Any bipolar or mood disorders in the family tree? Did he have any delays in speech or anything else? Who diagnosed him? He sounds like there's a lot going on, but nobody here can tell you what it is. Sometimes, the sad thing is, even the pros don't know, which is why i tried to cover every base by seeing a Child Psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist. The neuropsychologist did a lot of tesing. The psychiatrist didnt' do any, just said "bipolar." To this day, I don't know why he thought so. My son doesn't rage. He is on the autism spectrum and at the first appointment, he ran in and out of the office (he loved to run and likes doorknobs). He started obsessing about a certain game he wanted me to rent (typical autistic behavior) and then started crying when I wouldn't go rent it right away (again, typical for the spectrum, but can also be mistaken for bipolar moodiness). Turned out that the psychiatrist, who is really a very good psychiatrist, didn't know squat about high functioning autism. For three years my kid was on potent bipolar medications that he didn't need. He's been off medications for three years now and he's fine. That's why i think it's good to get opinions from different types of professionals. People are so specialized now. Psychiatrist don't know about neuroloigcal disorders. It's not their field. Neurologists don't test for anything other than epilepsy and things they can tangibly see. It's a mess. We've seen professionals of all stripes, and the one I feel paid the most attention to my son was the neuropsychologist. He didn't give a "first visit" diagnosis or suggest medications. He really studied my kid's behavior, tested him, got all his records from school, etc. and made me fill out a gazillion forms before saying, "This is what I think is wrong. I could be wrong. ANYBODY could be wrong because there are no blood tests." It turned out he was right, and he was also truthful. It's all a stab in the dark and I get nervous, after what we went thru, when doctors do diagnoses in one visit and without any sort of testing to point him in a direction. You kid MAY be bipolar, but it's always smart to have fresh evaluations every so often. As the kids get older, new stuff shows up and the psychiatric and neurological fields also get new information. I feel for you. This is such a tiring process and can get sooooooooo discouraging.
