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, November 9, 2009

Mania Making Annual Appearance

Unfortunately, Caroline has been acting manic this past week. Not completely out of control, not so seriously that we need to take her to the hospital, but enough that we are watching her very carefully. We haven't seen this since before she went to Meridell back in May, so we have been feeling a lot more stress. She has a psychiatrist appointment on Wednesday, so that is good, but I was wondering yesterday if I needed to push it up to today. I guess we will see how she does today at school. I thought about keeping her home from school, but my husband said she seemed okay this morning. I am concerned about what medicine we could go up on because she is at the maximum dosages on all of her meds, I believe. I don't want to see anything changed because she has been doing so great. How I hate this stupid disorder!! Just when you think you have a reprieve, something changes.


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