Yeah, sure it's possible to still have episodes. Hard patches definitely don't help, that's for sure! (Totally immunity is unlikely, but I do know people who have been stable for many years, so it apparently is possible for some.) Sometimes a med tweak is in order, sometimes not. Depends. I've been pretty stable for about a year and a half. It'd probably be longer, but since that's when I finally got on a proper med, that's how long it's been(!) Sometimes the dose goes up or down, but that's the only tweak I've had really. I definitely don't overanalyze or necessarily anticipate trouble. I just keep an eye on it as objectively as possible. I do find the mood charting helpful in this regard. There are times when it definitely is quite a shift, but doesn't last anywhere near as long as before meds, so looking at my charts help me to see that it's really not as bad and is more stable than I might feel at a given time. Helps me keep it in perspective. I don't expect total levelness or even to not experience shifts that go considerably beyond what a "normal" person would experience. As long as they don't go as deep or start to go on for anywhere near as long as they used to, I can usually just go with it.

Of course this is just my personal experience and level of tolerance for variation.

Sometimes I do know for sure it's going to be a biggie. For instance, though I'd been in very bad places for very long amounts of time, in the time from the Pdoc was strongly suggesting the meds ...not pushing, just that she could see the signs better than I could. And why had I lost perspective? I was in a big and extended hypomania at the time. No one could tell me anything! It would last forever and ever, right? But when the crash came, it came hard and fast and I knew beyond knew that it was going to the places I'd so wanted to deny while hypomanic. So yeah. Depends.

suga!