I am also duel wielding, and have not had any troubles that couldn't be solved by trying another area first, help from my creature (which I got about level 13) or a few healing potions. Actually, I have not been using very many healing potions (before I got the game there were several topics about people running out of potions), except for the occasional difficult fight. I learned level 1 of the healing spell when I got to level 17 (IIRC), which is kind of handy, but I don't need it much (especially with Life Leech).
You don't need to do side quests in a linear manner. Just explore everywhere and you will come across quest solutions for quests that don't give you a direction / location to go on right away. I've found a number of quest items before even getting the quests.
