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!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Forgetting Intuniv=Undone Homework

Mae didn't get her Intuniv the night before or yesterday morning by accident. The result was a VERY hyper 10 year old who could not focus for the life of her in class or after school trying to do homework. What a difference. She got her card turned in school from green to yellow for excessive talking. Yep, her brain needs Intuniv. Whatever it takes....
Posted by at

3 comments:

coffeemom said...

Ah....we are now on Intuniv as well....same results if we forget. same diagnosis (minus the sensory seeking, adding epilepsy and ODD, adhd). And as my memory seems to be failing a bit (middle age???) this is a high radar issue in our house! Good luck!

February 10, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Megan said...

It took her months to learn to swallow pills! With a lot of monetary bribing she finally got it.

February 10, 2010 at 2:04 PM
Corrie Howe said...

We are having a little trouble with all the snow about remembering Jonathan's meds. Usually my husband wakes him up and give them before going to work. But my husband hasn't been waking him up and I'm not in the habit of giving them. And then 4 p.m. rolls around and he's bouncing off the walls. "Oh, yeah."

February 11, 2010 at 1:15 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)