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, April 27, 2010

Follow Up on Lamictal Problem

The blurred vision and other weird visual disturbances, as well as the dizziness and nausea, were caused by the higher dose of Lamictal after all. So she is back down to 400mg a day. If her moods shift downward, we won't be able to an increas in Lamictal to help, so I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. She has previously been on Welbutrin, and I think some other AD, but with bad results (mania.) We will just have to see what happens in the fall especially. I am hearing that some women are being prescribed super high doses of Vitamin D, like 20,000 mgs, to fight seasonal affective disorder. We are giving her 2000 presently. Might need to look into the mega doses. Lifeguards get something like 50,000 mgs of Vit D from the sun in the summer, so I guess it is safe. Does anyone out there know about this?
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3 comments:

Unknown said...

You can easily have a serum Vit D3 level drawn. Mine, as well as my affected dd's blood levels are low, due to a genetic defect in the vit d receptor gene. I have taken 10K daily for a couple of years and my dd takes it 3X a week in addition to getting sun (she's a swimmer.)

It's really not as "toxic" as the literature of the past may have you think. If she does test low, just add in Vit D3 (the 3 is important.) As a side note, it helps fight viral illness and studies indicate it helps to decrease the risk of colon and breast cancer, too!

Good luck!

April 27, 2010 at 2:50 PM
Megan said...

Thanks Carla for the info on Vit D, and the blood serum. Caroline hasn't had a Vit D test yet. But we really need to do it.

April 27, 2010 at 4:07 PM
Anna said...

You know a whole lot more about psychiatric drugs than I do. I actually think that my daughter has never been adequately treated medically for her mental issues.

When you get a chance, I would appreciate your comments on my latest posts. Beth is home and behaving in a non threatening manner so far.

You have the perspective of loving and dealing with mental illness. That is a valuable perspective for me. Most of the 12 step people tell us to wash our hands of our kids if they use drugs. I would like to here more from the mental health perspective.

May 2, 2010 at 4:15 PM

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