Oh Leighanne I hope someone replies, it takes alittle time here but, I have really gotten some great support here, especially Shannon her screen name is Psychnurse, she is very knowlegeable and helpful and caring I hope she & others will read your post and offer some more information to you, I think I offered as much as I know, if I can think of more to offer and share with you that would be helpful I will definalty post. there is one thing I wanted say about
the meds, your dauhgter has been on and off the adderall right? which I think I mentioned that although it may help the add, it can definatley worsen the bipolar. I just want to share with you, taht with these meds its all very much trial and error, my son was on resperidal (its an antipsyhcotic, it is used with some people with bipolar), it was great for awhile but the weight gain was tremendous, so we had to switcn and switch, and so on, but now we are at a pretty good combo, but it was a long time getting there , same thing with my daughter, but they are both fairly stable for the moment, this disorder if very tricky, Shannon will tell you, she tweeks her meds here and there as needed to acheive optimom( icannot spell!!) relief. But she knows what she is doing and is able to gauge when she needs to up this or that, and when to back off of this or that. But just want to say dont lose hope or faith, if one med doesnt work after a reasonable amt of move on( or move on very quickly if there is an adverse reaction, hives worsening of behaviour
, etc), a good pychiatrist will know this. If she is on something and it works great, if not or the side effect risks are outweighing the benifits as in my sons situation with the weight gain, then it time to move on to something esle, I know this sounds real bad but its taken over 15 meds to find the right combo for my daughter at the ripe old age of SIX!! But she can function, she is happy, she is more social, no weihgt gain problem. Its taken around 10 meds to find the right combo for my son, and finally he is improving we were almost going to hospitalize him a few weeks ago, he was a threat to himself and especially his sister. He is improving he has a ways to go but is improving drastically,. now the positive reinforcer (in his case money), is working as it was not in the past. to have them be able to except therapy, and postive reinforcing programs they have to be in a state of mind to receive, and sometimes it takes meds to do that, I hate to feel like I am pushing meds, but I have seen meds turn my kids around and really help them ( now I need the same help LOL). I really have tried alot of different diets, no gluten no dairy( ibelieve my son is intolerant to it, but he is addicted to milk, he has withdrwals from it, I am serious, but what can i do, he was sneaking whre ever he could, so I caved and gave him the milk. Funny story when I was doing this my husbad refused to go without the milk, so he hid it behind the beer, now in a functional household with sane people, the average person would be hiding the beer behind the milk!!! So thats when I knew ok I got to relent, and give in. Another funny thing my husband siad, he was visiting his sister, and she offered him a glass of milk, but he refused, he said Sheryl might smell it on my breath!! Now when when your hearing this its time to give in and let the family have there milk(sigh). the diets had no affect on my dauhgter what so ever, but I will admit they were helping my son, but it was to hard to keep it up, and as far the omega three for him he could not keep it down even in childrens dose, me and him are intolerant I guess to vitamins, we get very sick when trying to take supplements of that sort, now I can tolerate alot of pharmacueticals, but vitamins no, I wish I get b-12 shots, it bypasses the stomach and goes straight to the blood therefore not making me sick. I used to get them, but my recent doc see no reason why I cant take them in pill form.( wan to add the vitamin therapy worsened my daughter her stomach could tolerate ok, but she began to with draw more) With all this said, again reiterating its very much trial and error with these meds and such, what works for one may not work for another, we are all so different with our body chemistry. My kids cant take the same meds as each other and they are related. While my son was on the adderall he tried to knock his teeth out, he was extremly depressed and violent. So as your daughter is getting older the bipolar can be worsening, where as when she was younger with the adderall it may have worked with the add becasue she was not manifesting bipolar traits as much as she was when she was younger, but now her chemistry is changing and she is manifesting with more serious bipolar traits and who knows what else traits, its impartive she see a doc that you and her can trust, and that will explain everything to you about
all the different type meds available out there , there, therapy is good, but without the meds to help her stablize the therapy wont help, what she is experiencing is a chemical imbalance in the brain, many think that these disorders are just mental, there are more than that. Its is very much a physical thing, just as uclers, and heart problems and diseases etc, so is bipolar its a disease, and needs to be treated physically as well as mental to help the patinet get the stabilzation they need. I am sorry for getting so long winded, just more and more comes to mind, I have heard of patients trying between 20- 100 different meds before reaching the right one for them, its scary, but the alternatives are even scarier in my opinion, depression and mania can kill, its a real disease and need to be treated. My son my not make to reach 15 if he doesnt stay stablized, he has tried jumping off our deck, jumping out of my moving car etc, he has to be medicated to keep him from harmng himslef or others, and he admits he is feeling better and more motivated, his moods have stablized, he not cured by any means as there is no cure but he has definatley improved for the better, but its going to be a constant battle his whole life in keeping him in that stablized state, so he can maintain balance. Hopefully when he gets older he will stay on top of medical/mental maintence for himslef. Please make sure to do your homework on any meds suggested to you, they carry some hefty side effects, but really not anyworse than the adderall, and you are right that yo-yo effect that she is doing to her self with the weight is very dangerous, I know I had an eating disorder myslef and can tell you first hand. ( well I guees I wil always have the disorder, I am just maintaining it, its been a long road getting there.) Given your family history I would really be inclined to belive she is bipolar, but make sure she gets a good doc that willl listen and explain everything. Make sure he gives you the pros and cons of any meds. But also dont freak out over all the side effects, and there are some hefty side effects, but they dont happen to everyone, and most are reversable (not all though), once the med is stopped, but its a risk some of us have to take with ourselves, and in my case my children. I hate that I have to medicate them, but they admit the are able to function and live better. Ok I think i have strained you eyes long enough, but just trying to throw out there what I think from my experince and research. I truly hope someone will answer you here, maybe make your topic more urgent, like HELP NOW PLZ!!!! in the mean while I will be praying for you and family, I know how stressful this is to you, and you need all the support you can get, hang in there...Love...Sheryl
PS a good book is the bipolar child by I think Maurice and Janice Papolos, I realize she is not a child but the book goes through early adulthood too, and it goes over add and other disorders as well, schizophrenia etc. ANd you may see something in there that srikes you, and you may go oh yeah this sounds very familiar. I would check it out at the local library first. Fell free to email if you want to, if you clik on my screen name jk it will bring you to my profile and my email will be there, hang in there...