Bipolar Disorde
"I have been on carbamazepine for 17 years and find it keeps my mood stabilized and works best as an anti-manic.  It is not much help with depression.  I had tried Lithium, Depakote, and a few of the atypical antipsychotics prior to carbamazepine and the thing I loved about this drug is I did not gain weight on it, in fact after coming off Depakote and on to this I lost 40 pounds.  So for me it is weight neutral.  I have heard others say otherwise...some gained, some lost, some stayed the same.  My serum sodium does run slightly low, and I am sometimes tired, but that is the mainstay with psychiatric drugs.  The initial breaking in phase was rough, about 3 months to adjust to the medication, but with the weight loss after Depakote..."