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!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Lack of Structure on Break a Problem

Without the structure of school, homework, and sports practice, Caroline feels a little lost. She complains about being bored a lot, and so we are doing a lot of taking her to the gym, and to the basketball court, or just out of the house. Today she forgot to take her morning meds, which we didn't discover until 2 in the afternoon! I am mad that she lost her watch which was programmed to remind her. We must get a new one for her immediately. We usually check and remind her, but everyone was so crazy today getting ready for company. Bill was mad and she was mad, and I was mad. Stress!!! I have a love/hate relationship with Christmas.
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4 comments:

Corrie Howe said...

Nice looking family. Unstructured time is the bane of our existence, isn't it? I can't possibly make myself as structured as he needs and he can't be happy for very long without the structure he needs. This is another reason for not homeschooling for us.

December 29, 2009 at 4:41 PM
Unknown said...

You have a beautiful family.

December 29, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Cinda said...

I can relate! I have a hard time not checking and reminding Daughter, now a young adult, about meds. We moved to a new relationship on this when she said to me, "Mom, you take such good care of me I worry that I won't ever be able to." You have many years to establish this and you are doing such a great job!

December 30, 2009 at 10:47 AM
Unknown said...

I love catching up with you via this blog. Today I read it from the beginning and feel like I have been a part of your life for the last year! You are a good mom! You are a GREAT mom! I will be a better friend from here on out!!

December 30, 2009 at 7:11 PM

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