a bipolar daughter and the family who loves her: Med Lesson Learned, Again

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.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Med Lesson Learned, Again

Last night Caroline accidentally took her evening meds twice. She was watching the American Idol finale with us, and had the pill sorter box next to her, and apparently she was so engrossed that she took Wednesday and Thursday nights' dosages. I was sitting right there next to her, but I didn't notice how many pills she was taking. This meant that she took double the amounts of all of her psych meds plus four Benadryl and two Clonidine, a blood pressure lowering medicine! I freaked. I called the doctor, and his answering service got in touch with him and they called me back to say that he felt she was going to be fine. I didn't feel entirely reassured. I got up twice last night to check on her, making sure she was still breathing. She is still asleep this morning at almost noon, still breathing, but I am not giving her any of her morning meds. I am particularly concerned about the Lamictal overdose because of its potentially life-threatening adverse reaction, as well as her liver and kidneys being damaged. I think if this happens again I will just take her straight to the ER because I don't want another night of no sleep wondering if I am doing the right thing. This is the first time this particular med screw up has happened, but other mistakes have occurred when we didn't hand her the meds in a small bowl, already taken out for her. You would think a fourteen year old could handle her meds but honestly, I think it will be years before we can trust her to do this on her own.

4 comments:

Unknown said...: Oh, I'm so sorry that happened, and truly hope everything is OK and you can sleep tonight!

I am at a crossroads with my dd as well. She just turned 13 and everyone says, "Let her handle her meds on her own!" However, when she needs her med (Concerta) to be able to focus on taking her meds (Lamictal, Celexa, Intuniv) then we have a problem.

The "small bowl" is our method, too. It's worked for years....

Big Hugs!

Carla; May 27, 2010 at 10:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Our therapist advised us to make sure we watch but let him do it...sometimes we forget. Dont beat yourself up too much. She is fine and you did the right thing..although I would have had the same reaction as you!; May 27, 2010 at 4:21 PM
Unknown said...: And this evening I could write my own blog entry. :(

I picked up my dd from school and she seemed really hyper, but I attributed it to tomorrow being the last day of school. She came home and began eating...and eating and eating and EATING. She was loud, obnoxious, and couldn't concentrate or follow the simplest instructions.

At dinner, I went to her sorter for her dinner supplements. There were the morning pills. I'd forgotten to put them in the small bowl and dh was "too busy" to glance her way when I reminded her for the 3rd time this morning to "take your pills."

She had 2 finals at school today, but did OK on them, although I'm sure they'd have been better on the meds (esp the Concerta.) Oh well, it's 7th grade, not Harvard, right???

It happens to the best of us, but MAN, do I ever worry about when she gets out on her own. It is truly the BIGGEST obstacle facing her for independence.

Thanks for giving me a place to vent!

Carla; May 27, 2010 at 7:09 PM
marythemom said...: Oh the med horror stories I could tell. My 15 yr old daughter doesn't remember to take her meds unless we put them in her hand. (Yes, this morning's meds are still sitting in the small bowl.*sigh* Including her Concerta, Trileptal, Abilify... I've tried everything, including dressing head to toe in rainbow tie dye when I brought her meds to school for the billionth time.

She's also taken her brother's meds several times, including his Lamictal (call to the pdoc - one dose should't hurt her even though she wasn't able to take Lamictal because she kept getting hives). He takes mega doses to.

Then there's all the times where we've gotten the med boxes all messed up.

My 16 yr old son and I fought about the fact that he doesn't have control of his meds, or even know what he takes and why. He thinks he can handle it. I know that not only can't he, but he'll be old enough soon enough where he'll try (and probably fail - which is bad because he's violent without them). *sigh*

I hate it when people tell me my kids should have control of their meds. Idiots. They should be thanking me.

Oops! Didn't mean to go on this long. I'll shut up now!

Mary in TX; June 3, 2010 at 2:23 AM