About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Monday, March 30, 2009

First Day at New School

I just picked up Caroline from her new school, and it seems as though everything went great.  She liked the kids and her teachers and came out with a smile on her face.  The workload seemed about right: challenging but not too hard.  She woke us up last night at 4:00 am because she couldn't sleep.  I have her one of her sleep meds and she went back to bed but was up before 7:00 She was extremely anxious about getting there on time with all the right stuff.  She was actually very agitated and I hoped that wouldn't carry over into the school day,  but it didn't.  I guess we'll just  continue to pray and hope that she does well there for the rest of this year.  I went back to bed after everyone went off to school and slept for three more hours.  Can't do that middle of the night thing anymore--thank goodness we don't have an infant!  

1 comment:

domandkat said...

Oh, praise GOD!!!!

I've been praying for you all on and off yesterday and today!

You each deserve some rest and peace...

Love to everybody!!