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, February 5, 2010

Amantadine Holiday Successful This Time

When Caroline's mood improved greatly after increasing the Lamictal by 25mg, we decided to try the Amantadine holiday again, and this time she did fine, a little too "up" sometimes but not in a bad way. Dr. Stone at Meridell was the one who prescribed this "miracle" drug and recommended the monthly 48 hour holiday, something about giving the dopamine producers or receptors a break. Not sure which one is correct, but we are very happy with this drug. It is an antiviral in addition to being a Parkinson's drug, which is especially good for Caroline because she cannot get the H1N1 or any flu shot because of her egg sensitivity. Kids in her class came down with the swine flu, but she didn't. She has asthma so we are grateful for the protection Amantadine offers!

Her homecoming basketball game was last night and she was bummed because she wasn't allowed to play very much, but she had missed a lot of practices when she was home with depression (our on demand cable movie bill came today and it was out of sight for those two weeks!! No more of that please!) I hope she can see the importance of not missing school as much as possible. It is hard, though, to go to class when you are crying all day.

But lacrosse starts soon and since it is club lacrosse she won't have to miss practice if she doesn't go to school!

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2 comments:

Anna said...

Club lacrosse and club sports sound like a good deal for her.

In her case, I am glad that she can still play her sports even if she was not well enough to go to school!

February 5, 2010 at 7:42 PM
domandkat said...

What a relief!

February 5, 2010 at 10:57 PM

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