Bipolar disorder in teens

difficult child 1 is bipolar (also an Aspie). When he was younger, before we knew he had bipolar, his moods changed rapidly. He would get "hyper" and silly one minute, and the next he would be raging. His rages could last for hours on end. When he was "hyper" and silly, he acted much younger than his chronological age.

It was impossible to predict how he would be from one minute to the next. Life was absolute HE77!!! He never seemed to show any signs of depression, at least what I thought was depression at the time. His moods were just all over the place. In school, many of his teachers thought he had ODD and ADHD.

We were lucky because the first drug he was given was a mood stabilizer. He has never been on an antidepressant. It is so frustrating when you want and need answers immediately and it takes so long to get the correct diagnosis. I remember barely being able to think of anything else - difficult child 1 would be the first thing on my mind when I woke up in the morning and the last thing on my mind when I went to bed. I remember many sleepless nights.

The others have already given you excellent advice. I just want you to know I'm thinking of you and your difficult child. I hope you get the answers you need soon!!! WFEN
 

maril

New Member
susiestar: I got a chance to come back on tonight and noticed your post; I don't know how I missed it earlier in the day! Thank you so much for your support. Thanks for the suggestion about the neurologist. Speaking of sleep problems - difficult child snores, his dad has sleep apnea as well as my brother; sometimes I wonder if there could be a sleep-related problem here.

MidwestMom: Thank you. I have talked to difficult child multiple times to get his input on any changes he notices or medication effects he may not have brought up; today after giving him his medications, I asked if he has noticed any change since starting the sertraline (Zoloft) and told him that if he felt unusual at all after taking the medicine to please let me know; I told him the medicines he takes sometimes are not tolerated well by certain people and they can actually make you feel worse. He seemed to be on board, answering honestly, and assured me he would come to me with concerns. We'll see...

WFEN: Thank you for thinking of us and for your concern. Good that your difficult child 1 was started on the mood stabilizer as the first medication. Who evaluated and diagnosed your son, if I may ask?

My son's moodiness has only gotten worse in recent years; I chalked it up partly to hormones as well as related to his low self-esteem and frustration due to struggling so much in school but the more I think about it and the more I consider what I've learned from all these posts, I believe there is something else going on.
 
I'm sorry I don't have time to go into any detail at the moment but will give you a quick answer. difficult child 1 was evaluated for a week as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital and for the following three weeks as an outpatient at the same hospital. He was then seen by a neuropsychologist. It's a long, long story!!!

We went through absolute HE77 with him. While he had been evaluated prior to being hospitalized, we were given wrong or incomplete diags. Fortunately, drugs weren't mentioned to us before his hospitalization. Otherwise, I really think we would have been given the wrong ones and we would have gone through a much worse time than we did.

We were just very, very lucky that difficult child 1 had an excellent child pysch while he was an inpatient. She followed him as an outpatient too. We tried to get her to see difficult child 1 once he was discharged from his day program but she only treats patients while they are hospitalized. She is the one who started him on a mood stabilizer. I'm thankful every single day that she had lots of experience dealing with kids like difficult child 1.

Got to go but am thinking of you... WFEN
 

maril

New Member
WFEN: Thank you so much for sharing your story and for thinking of us. I am very happy that the treatment benefitted your son and hope all continues to go well for him.

I left a message with difficult children counselor at D&A partial program and am waiting for her call - want to catch her up on what has been going on and to let her know about difficult children psychiatrist's suggestion for him to go to a behavioral partial program; also, this a.m. I had spoken with the office of the psychiatrist, who treated difficult child while in the psychiatric hospital (am thinking of making an appointment. to see that doctor for a second opinion regarding diagnosis/diagnoses) and was told that doctor sees patients at another office only, got that phone number, and am contemplating calling there to discuss/possibly make an appointment. - I don't know - instead maybe I should get difficult child to a neuropsychologist; am going to research that. As you can see, I am trying to get it together but want to make the best choice possible.
 
Marilynne,

Your difficult child is lucky to have you!!! You're a great:warrior:mom!!!

in my humble opinion, you can never have too much info - If it were me, I would make an appointment with the neuropsychologist and the psychiatric too. (Psychs can't diagnose anything on the autistic spectrum. Many disorders share similar traits. It is so confusing and frustrating!!!)

Hang in there. Unfortunately, getting the correct diag or diags takes lots of time. However, once you know exactly what you're dealing with, you'll feel a bit better because you'll no longer be spinning your wheels in mud...

Thinking of you... WFEN
 

maril

New Member
WFEN: Oh, wow - I don't really feel like a great warrior mom but very much appreciate your kind words!

How true that it takes time to determine the correct diagnosis(es). I have learned how important it is to try to be patient and to keep myself together for the sake of difficult child and the rest of my family. Though, it would be nice to get those wheels out of the mud! ;)

Thanks to you - you supportive:warrior:mom!
 
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