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, August 2, 2011

Countdown to School and College Drop Off

Now that August is here, I suddenly feel ready to do some school supply shopping, including getting my oldest ready for her first year of college.  We still haven't figured out who is going to watch Caroline while we are gone dropping off Elizabeth 10 hours away over a weekend.  My college sitter essentially cancelled on me last week so now I am back to square one.  Hopefully something will materialize soon as I ask various people.  I am really nervous about this.  It bums me out that the great set up I had planned months ago got pulled out from under me.  Oh well, I will just keep looking. We did not want to take her with us because we wanted this to be a special time just for my husband and Elizabeth and I, and Caroline is always a bit of a wild card in the mix.  This is why we don't get away much, just the two of us, because we always struggle with who will watch Caroline, who do we trust to watch her.  She doesn't do well with just anyone, so it has to be someone who can handle her quirkiness and make sure she takes all her meds, and she doesn't do well with a lot of noise and chaos so I can't just drop her off into any kind of family situation.  Sigh.  Nothing is easy when you have a bp kid!
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1 comment:

Treasured said...

Is there an adult care center in your area? Although their targets are centered to Alzheimer and dementia they do many times take young adults with medication and care needs. I know here we have one private and one run by a Methodist church. Although I have not utilized the service I know of someone who did and was very happy with the care their teen received and the activities they arranged

August 3, 2011 at 10:59 AM

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