my husband has been on depakote for bipolar disorder for about 3 years now, and he's not happy with it; he's gained some weight and he generally feels unmotivated most of the time, so i'm trying to get an idea of what else is out there for alternative medications. i've read in this forum that many people are happier on lamictal; but doing other research i've found that lamical is very effective for bipolar II, however not as effective for the manic eposodes associated with bipolar I, and that concerns me. I was wondering if anyone could recomend something that more effective with Bipolar I?