The risk of swinging dangerously low or dangerously high is always there, especially if you are unmedicated. Even if you never have before it can happen. Also doesn't mean that it will. The risk is there though. A lot of people have stated that bipolar has gotten more severe as they've gotten older. I know mine has changed some as I have gotten older too.

Medication has been good for me in making the swings less severe or much shorter. It took a long time to get it right though. That's the frustrating part. I think it took about 2 years to get the combo right, but it was worth it for me. If I wasn't a single parent, I may have given up. I'm glad I stuck with it though.

I was on Lamictal for 3 years. I had some side effects such as acne. I suspect it may have made my vision worse, but I have bad eyes anyways so it's hard to tell. I went off of it because suddenly it made me feel kind of fatigued all the time. Well actually, I found out that was the cause of my fatigue after I went off of it. I was starting to feel "out of it" shortly after I took it. However, I was taking all 300mg in the morning. Probably splitting it up would have solved that issue. He wanted to try Latuda with me, so I switched. I would go back on it if need be.

Lamictal did stabilize me. It stabilized me slightly on the depressive side though. We added Trileptal, and that pulled me up more to normal.