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, June 8, 2010

The Danger of Antidepressants and ADHD Meds in BP Kids

I just wanted to post about the dangers of using ADs in bp kids, even Welbutrin. I have been doing some research on the effect of ADs on bipolar adults as well as children, and although there are psychiatrists who still prescribe ADs to kids, many will not because of their destabilizing properties (check out articles on PsychiatryOnline or Psychiatry Reviews on the web.) If you have a child who is diagnosed with BP disorder and has been prescribed antidepressants or stimulants, please reconsider using them. A mood stabilizer or two with an atypical antipsychotic seems to produce the best results for most bp children (see either The Bipolar Child or Straight Talk About Psychiatric Meds for Kids.) There are always exceptions, but this is a rule of thumb of sorts for psychiatrists who are on top of the latest research and treatment plans for pediatric bipolar disorder.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our son was given Prozac. He started stealing from stores, threatened to kill us and lit his bed sheets on fire. Once we stopped the meds the behaviors went away.

June 8, 2010 at 10:28 PM
Megan said...

That's scary. Zoloft produced similar behaviors in our dd.

June 9, 2010 at 9:33 PM

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