Laura... if you search the internets, you will find examples of people living meds free. It is not the mainstream opinion, but it is possible.

It is not harder to do it without, I think... you deal with you emotions and you have to push through... but when I hear about people struggling for years and years to find "the right combo" which does not make you stable in the end... we don't know how the meds work... if you manage without, it's better to be chemistry free.

For me spirituality, and having a lots of interests to channel emotions into helped me a lot... but there is not one universal approach.

good luck.