A new question... Patterns?

[ShakespeareMamaX]

So...considering what's happening now and looking back at my son's journals, I think I finally see a pattern.

Can anyone tell me what it means when:

difficult child is OK. Cooperative most of the time. Somewhat hyper. Hard to focus. Will do most school work. Stealing now and then. This will be considered "normal".

*month goes by*

difficult child is extremely hyper. Starts being "invincible". Little to no school work. Homework HAS to be one-on-one. Stealing more often. Mouthing things.

*weeks go by...maybe 2 or 3*

difficult child uncontrollable. Invincible. Running away. Physically violent at times. Spitting. NO impulse control a lot of the time. Throwing things at people. Hurting animals. Chewing things. Stealing a lot. Hurting self. Weepiness. Hate towards himself.

*weeks go by...3 or 4*

difficult child back to "normal".

Rinse and repeat.

Sound like anything familiar?

 

[BusynMember]

Disclaimer: I'm not a Psychiatrist :wink:
The first thing I thought of was bipolar cycling. Is there any bipolar or substance abuse on the family tree? Any mood disorders at all? Has he seen a Psychiatrist (with the MD) or had a thorough evaluation from a NeuroPsycologist (psycologist with extra training in the brain--they do some awesome evaluations). You may want to see one or both (we did both). Nobody here can really tell you what's wrong. We can just guess.

 

[Big Bad Kitty]

Also not a psychiatrist.

Very much sounds like bipolar cycling to me.

MWM gave you some good suggestions.

 

[smallworld]

You have been given good advice. It also sounds like bipolar cycling to me (who like the other posters hasn't earned her MD).

How long has he been on Wellbutrin? Has the "cycling" worsened since he started it? What happened when he trialed other medications?

 

[Hound dog]

I'm also no expert, but it does remind me of the cyclic behavior of bipolar.

 

[TerryJ2]

Well ... yes and no. We sometimes see that happening with-our difficult child but it's because when he behaves well, we slack off on rules and monitoring him and he responds by getting away with-more. Then he gets overstimulated and things get out of control. We crack down and he's better.
I don't see anything about your response to these issues. Any changes in your behavior, as I described above?
If you're completely consistent, I'd go with-the bipolar idea ...

 

[Steely]

All I can say is that it sound like my son at the age. psychiatrist were wary to ever rule on a BiPolar (BP) diagnosis though...........until he was 13............and his symptoms became more full blown (I know, as if they were not full blown enough!).

Great idea with the journaling, and the board asked great you questions. A good thorough workup is in order by a neuro-psychiatric.

 

[ShakespeareMamaX]

Thank you thank you thank you!

My sis-in-law and I have been SCREAMING bipolar from the start, but his psychiatrist won't even discuss it! If anyone has noticed, I was just diagnosed with bipolar (per my profile) so...eh....yeah, the pieces are starting to fall in place.

I just made an appointment with the neurologist, but trying to change my insurance to find another one with a possible, sooner appointment.

This all started when my difficult child started to take Adderall. He was OK, at first...but then got very hyper, violent, etc... (all the symptoms, in order, in the original post). I totally blamed this on the Adderall as I had never seen him get violent like he had. So from that, we went to Strattera. No change at all. We took him off of everything. The same EXACT cycle happened over the summer. He, eventually, got kicked out of summer camp because of it.

This time, I've been able to tell the staff at his school what was going to happen next and EVERYtime I was right on the nose.

That has to say something, right?

He's at the hurting people stage, now. I'm just waiting for the next suspension letter...