Medication or no medication??

How are you supposed to know if you need medication or if you don't need it?

Earlier this month, I made the decision to try getting on medication again, because it's been rough since I stopped taking meds at the end of summer. The fall was a whirlwind of anxiety attacks (first year teacher) and desperately trying to find myself again (coming off a bad mood stabilizer that left me numb and disoriented). I was ridiculously despondent and back to self-harming. In December, my insomnia and drinking came back with a vengeance when my friend ghosted me (as she is prone to doing). Crying in the car, staring off into space, constantly behind on work. My parents forced me to make a psychiatrist appointment when I got drunk during the day a little over a week ago and then went on an impulsive 13 mile hike in the cold without telling anyone.

But, for the past several days, I've been feeling perfectly fine. I've been sleeping a little better, engaging in story writing again, and not drinking. I'm at the point where I feel like someone else posted all those things here asking for help, not me. I'm normal. I'm singing along in the car and prepared for work and I can concentrate on my hobbies and can handle my sensory issues just fine. As I am right now, I'm fine. Even when I wasn't fine, I was still functioning- I never missed a day of work, I was always prepared, and the students never noticed anything wrong. 

I just don't know if medication is the right move, since my 'not fine' times were usually situational in nature and now that those situations are better (and I'm not drinking or self-harming or starving myself to cope) I feel like a normal person. My psychiatrist is going to all this trouble to do genetic testing for me and have me get blood work done, but I feel silly- like we're going through all this effort for something that I might not even need? Like, what if I continue to feel fine? 

I'm also hesitant about meds, because I've had a horrific experience so far- bad side effects with 7 medications. So, if I don't need them...well, I'd rather not risk ruining another year of my life because of meds. Any advice? Like, how do you decide whether or not you should take them??