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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 495767" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>The short phone calls sound much like drug activity. Have you searched his room? he very well may be bipolar and use drugs. Many with bipolar turn to illegal drugs rather than rx medications due to side effects, wanting the high, etc.....</p><p></p><p>Before the doctor appointment, PLEASE read up on the approved medication protocol for bipolar. Of course NO medications will work with illegal drugs, but you have to start somewhere and if drugs are not in the picture then you need the RIGHT medications.</p><p></p><p>A LOT of medications make people with bipolar have mood cycles. Even OTC cold medications can. the approved protocol says that the patient needs mood stabilizer and antipsychotic drugs. Up to 2 mood stabilizers may be needed and the antipsychotic can be a huge help esp as he is aggressive. Mood stabilizers are tricky. You have to find the right medications and get them into the system to the right level before you know if they work or not. It takes 4-6 WEEKS to get the full effect of a mood stab. It also takes time to get them up to a therapeutic level.</p><p></p><p>Once he is STABLE on medications, you may see a lot of the symptoms are gone. If he is still having problems, very low doses of antidepressants, stimulants, etc... can be tried. Lots of us have sworn that our kids NEED antidepressants to help with their bipolar but reality is that antidepressants make it WORSE. ditto stimulants.</p><p></p><p>I am often frustrated by this because this formula - mood stab +antipsychotic in the right combo/amt works and antidepressants make things much worse - because it seems that psychiatrists ignore it. A LOT of us here have had to fight to get this. My son is not bipolar. Any change in psychiatrists meant that the doctor wanted to go reinvent the wheel and give a different diagnosis. Each one watned to diagnosis bipolar and put him on antidepressants. No other medications, just antidepressants. If Wiz WAS bipolar this would be a recipe for disaster.</p><p></p><p>I started taking a copy of the medication protocol and asking the doctor if he know of it, and if yes then WHY would he want to ignore it? I wasn't their favorite parent after that (tough noogies). If the doctor honestly believed Wiz was bipolar, then I would not argue IF and ONLY IF the doctor followed the medication protocol. it works.</p><p> </p><p>The adults here iwth bipolar say this works, also.</p><p></p><p>Here is a Parent's Medication Guide for Bipolar in Children and Adolescents that was designed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: <a href="http://www.parentsmedguide.org/bipolarmedicationguide.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.parentsmedguide.org/bipolarmedicationguide.pdf</a></p><p></p><p>in my opinion this is an amazing tool. I hadn't seen it before and skimmed it and it seems really, really great. It doesn't have the specific protocol but it has great info and questions to help you discuss this with the doctor or to help difficult child discuss it. I know your difficult child is 18, but his brain is still developing, so if you can go into the appointment with him it might be a good thing. </p><p></p><p>The medication protocol I was discussing is in The Bipolar Child by Papalous. Reading the book might give insight to help figure out if he is or isn't bipolar. You don't list a diagnosis, so I thought it might help. Most libraries have it. If you skip to the medication section you will find the info.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 495767, member: 1233"] The short phone calls sound much like drug activity. Have you searched his room? he very well may be bipolar and use drugs. Many with bipolar turn to illegal drugs rather than rx medications due to side effects, wanting the high, etc..... Before the doctor appointment, PLEASE read up on the approved medication protocol for bipolar. Of course NO medications will work with illegal drugs, but you have to start somewhere and if drugs are not in the picture then you need the RIGHT medications. A LOT of medications make people with bipolar have mood cycles. Even OTC cold medications can. the approved protocol says that the patient needs mood stabilizer and antipsychotic drugs. Up to 2 mood stabilizers may be needed and the antipsychotic can be a huge help esp as he is aggressive. Mood stabilizers are tricky. You have to find the right medications and get them into the system to the right level before you know if they work or not. It takes 4-6 WEEKS to get the full effect of a mood stab. It also takes time to get them up to a therapeutic level. Once he is STABLE on medications, you may see a lot of the symptoms are gone. If he is still having problems, very low doses of antidepressants, stimulants, etc... can be tried. Lots of us have sworn that our kids NEED antidepressants to help with their bipolar but reality is that antidepressants make it WORSE. ditto stimulants. I am often frustrated by this because this formula - mood stab +antipsychotic in the right combo/amt works and antidepressants make things much worse - because it seems that psychiatrists ignore it. A LOT of us here have had to fight to get this. My son is not bipolar. Any change in psychiatrists meant that the doctor wanted to go reinvent the wheel and give a different diagnosis. Each one watned to diagnosis bipolar and put him on antidepressants. No other medications, just antidepressants. If Wiz WAS bipolar this would be a recipe for disaster. I started taking a copy of the medication protocol and asking the doctor if he know of it, and if yes then WHY would he want to ignore it? I wasn't their favorite parent after that (tough noogies). If the doctor honestly believed Wiz was bipolar, then I would not argue IF and ONLY IF the doctor followed the medication protocol. it works. The adults here iwth bipolar say this works, also. Here is a Parent's Medication Guide for Bipolar in Children and Adolescents that was designed by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: [url]http://www.parentsmedguide.org/bipolarmedicationguide.pdf[/url] in my opinion this is an amazing tool. I hadn't seen it before and skimmed it and it seems really, really great. It doesn't have the specific protocol but it has great info and questions to help you discuss this with the doctor or to help difficult child discuss it. I know your difficult child is 18, but his brain is still developing, so if you can go into the appointment with him it might be a good thing. The medication protocol I was discussing is in The Bipolar Child by Papalous. Reading the book might give insight to help figure out if he is or isn't bipolar. You don't list a diagnosis, so I thought it might help. Most libraries have it. If you skip to the medication section you will find the info. [/QUOTE]
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