My difficult child is bipolar not otherwise specified, ODD, and ADD. He is taking the AD Wellbutrin, 200mg 2 x's a day and Seraquel, 25 mg 2 x's a day. He is also taking Aderall for the ADD symptoms, Allegra for allergies, a multi-vitamin, and Flaxseed oil. I know of another bipolar not otherwise specified kid being treated with similar medications by a different doctor. We increased the dose of the AD just before Christmas. He had not been doing well. We thought we were going to have to hospitalize him. Since then he's done really well. The moods aren't cycling like they used to, you can even enjoy his company. We've only had one episode of some minor hypomania and the nasty iritable mood. He had been sick with a stomach virus and couldn't keep a full day's medications down. After a few more days of medications he was back on track.
However, like others have said, the AD has the potential to make things worse. I've been doing a lot of reading on this subject since getting his diagnosis. A lot of kids are on this combo, but it is not for everyone. My difficult child was also really suffering from the depression side of things. If there aren't depression symptoms it's usually not recommended.
My son is also very against taking medications in general. Some of the medications that are used specificly for bipolar have some pretty bothersome side effects that are rather common. Since we could barely get him to take medications that weren't giving him side effects we decided to try this route first. The newer AD's aren't supposed to have as many side effects.
I would just say to watch your child for any adverse effects, like you would have to for any new medication. You just need to pay real close attention. It can be really hard to know if the medications aren't helping or if they're making it worse. Until the higher dose began helping him I wasn't sure he was on the right medications and was really worried that the medications were making him worse.
I don't know how long this nice period is going to last, but I'm sure going to enjoy it!!!