Lithium was my saviour as far as mood control...but gained 35lbs which made me *significantly obese*. Switched me to Depakote and I've lost all that weight and then some...it works pretty well for hypo/mania but doesn't touch my depressions. I just got a blood level back and I'm at the low end of the therapeutic range...maybe a dosage increase will help.
But otherwise, I had no other side effects or adverse reactions to either med.