Bipolar in teens

My oldest daughter was just diagnosed as bipolar. She will be 13 on Friday. Her doctor wants her to start taking abilify 5mg tonight at bedtime. Anyone else with a teenager with bipolar or was a teenager with bipolar? What can I expect? Any advice or insight?

I am so new to all of this and just trying to figure it all out.

She was just officially diagnosed Monday morning and they just want her to try abilify 5mg at night starting tonight. She will be seen once a week for awhile until we get the meds worked out.

She has always been more of an emotional kid. She would be so over the top happy, talking no stop, talking over people, hyper to the max and then something would happen and she would crash and say she wanted to die. she has never attempted suicide and says she has never even planned it out, just that she wished she were gone sort of thing. She did try cutting herself once. She and I are very close and she talks to me about all her emotions, which is good but can be very exhausting. She is very short and snippy with her sisters most of the time, and I dont know how much of that is normal and how much is related to the bipolar. There has never been middle ground with her. Her grades were very bad the beginning of the year, and have slowly started to get better. She also has trouble staying asleep and is having nightmares. She is very unmotivated most of the time. She seems to be down more than up, but not significantly more. She also has never raged like I hear people saying about their kids.

I am worried about the side effects with her, mostly the weight gain. She is 5'5" and weighs about 160 pounds now. I don't really know what to expect. I am also looking for a good online community for her to participate in.

Her psychiatrist says she has had really good results with abilify.

Hi there,

Being bipolar is so tough, and then being a teenage girl on top of that is even tougher. I echo tortoise in saying good for you for getting her in to see a psychiatrist. My parents didn't do that for me either. My Mom was actually really hard on me for being so "emotional". I suffered mostly with depression when I was a teenager at home but then once I left home and got out on my own, the mania really came out.

Irritability is such a powerful symptom of bp. That is where the being "snippy" is coming from. Talking non-stop, sign of hypomania or mania. Suicidal ideation is really painful for us to experience....always keep her talking so you know what her intentions are and if there is a risk seek help right away.

The very best advice I can give you is : Education. Read all you can about this illness. She needs to as well, definitely. It took me several painful years to understand that living with bipolar means working hard always to manage it. You can't just go with it and take meds. It takes a lot of work. But to do that work you need to know this illness and have professional supports in place.

Research the meds and the side effects. I hope she feels comfortable in talking with you about it so you can both work through it together. That way she feels better and when she is ready to leave home she can do so safely.

Weight gain is not a good thing. One med to stay away from for weight gain is Zyprexa. I gained 60 lbs from it and I'm not the only one. There were class action law suits all over the world for the weight gain, diabetes. It came on so fast as well and I am just now starting to get it off. Encourage her to stay active as that will not only help her maintain her weight but the exercise helps us with our moods.

Be supportive but make sure she learns about this herself as well and keep her going to the psychiatrist and talk therapy helps too. Online support is helpful, just be wary. I went to a support group at one of the hospitals in my city and it saved my life.

Just remember this is totally manageable with work, love and support.

All the best,

Hugs,
Mogs