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, August 12, 2013

Summer is Almost Over, School is Looming

Everyone starts school next week.  We are still trying to work out the kinks with the Online High School.  Because they are not offering Spanish or Chemistry online, she will have to take these two classes at the high school.  This wasn't anticipated so we have to help Caroline accept that she won't be able to do everything online like she wanted to.  We have two meetings tomorrow to sort out the details.  Hopefully we can get the classes at the times she needs.

I am weary.  Summer has its unique challenges.  I think overall it has gone very well.  No big crises.  I am trying to find out about fall lacrosse opportunities.  Got to keep her in the loop socially and athletically.

 I am tired.  Why I thought i would get anything done over the summer is puzzling.   My house is a wreck, half-painted, boxes half-emptied, laundry backed up.  We did a lot of traveling this summer, and my kids did too (camps, etc.)   So, maybe the fall will be better than last fall as far as a little time to breathe.   I always hope for this, and it usually doesn't work out.   Oh well.  But I am counting down the years left til graduation, just two more!  I love her to death, but it would be nice to be done with high school!!

Her more recent thyroid test did come back low.  I am hoping to get her on some thyroid medication because she is one sleepy girl.  All day, kind of comatose.  She sleeps way too much.

Speaking of sleepy, I am heading to bed.  Goodnight!!


3 comments:

Anna said...

Hi Megan,

Could she take Spanish online from k12.com or some other online high school? The program you have set up for her sounds awesome. I bet she will do well.

Megan said...

Yes, I think she could. We will wait until she finishes this first semester before adding anything else to her schedule. She is working all day right now to get everything done, which seems to be ok.

Anonymous said...

My son just got a test result showing his thyroid to be low enough the doctor wants him to see an endocrinologist. He has been on Lithium for 3.5 years and doing great on it. His psychiatrist would like to use meds for the thyroid and keep him on his lithium. What is your experience in this with your daughter? Is the thyroid issue permanent, our psychiatrist said it wasn't. I still haven't spoken to an endocrinologist. Anything you can share?