Im a 43yo bipolar, I have no luck with meds and am currently off all of them.  I was on SSRI for over 20 years despite my depression never improving, often getting worse, they just kept upping the dose or switching which one.  They diagnosed me as bipolar about 13 years ago and none of the 3 psychiatrists I went through in that time or on any of my first 7 commitments for suicidal, did anyone ever notice the conflict.  I was not aware that many bipolars get worsening depression on SSRI. I was in such a bad place and assumed it would get worse if I didn't take my meds so I never missed a dose. 8th trip to psych ward a year and a half ago they caught it and took me off the SSRI, since then I've had bouts of depression but no where near as dark or suicidal.  

Mood stabilizers haven't gone well for me either, 1 made me constantly irritable to the point where I was constantly yelling at people, another sent me into constant near comical mania where I was awake for days on end cleaning everything in sight until I couldn't get any dirt off eventually polishing pennies for hours at a time, and the big episode, one of the newer meds threw me into complete hallucinations where I had no idea what was going on in the real world, right at the beginning of which I hit someone that I would never hurt, and wound up in jail where they continued to give me that med for 2 weeks before they decided to take me off it since I obviously didn't even know I was in jail.  That was basically the end of my life as I knew it, felony charge, lost everything...

Last set of meds actually had me most stable of my life, but quit working after about 6 months then seemed to be making things worse, so 2 months ago I just stopped taking everything.  

It's been a crazy trip so far...