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When did you know it was BiPolar (BP)
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<blockquote data-quote="flutterbee" data-source="post: 44611"><p>So many symptoms overlap it can be hard to tell. Especially in a young child not able to articulate what they are feeling. </p><p></p><p>I suspected BiPolar (BP) in my daughter for quite a while which is why I refused to medicate just the symptoms as so many wanted me to do - namely the school. I refused to medicate symptoms until we had a solid diagnosis. And that took a long time. (She's not BiPolar (BP), by the way.) At a continuing education class I attended, they said that statistically it takes 10 years for a child with bipolar to be correctly diagnosis'd. That is devastating. Unfortunately, there are vast shortages of child psychiatrists and neuropsychs, even in a metropolitan area such as mine, which just further complicates things. </p><p></p><p>Because of that and the long waiting lists, psychiatrists around here required a referral from either a therapist or a pediatrician. (I've noticed that Children's website has been changed to read that parents can self refer now, but this wasn't the case 2 years ago.) The psychiatrists at our children's hospital (The Behavioral Health Centers) don't diagnosis, from what I was told at the intake meeting. :surprise: I couldn't believe it. They depend on the therapists to send them the information and they just prescribe the medications. (I think that is because they anticipate that all of their patients will be seeing therapists that work for Children's as well. That is just not the case.) I found another psychiatrist at a child and adolescent psychiatric hospital and had to wait 6 months for the appointment. They only have 2 child psychiatrists at that particular facility. (And I just got a letter this week that our psychiatrist is leaving and going to Children's. So, we'll have to wait again.)</p><p></p><p>While difficult child's neuropsychologist said to keep bipolar on our radar with her, it's her anxiety right now that is the issue. And we go through some periods where it looks a lot like what I read about with childhood bipolar. And when she was younger her anxiety looked like ADHD. It probably still does to a lot of people, I just can recognize the difference now.</p><p></p><p>I'm just trying to stress, through this long winded spiel, how important it is to get the right professionals involved as soon as you can. When I started this process with my difficult child, I didn't have the benefit of this board. I had never even heard of a neuropsychologist until difficult child's therapist referred us to one. Had I had the insight and experience of others who have gone before me, I don't think it would have taken nearly as long to get the right diagnosis for my difficult child and get the right medications and therapies in place for her. She would have benefited greatly from earlier intervention.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="flutterbee, post: 44611"] So many symptoms overlap it can be hard to tell. Especially in a young child not able to articulate what they are feeling. I suspected BiPolar (BP) in my daughter for quite a while which is why I refused to medicate just the symptoms as so many wanted me to do - namely the school. I refused to medicate symptoms until we had a solid diagnosis. And that took a long time. (She's not BiPolar (BP), by the way.) At a continuing education class I attended, they said that statistically it takes 10 years for a child with bipolar to be correctly diagnosis'd. That is devastating. Unfortunately, there are vast shortages of child psychiatrists and neuropsychs, even in a metropolitan area such as mine, which just further complicates things. Because of that and the long waiting lists, psychiatrists around here required a referral from either a therapist or a pediatrician. (I've noticed that Children's website has been changed to read that parents can self refer now, but this wasn't the case 2 years ago.) The psychiatrists at our children's hospital (The Behavioral Health Centers) don't diagnosis, from what I was told at the intake meeting. [img]:surprise:[/img] I couldn't believe it. They depend on the therapists to send them the information and they just prescribe the medications. (I think that is because they anticipate that all of their patients will be seeing therapists that work for Children's as well. That is just not the case.) I found another psychiatrist at a child and adolescent psychiatric hospital and had to wait 6 months for the appointment. They only have 2 child psychiatrists at that particular facility. (And I just got a letter this week that our psychiatrist is leaving and going to Children's. So, we'll have to wait again.) While difficult child's neuropsychologist said to keep bipolar on our radar with her, it's her anxiety right now that is the issue. And we go through some periods where it looks a lot like what I read about with childhood bipolar. And when she was younger her anxiety looked like ADHD. It probably still does to a lot of people, I just can recognize the difference now. I'm just trying to stress, through this long winded spiel, how important it is to get the right professionals involved as soon as you can. When I started this process with my difficult child, I didn't have the benefit of this board. I had never even heard of a neuropsychologist until difficult child's therapist referred us to one. Had I had the insight and experience of others who have gone before me, I don't think it would have taken nearly as long to get the right diagnosis for my difficult child and get the right medications and therapies in place for her. She would have benefited greatly from earlier intervention. [/QUOTE]
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