busybee

New Member
So difficult child went to the dr. yesterday. It was his first appointment. after our horrible weekend last weekend that included a trip to the psychiatric hospital. Anyway, the dr. at the hospital told us to ask for him to be tested for bipolar. I was unable to go to the appointment. because of work, but husband took him. I trust husband to take him to the dr., but I would have also liked to have been able to go. Anyway, it is what it is.
So, the dr. said there is no test for bipolar. She said that a big determining factor is family history. We don't know much about his bio father's family medical history. I firmly believe that his bio father and grandfather have undiagnosed issues. His bio grandfather beat his wife and his bio father has been in and out of jail for the last 13 years. The dr. didn't feel comfortable giving him any kind of diagnoses. She did prescribe respiradone. He is taking 0.5 mg a day. We are going back to see her again in 4 weeks.
I have also found out in the last week that my family has similar issues. When I talked to difficult child last weekend about his behavior he said he can feel his rage coming on, but he can't do anything to stop it. My grandmother told my sister that our great grandmother had similar rage issues. She would feel it coming on, knew it wasn't right, but couldn't stop it. The problem with all the family medical history that I have on both sides is that none of it is diagnosed. It's all just suspicions that I have.
Anyway, hopefully this will help difficult child. I'm a little nervous about the risperidone so any info any of you can give me about your experiences with it would be helpful.
 

totoro

Mom? What's a difficult child?
K's first medication was Risperdal (risperadone) it made her up and down the first couple of days. But after 2 days we saw great results. It didn't work long term for us, Abilify was better and now Seroquel. But it was a great first AP. I would journal all moods and reactions. K did have some side affects and weight gain, journaling helped me keep track.
Hang in there. I have lots of lovely issues in my family as well!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
My son was on that medication and it was amazing. he had serious violence and rage issues, esp toward women (NO CLUE where that came from!) and the risperdal really really helped. give it a chance if you can.

MOST people were never diagnosed in previous generations. People just didn't go to the psychiatrist then. Even severe rage issues were not addressed usually. HAVING the info about the rages is priceless. Let the doctor know, most docs worth their salt know that prior generations were not diagnosed.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
I have no medication advice, but I know your son can at least train himself to walk out of the rm when he feels a rage coming on. My bipolar friend here has a woodshop in his basement. It's all cement. If he feels a rage coming on, he just whales pieces of wood all over the place until he feels better. (Or until he exhausts himself.)
I think that's a great idea ... maybe you can work out something like that. It will take yrs of training but there's no time like the present.
{{hugs}}
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I understand the rage coming on and can't stop it because I had it. I could never have gone downstairs to start doing anything with a rage coming on because it came on within seconds and there would have been no time. It was only the right medication that stopped the rages.
It sounds like there may have been undiagnosed bipolar on the family tree. It's true that, in the past it just wasn't diagnosed because nobody knew about it.
 
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