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!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

A Return to Sleep and Lacrosse

Caroline is finally sleeping all night, thanks to Clonidine. She is acting "normal" but VERY excited about the start of lacrosse today. Hopefully she will catch up quickly with her schoolwork. Now to help my 16 year old study for the SATs, while I am sick with a bad sinus infection. Today I would rather sleep!
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2 comments:

Amy said...

Yuck-I think I have a sinus infection too. I have had a bad cold virus for a week and it almost always turns into a sinus infection. They hurt. Hope you get some sleep today.

February 20, 2010 at 12:39 PM
Ali said...

Thank you so much for writing this blog. I happened upon it while doing a web search on Intuniv. My 7 year old daughter is ADHD and probably ODD. I have been researching bipolar disorder because of some of my daughters extreme behavior. She is on FocalinXR in the AM and a short acting dose after school. We tried Tenex but she was more moody and angry. We just started her on intuniv this week. It is always nice to read what others have to say and that my feelings of despair at times is normal. I developed fibromyalgia due to the stress. Now I am on Cymbalta for the pain and despair I was feeling dealing with our daughter. Thank you again. I look forward to reading your past posts.

February 21, 2010 at 7:28 PM

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