One of the way to cope, not the only way.

I am doing it med free and sometimes it's intense as hell. But to me it's worth it keeping my full range of my mind. I learned to operate in the mode and anything else would be strange to me.

It's a personal decision, but I think too many people are overmedicated to the degree they cannot use their intellectual capabilities to get themselves through problems. That is than seen as "bipolar is getting worse" and more drugs are added, even further limiting the person in their life.