Parents of Bipolar Children Support Group

Well, since it's summer....she all of a sudden decides that she doesn't like getting up at 6am to take her meds. And I got complacent because she's been really good at taking them and not skipping it or refusing to take it, so I quit getting up with her to make sure she was taking it.

Yeah, well - that's what happens when I get complacent. She's been moving the time about 15 minutes a day for the past 3 or 4 days, and would have kept doing it until I noticed. So now she's 45 minutes off of her times, and THAT explains why she was regressing and a total pain all weekend. She mostly behaved like an 8yo boy - slamming cupboards, kicking everything shut with her feet, almost breaking stuff, combined with hostile glares, snotty comments, left-handed compliments/remarks about my appearance, eye rolling, nonstop rule pushing, and on and on. Oh, and we're once again supposedly the ONLY parents who want to know where their kids are. Every OTHER parent in the world lets their kid run all over the city and doesn't ask or care who they're with or where they're at. She's telling one kid she wants to move away. (Ooooh. Big threat. Whatever will we do with all of our free time and money if you go?)

Oh, and: I had to have a talk with her about a pair of her too-tight pants that are giving her camel toe.

(Google it, 'cause I'm not explaining it...lol.) She insists they're not. They ARE. She insists she doesn't have them pulled up that high...misunderstanding what causes it to begin with. It's how TIGHT they are, not where the waistband is, dearie. Her Father told her to quit being oppositional, and she did, but she still wears them. Fine. If you want the entire world to stare at your woo-ha....be that way.

So I had yet another talk with her about how she can't mess with her meds, they are very serious. She insists that we had a conversation months ago about her changing them in the summer. (We didn't. Yet she can't remember where the towels go after 3.5 years?)

Anyway. She keeps insisting we had this conversation that we didn't have. I refuse to argue with her. I tell her no....for one, you're not playing with your own meds. For seconds, you can't be moving the times up and down like a roller coaster - because you're going to have to move it back again once school starts. You're not getting it: if you mess with the time, it makes you get worse again.

Then she argues that she can take it 30 minutes later than she does now when school starts. What the point of this was, besides her wanting to "win" and "be right" I have no idea. I said no: taking it when you're supposed to be running out the door is also a bad idea. That's setting yourself up for failure. Take it at the same time every day, when you get up, period.

And I'm not discussing this with you any more. If I have to, I'll start getting up and dispensing it to you every morning, and believe me, you won't want to know the JOY that will be for you to start your day off with, kid! THE END.

Post edited by: fairlanelady, at: 07/06/2010 02:48 PM

Post edited by: fairlanelady, at: 07/06/2010 02:51 PM

I do have a question for you. Is it really important to take Trileptal at the same time every day? My son is on a low dose to start and is supposed to take it once a day before bedtime. We have not been told to take it at approximately the same time however. Will it make a difference?

I'm just totally frustrated with her trying to have circular conversations with me. And her constant need to one-up and be "right" all the time, making up conversations, and treating me like I'm senile in general.....plus the rude and obnoxious facial expressions and snark to the simplest requests.

She's been horrible about her chores lately. If you don't literally go behind her and check, she'll lie and say she did them, and won't....and then is proud later that she got away with it. Like a game. Even if it loses her privileges.

Post edited by: fairlanelady, at: 07/06/2010 05:47 PM

She's getting married in 2 1/2 weeks and she's LOSING things in her bedroom (aka the "Black Hole"). This includes the extra copies of the wedding invitations, which we made... and now I don't have one and all the left over paper is gone! And it's the same thing that you're dealing with, Fairlane, with the purely adolescent reactions to whenever I try and talk to her about anything. I think she lives, breathes, and eats opposition sometimes! She still has not finalized the contract with the photographer, and there are a few other things that have to get done that she'll "get done later"...

If I hear that one more time I will not be responsible for my actions!

Yes, this could be a whole lot worse. She could be going manic and then cycling into a depression again, and wouldn't that be a joy right now? I should count my blessings and shut up at this point.

... at least I don't have to worry about camel toe from her at the wedding! That made me laugh out loud too!!

As to the meds, I've always felt it important for my daughter to take them the same time everyday (I notice a difference). All the meds build up a certain level in the body and I figure it's meant to keep them as level as possible throughout the day and if a 25mg pill is meant to last 12 hours, then it lasts 12 hours and then that's why they're telling you two a day. This is particularly true with the lithium which is extremely important to keep level and that's why they want you to have the same amount of fluid each day. JUST MY HUMBLE THEORY.

So, last night curfew is 1:00. I could only stay awake til 12:30. Does she wake me up for her meds? NOOOOOO. I hear her in the fridge at 5:00 a.m. and accost her about it. Her schedule is all off again. Back to the sleeping pills that make her sleepwalk I guess.