For me (been on it 6.5 years) rhe only real downside is the blood draws. 6 months weekly, 6 months every other week, monthly from there on. It can be frustrating to get the labs to the pharmacy sometimes, at least with my pharmacy (who lose things and blame it on the doctor's office). The labs themselves you become so used to. Of course there is a potential for an abnormal lab but I've never had to even repeat one. My levels did go up way too high about a year ago so I have added a clozapine level to the routine every 6 months of so but I don't think that happens much.

The good thing; it works. At least for me. I'm not been back to the hospital since I started it and if I've had hypo it's been treatable with 4 days of increased meds. I used to get hypo or manic every July/August and not I'm actually still on my higher dose of antidepressant. When I'm not depressed I feel quite good. I had a few months this year that my therapist said were pretty much a normal, stable mood. It's the strongest AP and it does live up to the name.


I'm not sure what else to say. Feel free to ask me questions.