My meds do alleviate my symptoms enough to be very effective. It took me years to find the right ones tho. I spent about 4 years off all drugs and completely despised big brother Pdocs and big pharma....it was somewhat manageable because I had a great T but my symptoms did interfere with my life and there came a point where I simply couldn't function.

When I went back I found to my surprise that the Pdocs were better at listening and taking side effects into consideration. I'm also more amendable to tolerating the first months of mostly temporary side effects to see if the meds are really working. Once I passed though the temporary side effects that went away after my body got used to it I found that they really did help. My paranoia is in check, the anxiety is still there but now manageable and I've had neither highs nor lows( I do miss the highs tho)

As for benefits outweighing the side effects...for now yes. I've gained unwanted pounds and I'm a bit flat but overall the stability is worth it. Once I've moved i'll reevaluate and see if I can get off the AP and just use the mood stabilizer as maintenance.