Bipolar in children explained....finally rang my bells!

[keista]

I'm familiar with the DSM criteria for BiPolar (BP). I've read the 'proposed' criteria in The Bipolar Child. I've scoured websites looking for any "variable" definitions or examples of mania and different presentations in children. I find nothing where I identify DD1.

As luck would have it, my local news channel did a segment about children with bipolar tonight, and the light-bulb went off!

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/july/286275/Priority-Health:-Bipolar-and-kids

Another complication is sometimes in children depression and mania occur at the same time.

I knew that.

When you fuse depression with mania, the result is usually rage.

I knew that too.

That's why bipolar kids have such a problem with anger, because for them, there is seldom an in between mood.....they are either relatively happy or highly agitated...sometimes to the point of aggression.

DING DING DING we have a winner!!!!!!!!!! For DD1 that agitation seems to manifest itself in the 'extreme boredom' which when it's bad enough and doesn't get a diversion, and goes on long enough, becomes a tantrum and sometimes a rage.

No, I'm not trying to 'force' her into the diagnosis. She has so many 'markers' for it I've just been looking for that 'stretched' explanation be fully comfortable connecting my mom gut and my logic.

Additionally, I've always wondered about the whole SSRI AD thing. If you read the side effects of any of them, they almost always have the symptoms they are supposed to treat listed as side effects. This has always been disconcerting to me, BUT if you figure that BiPolar (BP) and BPII are generally adult onset disorders, and that most adults only seek help for the depression because, in mild cases, the manic or hypomanic episodes don't generally cause a problem in their lives, resulting in BiPolar (BP) or BPII being misdiagnosed as depression and being medicated with SSRI ADs which generally negatively affect ppl with BiPolar (BP) and BPII - voila! The stated negative side effects.

Just thinkin'.

 

[BeachPeace]

I am a Nurse and I actually like this thought process alot.....
I am wondering when my son with "officially" get a diagnosis of BiPolar (BP) - right now he is raging up to 3 hours per day. Headed to the Md this am....sigh

 

[BusynMember]

Maybe because my son was misdiagnosed with childhood bipolar, I just don't believe anyone knows how to spot it in children. I read somewhere that it remains to be seen how many children diagnosed with it actually develop bipolar as teens and adults. I think it would probably be a lot safer to call it "mood disorder." That I know happens in kids because I had terrible depression as a child.
I don't agree with how fast they stick young kids on mood stabilizers...my son was put on four of them and had bad side effects from all of them, and he DOESN'T even have a mood disorder, much less bipolar. He is eighteen and is actually very mellow. But his Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) obsessions and literal thinking got him his diagnosis which lead to a boatload of drugs that he didn't need.

I think the best thing to do with bipolar is to go slow and make sure you get a neuropsychologist evaluation to rule out other things...and look up all the medication that is prescribed to your child. Like most childhood disorders, diagnoses often change with time, but if you happen to have a child diagnosed with bipolar you get a slew of medication (very strong medications) along with the diagnosis. Not the same as a wrong diagnosis of ADHD.

JMO from my experience...no article can make me feel that they can identify which children will eventually become bipolar. At least not yet. Again, this is only my opinion, not meant to offend anyone.

 

[keista]

MWM I hear ya! I do investigate all the medications that are prescribed. My current concern is that we are 0-3 with SSRIs One because of bad side effects, and two due to bad reactions (made her 10X worse than when we started) DD1 does have a diagnosis of mood disorder, but treating just the depression and anxiety does not seem to be working. My thought process is that this is just more information to further diagnosis BiPolar (BP)

As hard as it is to diagnosis BiPolar (BP) in kids, is similarly difficult in adults, if the adults do not recognize mania/hypomania, that pare is never diagnosed or treated.

 

[JKF]

For DD1 that agitation seems to manifest itself in the 'extreme boredom' which when it's bad enough and doesn't get a diversion, and goes on long enough, becomes a tantrum and sometimes a rage.

Omg...that is my son to a "t". He still has yet to be diagnosis'd as BiPolar (BP) because the Dr.'s are hesitant to do it while he's still a teen. However, his bio father is BiPolar (BP) and my son shows many of the same traits as his dad.

 

[DammitJanet]

Here is my take on it and I am sure that no official psychiatrist would agree as of yet but maybe someday in the future they will find this is true but...

I have no doubt that I have had bipolar 1 ever since I was a toddler. No doubt after reading The Bipolar Child. I felt like they wrote that about my life.

Now as an adult, I think I present more as an early onset bipolar person than an adult onset bipolar person. If you read the descriptions, I act more like a child or teen than the adult other than the spending sprees. I was always unhappy or irritable. I dont remember extreme rages as a child but I do know that I also had to duck my mothers temper so that may have had an effect on that. I have no pictures of me at birthday parties with a smile on my face. I hated them.

 

[keista]

I think I present more as an early onset bipolar person than an adult onset bipolar person.

Interesting. I just commented in another thread that I think that children with BiPolar (BP) won't necessarily become adults with BiPolar (BP). it could stop, but as you are saying, you are still a "child with BiPolar (BP)"

I truly hope all our psychiatrists are making these kind of thoughtful connections.

 

[AnnieO]

I read the quotes to husband, and he said: "Sounds like our daughter."

Hmm, she has been diagnosis'd, but we will see how it plays out now.

 

[Marguerite]

I think an important factor, possibly neglected, is that anger in children is so much more openly expressed. Often inappropriately (and this is in 'normal' children).

Children have to learn how to cope with their moods and how to manage them. A child whose moods are out of control will not have the same level playing field as other children. Janet, you may feel you present more as a child with bipolar, because you never had the opportunity to develop 'normally' because you already had a lot more to deal with. The coping skills you developed, were developed way back when and were the best you could do.

Perhaps there needs to be more work done on this - I think your observations, Janet, indicate an area of useful research.

Marg

 

[DammitJanet]

Marg..I do too. I wonder how many of us people that are in my generation or even 10 or 15 years younger who were diagnosed as adults may well have been diagnosed as children but back in my day, the only diagnosis was incorrigible. Perhaps a person could be hyperkinetic (sp), but not much else as a child.

I think that maybe if today's kids get treatment from an early age that maybe they will have a better future than those of us that didnt have access to treatment for 30 years or more.

I mean seriously, if a kid starts treatment at 5, he has a 33 year head start on me!