Help Need link for bipolar

[firehorsewoman]

Hi.

I need help finding a good, succinct, link that explains why Bipolar kids can do well at school (hold it together) only to blow once they get home. How holding it together at school is not "proof" that they are "choosing" to behave badly. UGH

Yes, I can Google, but I am exhausted right now and hoping one of you guys has something that I can use ASAP.

thanks

 

[Dun Haddit]

Here are just a few. I would recommend looking up BIPOLAR and IEP. The two together explain why the issues cause behavioral disorders which affect the learning process. I just submitted a formal request to have our bipolar son tested for an IEP.

I cannot post links because I am new but here are a few to try: add dot you know what to the end of each

bipolarchild
web md (bipolar-disorder/guide/bipolar-children-teens)
blog.foxspecialedlaw (2008 / 01 / bipolar-disorder)

We are at our wits end and I know what you are going through. Every week we get a medication adjustment, but so far, nothing has stopped any of the behavior. Depakote has reduced the explosiveness of the dramatic denials and lies when caught, but haven't found the magic pill that stops him for actively seeking each and every bad choice out there.

 

[firehorsewoman]

Thanks Dun Haddit. The problem is not with his school anymore. He has had a really good year behavior wise and he does have a 504 plan. The problem is with family members who interpret my son's ability to hold it together at school as "proof" that he is choosing to behave badly everywhere else. I see his relatively newly found ability to hold it together at school as hope that some day he can hold it together everywhere. Also, don't we all "hold it together" at work, school etc to some degree? I am thrilled that he is finally able to do so after years of getting kicked out of schools, meetings with principals, etc.
For my son Lithium helped a lot. Lithium stopped the hypersexuality completely (which pretty much helped confirmed the diagnosis) as well as decreased the really explosive violent rages. The Seroquel helped with his depressive moods. Still, he is like living with a high maintenance volcano and his disorder affects everyone in his family. It is exhausting on many levels.

I am not here much anymore but welcome and I hope you find something that works better soon.

 

[Dun Haddit]

Lithium made such a difference in our Autistic son, I asked the Dr about our other son, because they both have the same bio-mo who IS bipolar, and he has been on it for less than a week, and we see such a difference already. I have to admit that he was also upped on Depakote and so was the Buspiron and Abilify - the change is night and day, but, BUT, he is on spring break right now so we will find out just how effective everything is when he gets back to school.

Our son had a very bad habbit of getting up at night to steal food. He was also recently given Seroquel and in reviewing our camera feed (placed to catch him in the act, etc), he has not been getting up to get food, and we do not have any difficulty getting him up, which is a major plus.

I'm hoping to find a mix that works and can start decreasing the amounts, but still keeps him from the sexual acting out, the assaulting other people and the explosiveness (which really diminished after Zoloft was discontinued). I always suspected Zoloft was what made him so dramatic with the tantrums, and removing it proved that he was bipolar, because anti-depressants normally cause rage in bipolar people....and I can verify that it really does.

He is getting along so well with his sister, right now, that both my husband and I find it unsettling. It went from constant fighting to thick as thieves - no middle ground. Id much rather have this than anything in the past, though.

 

[firehorsewoman]

Interesting about the food. My son has had the nocturnal thing with food for years too. I always attributed it to all of the years he has been on stimulants for the ADHD which preceded the bipolar diagnosis . I figured that once they wear off in the pm his hunger kicks in. I had to install a special lock on the cupboard because I would find him with an empty bag of potato chips (or similar) in his bed each morning. But he figured out the special lock by the time he was around six years old and since then I try to keep only relatively healthy stuff where he can access it. He doesn't have a problem with his weight so the nocturnal foraging I can live with as long as it is not an entire bag of chips. It sure beats the night terrors he used to have when he was two and three years old.

I also found the lithium made it much easier to get him up in the mornings. Almost immediately after going on lithium I went from having to drag him out of bed each and every day to having him wake up on his own every day....sometimes earlier than I am actually ready to deal with him LOL. That was another clue that we were on the right track with the lithium. Gone completely was the weird sexual stuff and he became somewhat of a morning person after years of having to drag him out of bed.
He has been on lithium almost two years now. It is almost easy to forgot just how horribly miserable things were prior to the lithium but as bad as things are now they were really hell prior to lithium. The Seroquel has helped too but the lithium was a life-saver.

Unfortunately the relationship he has with his sister has deteriorated tremendously. As they mature their relationship is taking on an entirely different dimension and the transition has not been pretty. I'm crossing my fingers that we are actually getting a therapist to help with that soon. This has never panned out in the past. The kid's constant fighting has led to some drastic changes in their living arrangements between their dad's house and mine. Sigh. But that's another story.
I hope that your kid's continue to get along. Enjoy it as unfamiliar as it may be.