, but that was after gaining too much weight from Paxil and the price increase from Pristiq which I think both worked better anyway
Wellbutrin...energy, since Trileptal made me groggy and I also had concentration issues
Lamictal...added while in PHP for the swings between hypomania and depression through the year (may be considered rapid cycling)
Restoril...my sleep issues/insomnia got worse and I needed a little more help..unfortunately I think I may be dependent on it since I tried to sleep without it recently
I think everything went out of wack after my grandmother passed a couple of years ago. She was my stabilty, and the best "med" I ever had