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!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Misunderstood Medication Directions

When we took Caroline to see the CNP at her psychiatrist's office last week, she gave us Seroquel samples in 150 and 50 mg. We thought she told us to start with the 50s and then go up higher as needed. When we didn't see big change happening with the 450mg dose, I called her to ask her what to do, and she said we were supposed to bump it up to 550mg to control mania and then slowly go back down. Oops. So we immediately bumped up her dosage by 150, and saw significant change within 24 hours. She is calmer, more controlled, not laughing hysterically, not looking "wild" in the eyes. Thank goodness. We are feeling better too. I just hope that nothing happened that we don't know about. Sometimes we find out about "incidents" several weeks later. We are also giving her the once a month Amantadine holiday. Now she needs it again, we can tell when she pops off for nothing, extremely irritable. Oh, the balancing act!!!
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4 comments:

Mom 4 Kids said...

We know that act! So glad you are finding success!

July 11, 2010 at 4:13 PM
Amy said...

Tell me again why you have to have a once a month holiday from amantadine. How long off of it?Kenzie is doing so well on it.

July 12, 2010 at 7:59 PM
Megan said...

The Amantadine holiday was part of the instructions given at Meridell by Dr. Stone. Something about giving the dopamine receptors a break for 48 hours once a month. I don't quite understand all of the neurology, but this is what we have done.

July 12, 2010 at 8:42 PM
Heather A said...

In case anyone needs it (duh?)-- we're planning a trip to Boca for Moms of BP kids -- go on CABF, and check out Summer Camp for Mamas!

July 13, 2010 at 8:54 PM

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