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, October 26, 2010

Better Today

Caroline's mood is significantly better today, so either not giving her the pill last night and/or the small increase in the Lamictal has helped.  I am so relieved.  Last night was one of those flashbacks to days when we had to put her in the car all of the time to remove her from the house and her sisters in order to calm her down and prevent further ugly scenes.  Shudder.  She was so much more peaceful today and her homeschool classes went fine. Thank you Lord!  So I guess we will continue to look at topical solutions to her acne and if we can't get it to go away completely, there is always laser treatment later, right?
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5 comments:

Donna said...

epilepsy meds & bipolar meds are the same and because my daughter burned through most of the drugs while young it has left very little options now for treating both. i agree with the option to adopt and they go on the adoption list next year. It's so hard to watch this constantly permeate every aspect of their lives all the time.
Glad to see things are 'better today'.

October 26, 2010 at 4:44 PM
Heather A said...

Have ya tried Proactive? I only know them b.c of the infomercials I used to watch in the middle of the night now they're everywhere. Aren't they topical?

October 26, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Megan said...

We haven't done Proactive but we may try it. I just thought that the dermatologist would have better weapons than something over the counter. Maybe I am wrong!

October 26, 2010 at 10:12 PM
Heather A said...

Didn't take no MD to invent the Snuggie. That thing could bring peace on earth if we could get one to every needy person out there. No lie.

October 26, 2010 at 10:37 PM
CC said...

My bp teen daughter has had very bad acne for a good 6 months now. Here's what we've tried: Proactiv, Murad, Dove gentle soap, Noxema, Naturopathica brand, and a doctor prescribed antibiotic gel. Nothing has worked so far. At first we saw some improvement with the gel, but her face just won't clear up. It's so hard on her self esteem. It's just not fair.

October 27, 2010 at 12:29 AM

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