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!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Camp Going Great, Tired of Being a Taxi

Caroline is participating in the marine science camp at our local aquarium and so far everything is going well. The 550 mg Seroquel has definitely had the desired effect and now I am wondering if we will be able to reduce the dosage without a recurrence of the mania. Sigh.

What I am struggling with the most right now is the fact that since my sixteen year old has a very active social life, I am having to drive her around quite a bit, dropping her there, picking her up there, in addition to all of her babysitting jobs. Combined with all the driving I do for the other three, I am in the car sometimes five to six hours a day, really, not exaggerating at all. I am growing very weary of never getting more than an hour at a time at my house to do the things I needs to do. So when Elizabeth gets her drivers license in December, I am hoping we can scrape up the funds to buy her a used car. My life would be so much easier with her transportation needs out of the way!

Caroline was found to have been telling very tall tales to some new friends, to try to get them to like her more. These were so far fetched that I am having difficulty believing that these new friends would believe them anyway. She admitted she was just trying to impress them, but we told her this is not the way to do it. She is so desperate for friends she will tell them just about anything to get attention. Great. I feel so heartbroken for her.

We don't know if we are moving out of the area yet. Elizabeth and Caroline would really love to leave and go somewhere far from here. Near horses. We have lots of horses here, but a change of environment would be very nice for Caroline especially. Colorado is in the talks, as well as Texas, but we shall see where the best job offer lands us. Could be right here, but I think I am ready for change too. I grew up moving every few years as a military brat, and we have lived here for 17 years. We have loved many aspects of living in south eastern Virginia, but there are so many other places we need to explore!


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