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!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Residential Treatment Center

Bill said last night he could see the wisdom of sending Caroline away to an RTC for a period of time.  I have been online researching and also asking other moms of bp kids about their experiences with long-term RTC stays.  I've gotten some good recommendations.  Nothing in our state looks that great, so we are looking at ones in Utah, Georgia, Texas and Vermont.  We have specific criteria for what we want, including equine and occupational therapy and lots of true professionals running the place, not a boot-camp type of a place where anyone could work there.  She doesn't need to be yelled at, she needs structure and affirmation and caring people.  We have to contact our insurance company to get pre-approval and also get her doctor to sign off on this.  We may be taking her as early as this week, so I have a lot of phone calls to make.  She knows we are looking at this and she actually isn't put off. She feels pretty helpless right now.  I really don't want her to miss our CA trip, but we will just have to see.
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