Looking into bipolar vs. ADHD study at local university

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I figure if they can help shed some free insight into difficult child 2 (and indirectly husband), so much the better for our lives. And it may entail some kind of financial incentive, like the ADHD genetic study we joined several years ago, which is a bonus.

The principal investigator emailed me yesterday to explain:

"Our study is focusing on the similarities and differences between pediatric bipolar disorder and ADHD. As you know, they can appear very similar in childhood, yet the treatments differ radically. We are hoping to learn more about how the brain functions in these two disorders in order to devise a way in which to discriminate them better."

I'm waiting for a call from them for some additional questions they have to determine if difficult child 2 is eligible. I'll let you know what I find out!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
I just got off the phone with the lead researcher. She's going to check to make sure difficult child 2's Sydenham's diagnosis doesn't rule him out of the study.

Essentially, they conduct this over 3 to 4 visits. It involves neurocognitive tests, an EEG, and a structural MRI and functional MRI.

I'm glad someone is doing this -- hopefully it will help other people in the long run.
 

Christy

New Member
Sounds like a great study especially if it helps doctors to avoid misdiagnosing bi-polar disorder as ADHD. I hope your participation provides some insight into your son's condition as well.
 

rlsnights

New Member
Hi there!!!

Hope it works out for him to get into the study. It'd be great if it led to some clarity about difficult child 2 diagnosis and an improved treatment plan.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Hi Patricia!

I'm so glad to see you here :D When you get a chance, post an introduction on General here so everyone can say hi and welcome you properly. Love the signature you've made!

I'll let you know if we get in.

Wasn't Badger going to take part in something similar up at Stanford last year?
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
I'm so glad to hear that research like this is being done - especially for children. ADHD & bipolar present so similarly that psychiatrists struggle & immediately assume the ADHD.

by the way, gcvmom, I was recently contacted by CABF to have the tweedles become a part of a bipolar study being conducted in twins in their adolescent years.

Let us know the end decision.
 

cfa3

New Member
Hi -

I am new here, Ive only posted once before, but I was just doing a search within these forums for bipolar, and I came across this post about the study. May I please ask, how do you as a parent find out about such studies?? We are in FL and I would love to participate in something like the above study - my son is 10 and has so many symptoms and problems and no once can figure it out, but the closest we've gotten is between some weird hybrid ADHD or bipolar or both. He has anxiety disorder/Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and tics and severe behavior and emotional problems. Anyhow, I am wondering please how you found out about this study? Thank you very much!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
cfa3, if there are any major universities near you that have teaching hospitals, there's a good chance there will be some info through their psychiatric department on what programs they are currently running. Also, the NIH has studies they run and you can check their website. Sometimes they're only in Maryland, sometimes they are in other locations. You'll just have to check the NIH website to know for sure.

Good luck!
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
I hope it goes well and you find out some good info!

This is one of the things I love about our therapist. She specializes in ADHD and BiPolar (BP). She has done lots of research on the differences and similarities.
She is good at teasing out the ADHD like things in K and the BiPolar (BP).
For her the one thing she feels are the first qualifiers are the rages.
Length, type and how the child reacts after the rage.
There might have been a few other things...
But those were the first things we talked about.

The hard thing is once the child is medicated, it decreases the length and intensity of the rage usually, or the intensity most of the time.
But for K for example she still does not remember a lot after and she still hurts herself and then is out of it and very tired.
But then starts cycling all over again.
Also for us K is both or has ADHD symptoms, some would argue...

It will be interesting to see what they think or say.
 

cfa3

New Member
gcvmom - thank you for the info! I am going to check it out here in FL.

totoro - We are in a similar boat. We dont know if my son is ADHd or bipolar or both (among other problems). We dont have any kind of good doctor, just one that will throw a medication at a us and another that seems lost about him. He seems very ADHD but then will have severe emotional hysterias and violent rages which end with him dissasociating from it and everyone and the next day its like nothing happened. Good luck! I wonder if anyone really knows what is going on inside our kids' heads!
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
Turns out we don't qualify for the study because of difficult child 2's experience with Sydenham's chorea, which was likely the catalyst for his bipolar symptoms coming to the fore at a faster rate. Oh well! We can't do ANYTHING normally in this house. :p
 
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