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!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

If I Could Erase a Day...

It would have been yesterday.  Ever have one of those days when your kids fight all day, you find out some really bad news about one of your kids, your husband looks completely lost, and you fix a dinner you hate?  Yep, yesterday would qualify.

My husband and I met with Caroline's present therapist, which went well, and we agreed to bring Caroline back the next week to either say good bye or to agree to keep going.  We know she will say she is done.  But I have some great recommendations on new psychologists from the owner of Learning RX, which is helping Caroline tremendously with her processing speed and memory issues.  

Caroline is giving us her phone.  As much as we want her to be able to have a phone, she just can't handle it right now.  She has been associating with the wrong people.  Time to move.  Really.  I know a family who moved from a neighborhood because their daughter got mixed up with a boy and it was pretty bad and they needed to get her away from him.  So they moved to a new neighborhood and their daughter was able to cut ties and turned out to be a wonderful kid who is now in college and doing great.  I think we need to find a new environment for Caroline, away from the folks that are bringing her down.  Maybe a new job will be the impetus for real change here.  

Today is a new day, and hopefully a better one.  

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