New mom in town...ready to lose her mind!

[ohollydolly]

Hi I am Holly...I joined this group a couple years ago and only came a couple times but when my daughter seemed under control I stopped coming on completely. So for the most part I am brand new on here.

My difficult child is diagnosed Bipolar, ADHD and Epileptic (thank god her last seizure was over a year ago) She just recently went back into manic mode I feel like I am losing my mind! We started having problems such as violent outbursts including assaulting teachers, principals, other children and us when she was 4 or 5, and many other smaller symptons before that.

About a year ago her therapist put her into a psychiatric Hospital for 18 days. She came out alot better since the medication was stabilized and she seemed to be responding well. She did pretty good for about a year. She is now 9-1/2 years old and just recently started acting out again. Assaulting teachers again, screaming, yelling, throwing things, etc.

I guess I stupidly thought that since this was the first time I had seen her better for a continued period of time that life was going to finally be "normal." I am finally getting it through my head that this is going to be a life long battle.

I just wanted to tell you all that I am happy to be here and learning alot from your posts.
Looking forward to getting to know all of you.
xoxoxo

 

['Chelle]

Hi Holly

Just a thought that maybe she would need a medication tweak. She's growing and at 9 1/2 she may be starting to get the first little changes heading to puberty. My family are all early puberty people, I got my first period at 11 BLAH, my difficult child started puberty around then too. I'm hoping my easy child waits a couple more years. And sometimes the body gets used to medications and they don't work as well and may need a change to something else.

Hope you get her back stablized soon. My difficult child has been doing pretty well the last couple years, and still every time a possible meltdown seems to be starting I get that feeling in the pit of my stomach. Wouldn't want to go back to the days when I first started here after some good times.

Welcome and hope you get the advice and shoulders to vent on you need to keep your mind intact.

 

[crazymama30]

I am with 'Chelle, maybe a medication tweak? We did one around December, and it was a good thing. Things are a little rough now, but who is perfect? It is the end of the school year. I hope things smooth out for you and welcome

 

[ohollydolly]

Thank you so much! We have actually been tweeking here and there but the ADHD medication that they went up on made her insanely violent. So we are back down but the doctor does not want to change anything else for another month or so and she is just as bad as before we lowered it. I swear some days I just want to send her to the docs house and let her see how it is for a while!!! She makes me sound like I am overreacting

Last night I stayed up late cleaning the house perfectly because the appraiser is coming out today to take pics of all rooms. When I got in the shower lastnight I thought she was asleep I was actually feeling accomplished. This morning I walked into her room and she had literally destroyed the entire room. Emptied all the drawers, threw every toy, book, video, etc all over the room, stripped the bed and windows of all linens, and some how got back the stuffed toy, blanket and pillow I hid under my bed. She was being punished for going crazy on the bus and having to be physically removed and held in lock up at the school.

I was only in the shower for 10 minutes lastnight and husband was in the garage. Thats the only time she could have done it. When I walked in this morning I just burst into tears and stood there speechless. I am now at work trying to look normal and hold everything together.
Pray for me!!

 

[BusynMember]

HI there.
You can do what you want, however many bipolar kids can't take any ADHD medication, not even with mood stabilizers. Period. If it were my kid, I'd forget about the ADHD medication and concentrate on keeping the moods stable. Also, has she had a Depakote level drawn lately? Sometimes the levels drop for no reason so you have to keep track of them.

 

[Sara PA]

In what part of the brain are her seizures located? Could these outbursts be partial seizure activity? When she attacks, is she "herself"? Does she have a strange look in her eyes? Does she get tired after they are over like she does when she has a seizure? Does she have full memory of the violent episodes?

 

[smallworld]

Welcome back. I'm sorry you needed to find us again.

I'm going to ask you to please remove your family's picture from your avatar. Everyone loves to show off their children's pictures, but this is a site where we keep children's privacy a priority. Thanks.

 

[Christy]

I'd say, "glad you're back" but considering the nature of the site, I guess that's not such a good thing. So how about, "wish you didn't need to be here but since you do I'm glad your're back!"

I wanted to mention that my son is also bi-polar and cannot tolerate stimulant medication at all (even with a mood stabilizer). Since you mentioned that you daughter's behavior got worse with an increase in the ADHD medication, this may be part of the problem. I agree with what Midwest Mom suggested, focusing on the mood and not the ADHD to see if she improves. My son, who is very ADHD, has had good luck with the addition of clonodine (.05 mg 3x/day). The small amount does not make him tired but keeps the hyperness to a minimum. Just a thought I wanted to share.

Wishing you the best,
Christy

 

[TerryJ2]

Welcome back.

I guess I stupidly thought that since this was the first time I had seen her better for a continued period of time that life was going to finally be "normal." I am finally getting it through my head that this is going to be a life long battle.

I know EXACTLY how you feel. We just had the exact same thing happen. We are lulled into complacency, then BAM! Wake up!

Take care.

 

[ohollydolly]

Thank you all so much for your responses. I will ask about the ADHD medications. The whole reason she had to be put on them is the fact that her body/hands shake so badly (jittery), she cannot sit still in her seat and without them can barely say a sentence. Its like her brain is going way too fast to finish a thought. After we put her on them she was able to speak clearly and actually hold onto objects without her shaking hands dropping them.

Luckily she has been seizure free for a little over a year now. When she did have them it was like Sara said.. She looked like a different person and did not remember the outbursts. The last seizure she had lasted an hour and a half and put her in a coma for 6 days. They are in the process of taking her off of the depakote because they feel her brain has retrained itself not to have seizures anymore. I am so uncomfortable with that because I feel like that is too big of a gamble...but they know more than I so I am trying to go with the flow.

Again...thank you all so much. I have an appointment with psychiatrist next week. Will check into it then.
XOXOXOX

 

[Sara PA]

She's had seizures as recently as a year ago and they're taking her off the anti-seizure medication? And leaving her on two medications that can lower the seizure threshold? And taking her off the mood stablizer even though she has a bipolar diagnosis? Not if it were my kid.