_Christina said...
I posted when my 12 year old daughter announced that she has been feeling depressed and was having suicidal thoughts. I got her to our family Dr as soon as I could after assuring myself that she was not in immediate danger. Yesterday the Dr talked with her and she told him that she has been "pricking" her finger and that helps her deal with anger or anxiety. (I didn't know) or that she had been getting up in the middle of the night to write in her notebook about a story she has been working on for months. She spends lots of time in the bathroom off her bedroom because she shares the bedroom with her younger sisters and she can be alone in the bathroom. He talked to her for quite a while, then suggested that she might have bipolar, and the way she described it she seemed to cycle several times a day, or even a few times an hour. He tried to describe bipolar to her (I never have tried to describe it to the kids) and she seemed to connect with the discription of being on a "roller coaster" of emotions.
The Dr gave a Dx of mood disorder and reffered her to a PSY too be seen very soon. (I spent hours on the phone looking for someone who sees children for bipolar issues) I finally found one who both sees children and is taking new patients, and it is 45 minutes away. (the other ones were 1-3 hours away. Mine is 5 min away)
This makes both me and my husband bipolar and my daughter possably bipolar. What an interesting home my other two children will grow up in!
I would love to hear the suggeations that all of you might have. I spent 2 and a half hours in Barnes and Noble looking at books on bipolar- expecially adolencence and bipolar. I walked away with 3 books to read. there is a lot of great new research on children and Bipolar. All this reading will help me get information to help her and my husband and myself. her PSY appt will be on the 25th of Oct. I'm just kind of holding my breath until then.
Christina,
I've been meaning to respond to your post when you first posted about your daughter but my
concentration has been poor so I put it off.
I don't know if this will help you but I understand what you are going through.
When my son was about 11 or 12 he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and well as OCD.
Bi-polar disorder is hard to diagnosed in children, it presents itself with different symptoms
sometimes and it can be hard to treat. I'm not trying to upset you I'm just sharing what I've
already been through. It is important to find a PSY that treats children. My son was on many
different medications and as he got older they would change because his body was changing.
This age is difficult enough with puberty going on and a mood disorder added to it.
My son also started seeing a therapist which he still does.
Being bi-polar myself I knew how he was feeling but I didn't know how to fix it, something a
parent wants to do. It's good that you are educating yourself about this disorder. Doctors
don't always give you a lot information, they tend more to hand out meds.
about this "pricking" your daughter is doing, and again I don't want to worry you needlessly
but my son starting cutting his clothes and his sheets and ended up cutting himself which is
more an OCD behavior than bi-polar but he does it to relive stress.
It would be a good idea for your daughter to find better ways to deal with her anxiety.
Again, please don't assume that your daughter may end up with my son's problem, I'm just
saying you might want to keep an eye on this behavior.
As much as I want to help my son both of us being bi-polar tends to make us conflict a lot.
We are both rapid cyclers and we both have an anxiety disorder. So sometimes we feed off
of each others behavior. Oddly enough his father who I am separated from is rather even keeled
and my son lives with him now and I think it's better for both of us.
My son is 18 now and rather unhappy he resents have these disorders and he hates having to
take medication. And being 18 I can't force him to take medical treatment, that worries me.
He also has a serious anger problem and he actually scares me sometimes.
I'm sorry I'm talking about my own situation too much.
I wish you didn't have to deal with all this, but as we know it doesn't go away.
I do hope they have found better ways to treat kids, growing up is hard enough.
If you can afford it I suggest a child therapist so she can express her feelings.
My thought will be with you, if you want to talk about this more, my e-mail is in my profile
feel free to write. I may not have all the answers but I can share my experiences.
Susan