Should I get my hair stripped.. ?

I would definitely seek advice from a good stylist - even just a consultation.
Without actually seeing your hair, it is difficult to say what would work best for you, but actual stripping may not be needed. You say you have had highlights in the past, but you have been colouring darker for the last year; Well where you had highlights, the hair will be very pourous, so as soon as you applied a colour, the hair has sucked in the colour, and clung onto the base red colour, ever present in all dark hair colours (and boy dont I just know it - I'm busy attacking red right now!).

Red is always tricky to remove- there are certain members of this forum that tell me that their are colour removers available on the market which remove colour down to your natural colour - but as you have highlights underneath that red, this may not work effectively for you, but it may remove the red, if that is what you want.

In my experience, though stripping hair is damaging, it still beats bleaching anyday; as long as it's carried out by a pro. Go see a Colour technician, they may be able to colour you back to your light brown with minimal damage, but you have to ask to find out - as they say here in Geordie land, England - Shy Kids get Nowt!

Good luck!