I am on a fair amount of meds and wish I could manage this thing without them, but a little time and experience have proven that I can't (and shouldn't) try it again. I've had several short periods of stability---the most recent one lasted just over a month---and I'm optimistic that they'll start getting longer and longer as my brain adjusts to all of this...the diagnosis, the meds, the therapy, the way my life has changed in the past year.....yes, all of it.

But that's just me. This is such an individualized illness, no one medication or cocktail works for everyone....that's why there are so many. And there are those few who manage their bipolar just fine without any meds at all (although I'm damned if I know how y'all do it). I think therapy is a must, even if we are on meds, because we need those coping and life skills in order to co-exist with this disorder. But again, everyone is different and there's no single "right" way to treat it.