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!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti Reminds Us of All of We Can Be Thankful For

As I am riveted by the pictures of the destruction in Haiti, of the untold suffering these poor people are experiencing, I am reminded of the fact that as much as we deal with suffering on a daily basis, it is small in comparison with the stark situation there. We have a roof over our heads, food in the pantry, expert medical care only minutes away. I wish I could be there to help, I really do. The psychological damage done there will last for so many years to come, after the physical damage is repaired, which may never be completed. We pray for the Haitians.

2 comments:

Linea said...

Thank you so much for this important reminder. Sometimes its so easy to miss the rest of the world when you have your own sufferings to cope with.

Megan said...

Yes, so true! And this is not to minimize the pain that anyone experiences, because it is all valid. It is just that we in the US have such a high standard of living compared with most of the world.