Coincidence maybe, but difficult child has only had arrest charges in Jan, Feb, or Mar.- 4 years in a row. He has never been arrested any other time. His signs of instability have always been in the Fall and in late winter/early spring. He is typically on allergy medications and sometimes other medications (steroids, albuterol, antibiotics if the allergies aren't controlled before mucous gets in the chest) during those time periods because he had asthmatic wheezing as a child and we (the pediatrician and I) wanted to deal with the allergies to prevent mucous getting into his lungs (bronchitis then wheezing fears). The past year, I have been able to get the peds to discuss and acknowledge a connection. This is another reason for doubt about the BiPolar (BP) diagnosis. difficult child is only "manic" (ok- erratic) at these times of year. The more parents bring this to the attention of the peds, the more chance there is for research in that field, in my humble opinion.
As an example, when my son was an infant, dimettap was still recommended for colds, viruses, etc. I gave it to my son on 3 different occassions and it worked miracles on the illness's symptoms, but he was wheezing the next day all 3 times. Initially, the peds and nurses told me there was no way that dimettap could have a connection, but enough parents reported side effects or reactions to it and now this medication is not allowed to be giiven to babies.
