Okay so I'm new to this subreddit and I am still quite skeptical. Of course I would like to be able to live without medications but since I have had severe episodes of depression nearing suicide and extreme episodes of mania with delusions paranoid thinking and so forth... I suppose my question is how likely is it that if I taper off lithium and depakine, the meds I'm currently on, that I will have other equally severe episodes. Like I think that it can be worth it to stay on medications if stopping them will have the inevitable consequence of suffering extreme episodes again.

So my question is, anyone here with Bipolar I that has successfully stopped taking meds? What was the experience like? Have you had any other episodes after stopping the meds? How have you managed these?