Neither turned out to be the meds for me because of terrible side effects, but as you've read, not everyone gets them as badly as others, or maybe at all.

I only had reasonable moodstabilization from Lithium at high doses, along with an antipsychotic. That didn't always last, though. One notorious side effect I did NOT get from Lithium was weight gain. If on a weight friendly antipsychotic, too, I was fairly trim.

Depakote was very good at calming my mania along with an antipsychotic. Trouble is, I'd then get depressed. Depakote did nothing for my depression. My Depakote side effects were not the same as my Lithium side effects even though some can be. It didn't leave me with any permanent issues. I'll just generously say that.

Tegretol XR with an antipsychotic (I take Seroquel XR), is my best combo so far. Tegretol XR gives me zero side effects, though I had a couple fleeting ones in the very beginning. It does, however, decrease the effectiveness of hormonal birth control, so if you're female, other types of birth control need to be used. I really do believe that I need both of these meds. Seroquel XR is the med my psychiatrist modifies when I ever have depression or mania coming on. It's effective for me, and gives me only one or two side effects that I can live with. Seroquel XR is weight friendlier for me than the Depakote/Invega combo I once took for a while. Seroquel XR is weight neutral for me at 500 mg and below. Any higher, I start to get very hungry. Seroquel XR is more tolerable for me than regular Seroquel.