Tegretol XR helps prevent mania for me, plus other odd psych stuff. I can't go higher on that without double vision kicking in, plus I'm on a high dose as is. Nothing replaces this med for me. Negligible side effects.

Lamictal has it's place as a partial "antidepressant" for me. It is activating for me, so my dose stays low. I'm glad because higher doses also caused me some mild cognitive impairment in addition to eventual mania. Perhaps I could go off, but why? If I ever needed help with depression I'd have to start from scratch with this med, if I went off. My current small dose gives me no side effects.

Seroquel XR is the only one of my medications that is really manipulated. It, added to the above, is my powerhouse med. It has de escalated past manias and eased depression and anxiety. It's raised to fight mania, and either raised or lowered to fight my depressive episodes. The direction depends on the type of depression (lethargic/hypersomnia type vs. mixed/agitated type). It took me some time to get used to its sedating effects. Also, taking it at the right time and getting sufficient sleep lowers negative effects for me. Larger doses of 500 mg plus do make it hard for me to lose weight and/or may increase my appetite, but doses below 500 mg are mostly weight neutral for me. I've gained weight on higher doses, but not nearly as much as some people report. It may contribute to my high cholesterol. That's my assumption. It's much better than all of the other antipsychotics I've been on, which number eight. I must take an antipsychotic. Lithium or anticonvulsant moodstabilizers alone never cut the mustard.

Klonopin is a waste for me. It does nothing. It's a long story, but my doctors won't take me off of it. It's a small dose.

Ativan works well for me as an antianxiety med prn "as needed". The only reason I still take a baby dose daily is because I'm STILL in the process of being weaned off it. Not so much for anxiety, but because it was used to ease akathisia I suffered from for years when taking Geodon. I've been off Geodon for about a year now.

Mania is my biggest issue.