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!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I don't have answers

A new day.  I am so thankful that children forgive so readily.  I was not a nice Mommy. Yesterday was definitely a day I would like to forget.  "Caroline" seems happy this morning.  Hopefully that will stick for the rest of this day.  She starts lacrosse practice tonight, which she is quite excited about.  Sports have definitely been her escape, her bright spot of achievement in her life.  She craves movement and challenge.  Cross-country starts next week.  This has been a boring winter for her, having been unable to play a winter sport due to her extended illness, and we all suffered for it.  She was made to run, climb, jump.  Right now she is quietly reading a book, a happy sight for me.  She is so very bright--if only we can get her through this year, and the next, and the next.  Last night she was screaming that her life was nothing, she was nothing. She raged, asking why her life had to be such a mess, and she wanted the answer to why she hurts so much NOW!  She didn't want to hear how we see a bright future and a hope.  Sometimes she believes it, often she doesn't.  We have to believe it for her.  Sometimes I need others to believe it for me because I go numb when she is in so much pain.
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