It's a first line drug for bipolar, but it can have nasty side effects, which you won't know until you take it. Some side effects go away after a few weeks or months.
The thing to be careful about is that it interacts with a lot of things, including birth control pills. It speeds up some of your liver enzymes, which makes most drugs processed by that system less effective (there are some exceptions). Read the patient leaflet very carefully, and use something like drug.