My difficult child has been on lithium- I noticed something similar- not exactly the same. It initially eliminated all raging tendencies but didn't do much, if anything, for "hyperness", excessive talking, restlessness, etc. Depakote was added and has seemed to help in those areas. Now, (it's been about 6 mos since lithium was started this time) there are tendencies to rage coming back- albeit he is able to "reel himself in" before it turns into full-blown rage. It appears (not certain) that lithium doesn't work long-term with him, so we're trying slowly decreasing the lithium dosage to see if depakote alone will do it, or maybe something different can be added. Increasing the lithium wasn't an option because it made him constantly sick (vomiting, diareaha). Lithobid (the time release version) helped a little, but not much.
