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!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Successful Addition of an ADHD Med

Much to our surprise, the psychiatrist at Meridell was able to add in an ADHD med to Caroline's mix without negative side effects. When we tried to do this previously at home, she always became very agitated or manic. So when he said early on during her stay at the RTC, that he was going to try adding a stimulant after she was completely stabilized, we had our doubts. Dr. Stone said that they had found that if they could get all of the other meds just right, they were often successful in treating the comorbid ADHD so many bipolar kids have. I didn't think it would be tolerated, but so far Caroline is doing great with the stimulant and not having the agitation or signs of mania she had shown in the past. This is great news since she has always had a focusing issue. Hooray!
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)