That sounds like a tough time. I am glad that you were able to pry the medications out of his hands. By 13 there was very little chance that I could have done that with my difficult child.
I am amazed that the psychiatrist admitted him. Here there was no hope of that unless the child was nearly out of his mind. Use this time to sleep - even take a day off work if possible. You need the respite and rest. Waiting for the depakote to work can be a very loooooong six weeks but it can be worth the wait if it helps your child. We have a friend with an adult daughter with bipolar and those six weeks after she goes off her medications are really tough. I hope that the medication helps and the psychiatric hospital keeps him a couple of days. If it is possible, can you trigger him at a family therapy session if they haveo ne? Something to get him to show how manic and out of control he can be? Or next time try to video his mania (maaybe get another family member to do this while you are interacting with him?) so that you can show them waht you are talking about?
Either way, sending lots of hugs and I hope you get some rest!
