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!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Postponing NeuroScience Supplements

Just a note that although we were eager to try the Neuro Science supplements, we decided to take her off of them shortly after starting them last week because we couldn't be sure that her instability was being caused by the school situation, or a need for more Lamictal or if the new supplements were to blame. We don't know really, except to say that she is much cheerier with more Lamictal. We will wait until the summer to try the neurotransmitter "support" supplements again, when she isn't in school. Our goal right now is just to keep her going and to finish the 7th grade, and we feel that the med mix established at Meridell has been the best she has ever had, thus we don't want to introduce other factors right now. We can experiment later when the stakes aren't so high.

7 comments:

Anna said...

You have to go with what you see.

Megan said...

Yes, that is so true. We will drop anything that might be a culprit.

Cinda said...

You are the expert along with Caroline! Seems to make sense to try this when the stress is lessened. I can also relate to the house and illness. I can tell where we are in the cycles by how my purse/bags look. My physical space begins to cycle out of control. I always feel so much better when I have a sense of peace and control in my home and office. Hmmm, think that might meant something? I am sending little notes of thanks upward and beyond that C. has some stability right now. Good mom! Take care.

Unknown said...

I actually woke up at 3:30 this morning and thought of that very thing! (I'm about to test my daughter, so was thinking through a lot of stuff.) As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we did the testing/products in 2006 and saw nothing in the way of improvement. I have to be very very careful with my daughter with "combination" supplements as she is often sensitive to one ingredient. That makes it hard to determine where the problem really is.

When we get our results I will think carefully about using the NS supplements. Dr Parker said there are alternatives to them. Thank goodness, as they are way overpriced, IMO.

Have a happy weekend!

stephanie said...

I stumbled upon your blog today and feel like I am reading my autobiography right down to the new transmission in my car this week! My son is also in the 7th grade and we live outside Richmonnd. We have struggled with this for about 8 years but may have to look at residential treatment center and was hoping for some guidance. We cannot afford to pay tens of thousand that some seem to require. We recently took him to the Amen clinic and he is more unstable than ever! Back to old doc in Richmond an hopefully the new meds will kick in within the next week...

Megan said...

Stephanie, I am glad you found my blog and so many similarities! You are fortunate to live so close to Richmond. Our dd was hospitalized numerous times down here and the psych ped unit was a nightmare. The VCU treatment center for kids was a night and day difference! We drove up there every day for a month when Caroline was admitted. It was so worth the three hour round trip drive! She didn't ever really stabilize unfortunately, until we sent her to the RTC Meridell in Texas. There they introduced Amantadine and it made a HUGE difference in her ability to handle stress. She became a different child almost immediately. Does your insurance cover any part of an RTC? If our insurance didn't cover it, we would have taken out equity in our home because the situation was that desparate! My sister had to do a similar thing for her son so he could go to a boarding school that turned his life around.

marythemom said...

I just found your blog (from your comment on mine - thank you!). I was looking at your daughter's med list and saw Amantadine - I knew almost instantly that you'd been to Meridell too. That is apparantly a common med for them that is uncommon elsewhere.

I was disappointed to see you lived in Virginia instead of Texas though (always looking for local moms!). Don't worry I forgive you! I was born in Virginia. *grin*

I look forward to reading your blog and seeing what else we have in common.

Mary in TX