Bipolar Support Group

My daughter we think is bipolar and we have been trying to avoid lithium. Her symptoms had been emotional throwdowns, staring at herself in the mirror, going into fetal positions, hearing voices in her head, not being able to focus at school and symptoms of ADD. It took a long time to work out that she is bipolar. We are giving her L-tryptophan and 5-HTP at night and Wellbrutrin in the morning and she is much happier and has returned to playing music but the ADD still remains. One of the things that she always did was lie, even at a very early age and can come up with extremely eloquent lies. for instance, she swears she did not cut class yesterday, but I asked what work she did in class and checked with her teacher. When caught out she gave a wonderful answer which leaves me in doubt that her teacher was telling the truth. I know deep down that this is a problem and wonder whether Bipolar medication (like lithium) will stop her lying. I don't want to put her on this, unless it is necessary, but it is a big problem. Can anyone advise me out there?

I don't know what to tell you about the lying and all that but I wonder if you really think she's bipolar why are you trying to avoid treating with bipolar meds like lithium?

i've never heard of lying being a bipolar symptom but lots of kids and people lie and are habitual about it. its a bad habit i used to have and still do sometimes, but she can get out of it.

Being bipolar is one thing, being a liar is another. Teenagers can be great at lying so it could be situational. I don't think lying and being bipolar go hand in hand. I'd say get her meds adjusted so she can cope with going to school. I had trouble staying in school had to drop out and get my GED event though I made good grades. There are many medications on the market that help besides just lithium. The key is to have her stabilized on the right meds.

Oh yeah, ADD and bipolar are treated differently with different meds.

I am confused, what do you expect from Bipolar meds, a change of integrity and accountability?

Bwwwaaahhhahahahahah!

-Dark

There is no guarantee that any medication of any type or amount will stop your daughter from lying. Has she been evaluated by a psychiatrist for bipolar? Once and if she has a diagnosis they would put her on the appropriate medications and they may not prescribe lithium. I am bipolar and don't take lithium.

My daughter is 17yrs old for all I know she is normal. One thing I will tell you is she lies her ass off. We catch her in a lot of them and she is not bipolar but just a teenager. Talk to her pdoc and see what he/she says.

Lithium happens to be an excellent mood stabilizer for treating bipolar. So often it gets a bad rap because of how people perceive this med. I used to take Lithium years ago although I no longer remember how effective it was for me.

As far as lying and bipolar are concerned, I don't believe there is a connection. Lying is lying and has nothing to do with being bipolar.

If someone does use their bipolar as an excuse for lying, shame on them.

Thanks for all your replies. I wanted confirmation that we are on the right track. My daughter has a mixed bag of strange behaviors, but bipolar seemed to fit most of them. In the case of lying, it started at a very young age (5 years) and for unnecessary reasons and so I wondered if this was a symptom of bipolar or something delusional - the stories are very impressive and since she was hearing voices, wondered whether there was any delusions happening. Thanks for the clarification that this is not part of bipolar. As to lithium, I am not against this, but since our HMO seems hell bent on experimenting with her (after half on hour spent with her) I am trying other mood stabilizers first, because of the side effects and the lab monitoring that is needed. Although diagnosing mental disorders is not an exact science I also want to make sure we cover as many symptoms as possible.