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, September 19, 2011

My Last Post

This is probably going to be my last post, at least in this venue.  I have decided that the time has come when I need to either write a book or just find a different place to express my own joys and sorrows in raising a bipolar child.  You have been so great, all of you my blogger friends.  I have some growing personal needs which include some pulling back right now from public exposure.  Thank you for being here.  I will miss you all!!  Love, Megan

20 comments:

asplashofsunshine said...

BUMMER! I wish you well on your adventures, whatever they may be. You've been someone I've checked in on so often. Best of luck to your family. I hope you do decide to continue the blog... but that's only for selfish reasons... you've been great!

Wrye said...

Megan,
I have to thank you for your honesty, courage and insightful sharing. I'm sorry to see you go, but so appreciate what you've shared. Just a quick thought, I blog with and alias for both my daughter and myself, so I feel pretty free to be very open and straight-forward about emotional issues.

If you decide to go this route, I hope you'll find a way to make your new blog accessible to some of us old followers, even if you just drop by my blog and introduce yourself as a new blogger.

Wishing you peace and a productive year!
Lila

Anonymous said...

Wow,
I understand but I will miss your writing and updates on your family.

domandkat said...

WHAT?!?!?!?!?

Megan said...

Yeah it is time to go more incognito I guess.

E said...

You have been a wonderful source of information but I can understand the need for some anonymity- Thanks for all you have shared. Wishing you all the best!

Anonymous said...

I'm so sad to see you go off the grid, but I'm happy that I've been a part of your blog. You've been very helpful in my own blogging, encouraging me by being honest and laying it all out there. I have been encouraged by your faith and your trials to "wait on God" and have appreciated the history of your daughter's story, it has helped me with my son.

I will miss reading about your family, but will still think of you often, please pay me a visit every once in a while and drop off a little of your wisdom. I wish you and your beautiful family the best and will keep an eye out for a future book by you someday!

God Bless!
Mama Bear

Meg said...

I'm sorry to hear this too. I have enjoyed your blog and found it to be very honest.

Fighting for my Children said...

IM gonna miss you. if you decide to blog with aliases please shoot me a message. I have learned a lot from your blogs.

Fighting for my Children said...

also, I wish u and your family the best.

NikDuck said...

I will be waiting in line to buy your book when it is published! I understand...I sometimes find I have to hold back on writing some of my thoughts because of fear of who might read it. You can make it private and only allow those you want to read it.

asplashofsunshine said...

It is a shame that you have to go incognito. I hope you haven't received negativity.

marythemom said...

I've learned a lot from you and if you decide to go private I hope you'll invite me along. I'm kind of in the same overwhelmed boat with my own kids so I totally get it. I hope if things slow down you'll think about coming back too.

Mary

mamaGoose said...

I hope it's not too late for you to get this, but my heart sank reading the last post. I totally understand and many of your frustrations are mine to a T - I appreciate your honesty so much. I really wish you and your family peace. I'll be watching out for your book...its a good idea and you are a fantastic writer. If you do make it out to California, please remember Im here!
Best wishes to you!
Nancy
goose2gander@charter.net

corinnecmcc said...

Well, I just found your blog today, while googling amantadine. In exploring your archives, I found a post that was so relevant to this past week, that I immediately wrote a LONG post, in two parts even. Then I finally went to your most recent post, only to discover that you are ending your blog. So, thanks for sharing your experience and these resources. Best of luck with your family. You seem like an amazing mom. I will be digging around in this blog for a while, I think, and I will always thank you for the help.

Cindy Miller said...

We will miss u Megan!

CC said...

I completely understand needing something different, and you will be missed. You are the only other person I "know" that has a bipolar child (besides me!) The road is long, lonely, and extremely difficult. If our children had cancer or some rare disease, the community would rally around us and have auction benefits with bands and good food and local merchants donating items, there would be cards and letters with encouragement, support, prayers, there would be bracelet and t-shirt fundraisers, and hugs, and prayers, and meals brought over. Instead people pull away and there is no support. Only berating for our "ill-mannered" children and us for our "poor parenting skills." Even our own family members and church members turn away because they don't want to spend the time to understand the ugliness of bipolar. It's too much for them to handle, so we get to handle it on our own. I've come to terms with the fact that I'll most likely bury my daughter. I won't have time to say goodbye, it will be when I find her hanging or overdosed. I cannot see God's plan in any of this. I know He has a plan, and that's all I have to hang onto. May you find your peace and God bless you and your family.

Accidental Expert said...

I too will buy your book. I will miss your posts and your wisdom. Good luck in whatever you do.

Calm Fury said...

I wish you the very best. I only found your blog recently. I am a single mom raising a Bipolar teenager and I have found a strange sense of commodore with you, as if we are both soldiers fighting in the same war; which I suppose we are in a sense.

Best wishes in all your endeavors and I pray your child achieves and maintains the golden grail = balance.
:)
~Melissa
Calm Fury

Megan said...

All of you are so kind, and I miss you. I may try blogging after Christmas again. Life is hard. My husband still has no job, 13 out of 16 months now, and he is weary and looks awful. We both can't sleep at night even with sleeping pills. Caroline got a second concussion this fall in larosse and we had to pull her out of the new school she had just started because she has no short term memory or long term from the concussions so I have to homeschool her again. Christmas makes us depressed because there is no money for gifts. How long, oh Lord, how long? is our cry. Thankfully Caroline is stable, that is the only bright s;pot. She is getting intensive brain retraining at Learning RX to help her processing speed and working memory. It is expensive, but we are desparate to help her succeed in school and graduate from high school. Our retirments funds are truly almost gone. God does have a plan, and He is good, but sometimes suffering seems pointless. I know it isn't ultimately, but when you are in the thick of it, you wonder.