I believe medication can help a great deal, especially during a severe episode, but cannot substitute for proper self-care such as regular and sufficient sleep, a healthy whole foods diet (no sugar and avoiding gluten), abstaining from the chronic use of stimulants and depressants (caffeine, alchohol), and exercising at least three times a week.

Things like vitamin supplements can be very useful if one has deficiencies - some medications can actually interfere with how the body interacts with nutrients and cause one to be deficient. I personally believe people with bipolar have a greater need for certain vitamins relative to their mood episodes and life stress, such as magnesium, vitamin c, and b vitamins to help mitigate oxidative stress and the damage caused by excess glutamate.

I have integrated certain amino acids and Ayurvedic herbs to great effect in my own treatment. However, one must be careful and work with a competant doctor familiar in using them as they can interact with medications, such as enhancing how effectively benzos bind to receptor sites, or inhibiting glutamate (which might not be beneficial while on a high dose of a mood stabilizer). Ironically, those same interactions could be quite beneficial when taken into account as it may reduce the need for high dosages, which has the potential to reduce the severity of side effects, and could be used as needed to intervene during a mood cycle, perhaps even prevent them from progressing beyond control.

Unfortunately, these substances will require further study before the majority of Psychiatrists feel it necessay to familiarize themself with their pharmacology, although I believe it is negligent that they currently do not as some of these substances are already part of the diet many of their patients have.

Everyone has different needs and will have to find out what works best for them. What is important is to keep in mind that medication is not the only way to cope let alone the most effective prophalactic treatment. There are many ways to maintain stability and relying primarily on medication to do this increases the potential for destabilizing and then having to deal with the fallout.

More importantly, the neuropharmacology of withdrawal from psychotropics is poorly studied and when someone has developed dependance on a
substance its withdrawal can be destabiliziing and even manifest as symptoms of the diagnosed disorder and even disorders the patient does not have (such as a psychotic state, hallucinations, and intense anxiety). As such, whether or not a patient requires a medication to be stable is unknown. It could be that after medications have helped stabilize someone that they then cause more harm than good as their side effects can make it more difficult to cope.

For example, weight gain can make it harder to exercise or lead to developing sleep apnea. The ravenous apatite caused by certain meds may lead to stronger cravings that make it very difficult to maintain a healthy diet. Cognitive deficits from meds can make it harder to deal with challenging problems. All of these things lead to elevated levels of psychological and physiological stress which are in themself quite destabilizing and can accumulate into problems so large that they become disabling. Such life problems routinely keep people up at night for which a Psychiatrist tends to prescribe more medication.

I know this is a long post. The point I am making is that medications are one of many tools which are available. Relying primarily on just one set of tools limits what can built and maintained. So expand the toolset so as to make it easier to weather through the storms.