Parents of Bipolar Children Support Group

I have an 11 yr old daughter, just diagnosed with BP. I was told she was ADHD when she was 7 and has been on Ritilin and then Adderall XR since then. Trileptal and Remeron were added 4 months ago. Over the past 7 months, thru all the rages, hitting, biting, cursing, and several extreme actions that were dangerous for her, the doctor has finally "heard me". She is now taking 150 mg trileptal 2x a day and 25 mg of zoloft in the morning. No adderall or any other meds.

I don't know what to think.....it is like night and day. She is totally different...for the "good". No raging, getting up easier, no isolation, actually playing and carrying on a conversation like a normal 11 year old would. Am I living in utopia here? Is this for real or could she come home from school today and look at me and storm in with a rage. I am scared to be optimistic. I have done it so many times to only turn my head and then look back and "here we go again".

I am a single MOM with 2 other grown children. I have no family or friends here where we live because we just moved due to my work. My daughter-in-law stayed with us until I could get my daughter to the doctor as I was about to have a nervous break down myself. She has went back home now which is in another state. The thought of another rage or "manic" outbreak absolutely terrifies me.

I have read so many posts here and do see that I am not the only one experiencing this. I was honestly to the point that I thought I was a bad mother. I thought of letting her live with her dad for a while, but thru talking this over with my grown children, I realize that would be the worst mistake I could ever make. He is only her "friend", not a "Father". He will not accept the fact that she has BP.

Thank you for listening and I will truly appreciate any advice someone can give.

Suzette

First of all..."Welcome"! Happy you are here. I read your post and I feel like congratulating you! I've been working hard getting my 16 year old son to where he should be, just not there yet. I wish all the cocktails were the same and worked well for everybody. I guess that would mean there was a cure...oh well.

If you have any questions, feel free to put them out there! We don't pretend to have the answers but we all have experiences that we learned from. We can share those findings with you and everyone who could use it.

We KNOW how stressful things can be with our BP children. This is a great place to come cuz we all understand what you are going through.

I really think you will like it here. We are a big and growing family and we vent it all here. We try to tackle the bad and celebrate the good. And there are occasions where we have fun.

We look forward to your posts and getting to know you.

Thank you!

Welcome to your new extended "family!"

I'm so glad your daughter is doing better. Enjoy this while you can. As you know, there may be lots of tweaking ahead, especially as she enters her teen years.

But we are here to help you thru it all!

Welcome to the group. I am new as well. I will say that you will love it here. Everyone is so helpful and it's nice to know that you aren't alone. I'm glad that your daughter is doing well. I hope that things stay that way for quite some time.

thank you lillipets and momto4boys! it is good to finally be able to talk with others about all this.

Welcome. I am new too but I really think you will find the venting helpful. Ask as many questions as you want and in return answer as many as you can for others. Even if it seems small to you, it may just be the break someone else is looking for. Welcome again.

Thank you!

Welcome Suzette!

It's great to hear your daughter is doing so well. I think we all wait for "the other shoe to drop". Unfortunately, the meds do have to be adjusted at times. The most useful thing you can do for yourself and your daughter is journal all her med changes, adjustments, dosages, behaviors. If you start seeing her behavior change, journal it. It could signal that something is coming and that she may need a med adjustment. I'm not sure how long she's been on this current med regimen, but many of the drugs level off after a certain period and need to be titrating up. Each med is different in this regard. It helps to read up on the meds too. You can find alot of information at drugs.com or at the manufacturer's website. Sometimes it helps to know how a drug is normally prescribed or adjusted so that you can kind of keep an eye on the timing of behavior changes.

Of course, we ALL hope that you daughter is at a place where she's going to stay level now!!

Keep us posted