Mydarlin,
I'm bipolar II and from what i've read, and from i experienced for myself, getting and staying stable on or off meds is not easy. And even with the best "cocktail" i can still get unstable. A doc once told me that the meds just help, they are not going to cure me. I've gone off meds and have found out that hypomanic episodes can be very self-distructive, so i can't risk it. i'm not in the best of shapes right now, but i've had some good periods of stability, that were possible through meds. after 13 years of depression and now bipolar II, i accept that i'm going to be one of thoses people that will be on meds all of my life, but without the meds i don't have much of a life. i become depressed, manic,unstable. for me, what works is having a good doc, that knows meds, and is compassionate towards me as a patient. bipolar is full of ups and downs. sometimes it's hard to hang on until the stability comes. but noone appreciates it more than we do when it does come.