I third what Wild Coyote and TheSeaCat wrote. Experiences vary.
I've been medicated for bipolar disorder for around 14 years now. I have always taken either Lithium and/or an anticonvulsant moodstabilizer and at least one antipsychotic the whole time. During my very worst years with full blown manias with mixed features (often with psychosis), some psychiatrists also added an antidepressant. I'm certain that the antidepressants created my worst years. They were incredibly destabilizing for me, if not immediately, they were within weeks. That pattern was repeated so often that my private psychiatrist said no antidepressants again. That was about eight years ago. I have not been hospitalized these eight years. He was right...for me. But antidepressants may be helpful for others with bipolar disorder.
It's hard to generalize how some meds made me feel compared to others, even within the same class of medications. And when you say "feel" what exactly do you mean? It's a complex question. Also, my experiences with many medications were often different in the early weeks of taking them than later down the line. Another also depended on my mood states at the times I was taking them, and the combinations of medications I took. On some, I even forget how I felt.
What I wrote above may not be what you want. Gosh, I could say a lot about a lot of meds and combos.
What specifically are you looking for? Which meds helped more with depression? With mania? With both? Side effects?
I've taken all of the following medications, again with at least one moodstabilizer and one antipsychotic. Feel free to ask about my experiences with any of them. My favorites have a
next to them.
Moodstabilizers:- Lithium ER
- Depakote ER
- Lamictal -Good and bad
- Trileptal
- Neurontin
- Tegretol XR
Antipsychotics- Seroquel (regular)
- Haldol (haloperidol) - Only used for emergency injections
- Risperdal
- Zyprexa
- Abilify
- Geodon
- Invega
- Navane (thiothixene)
- Trilafon (perphanazine)
- Seroquel XR
Antidepressants- Cymbalta
- Pristiq
- Wellbutrin SR
- Wellbutrin XR
Anxiety meds:- Vistaril (hydroxyzine) - antihistamine
- Buspar (buspirone)
- Klonopin -a benzo
- Ativan - a benzo- Good and bad . (also used for emergency injections to calm violent outbursts)
Side effect medications:- Inderal (propranolol) - tachycardia, tremors
- Synthroid (levothyroxine) - hypothyroidism
- Cogentin (benztropine) - akathisia
Miscellaneous:- Librium (chlordiazepoxide) - benzo used for alcohol withdrawal relief
- Revia (naltrexone) - for alcohol cravings
- Campral (acamprosate) - for alcohol cravings
Also had a series of ECT treatments about 9-10 years ago.
(Before my bipolar diagnosis, I was prescribed Prozac by a university psychiatrist, Effexor and Paxil by a GP, something I had no idea about by a Taiwanese hospital doctor, and Lexapro by a psychiatrist, but only took these medications for between 2 days and a week, except Lexapro, which I took for one month before leading to my bipolar diagnosis.)