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!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Schooling Undecided Again

With the loss of my husband's job, we are not so sure about what to do with Caroline starting in September as far as school goes. I found that when I told her private school about our situation and that we weren't sure if we could send her in the fall, I actually felt a wave of real relief come over me. I realized that not only does Caroline really not want to go back, but I don't want her to go back either. I hated the daily struggles she had with the badly behaved kids. Yes, it is weird that she wasn't the badly behaved one, but since she wasn't, having to deal with the antics of the out of control class room and the lack of more female students got very old very fast. Maybe that just isn't the place for her. Maybe we need to explore other alternatives seriously starting now. Not knowing if we are staying here or not makes me inclined to homeschool her until we know for sure. No, it is not ideal, but with the online homeschooling curriculum that Jane is doing, maybe we could try it with Caroline too.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Megan --

I'm not sure where you live, but you should see if there are any public alternative schools in the area. After an attempted suicide, I was referred to an alt. school in our city, and the environment really worked for me. Think about it.

Megan said...

Thanks. We do have an alternative school in our district but unfortunately it is mainly inner city kids who are involved in drugs and who knows what else. Caroline is already attracted to that culture so we can't send her there-we would lose her fast. There are other alternative schools in other school districts in other cities that I have heard good things about. I hope we can move out of the area so we can take advantage of better schools.

E squared said...

Wish I had some resources for you Megan. :(

I just wanted to say to go with your 'mom instinct' above all else. It's always right!

Thinking of you all.
Erin

CiCi said...

My husband has bipolar disorder and I agree wholeheartedly with your comment that no one should change meds or doses of meds without consulting the physician or psychiatrist.

Megan said...

Yes, we are beholden to the people who are writing these prescriptions. Some prescriptions, if suddenly stopped, can bring on awful side effects, like your skin falling off (Steven Johnson's syndrome) or seizures. Thank you for the reminder!