Article on this very site: "Bipolar disorder is probably the main psychiatric disorder where medication is absolutely essential. I’ve had people ask me if there’s any way to do this without medicine. [My answer is] absolutely not."

Why is that? Can't the triggers be all controlled for?

I have something bipolar-like going on for me (though it is not simple mood swings, it is coupled with some sort of overthinking in a weird way, though usually far from schizo delusional thinking) and the last time I got an episode I almost called up a psychiatrist for meds but then I decided to give myself one last chance to control it without meds.

I've been paying attention to sleeping enough every night and that helps. (Unfortunately my energy only extends as far as ensuring enough hours of sleep but I have not yet made myself go to bed early and get up early. So I ensure enough hours by allowing myself to sleep in real late but this works so far.)

Have not had an episode for 1.5 months now and that's a record. Some emotional moods still want to come up especially when once I did not sleep enough but I can recognize and control them now.

Am I just being delusional in thinking that I can put this under control permanently? Should I expect it to rebound back stronger later or get worse in whatever way?

This is all assuming I'm really bipolar, if I am it's the milder form for sure, though I did have two psychotic episodes with full on racing thoughts and real hyperactivity before but I removed the trigger for those. Now I just have the overthinking and the mood swings.

Also I did always crash for a short while after each episode finish. For the psychotic episodes, I crashed by getting sensory overload, which I never have otherwise. For the other episodes simple depressive crash but short lasting before returning to my baseline which in itself can be seen as mild atypical depression.

Well that's about it, let me know your thoughts please.